Sheetz, a US convenience store chain operating 838 locations, announced plans to transition its virtualization infrastructure away from VMware to StorMagic’s SvHCI platform. The company currently runs 12 to 14 virtual machines per store on Dell R440/R450-series servers, with an additional two VMs set to be migrated in coming months as part of a Windows 10 to Windows 11 upgrade. The total migration involves approximately 11,000 virtual machines across the retail chain’s distributed network.
The shift was prompted by Broadcom’s changes to VMware’s licensing structure following its acquisition of the virtualization company. According to Scott Robertson, Sheetz’s infrastructure team manager, the transition to a mandatory subscription model requiring five-year commitments created budgeting uncertainty and increased vendor dependence. Sheetz has already completed migration of more than 600 stores at an average pace of 200 locations per month and expects to finish the entire project within four months.
Sheetz selected StorMagic after already deploying its SvSAN virtual storage area network product for critical in-store applications since 2019. The company determined that StorMagic could deliver necessary resilience and centralized management capabilities across its large, geographically distributed retail environment. A key advantage cited was the ability to perform the migration remotely without requiring hardware upgrades, which Robertson indicated would result in significant cost savings.
The migration presented operational challenges given Sheetz’s 24/7 retail operations. The company relied heavily on automation and StorMagic’s VM Import Utility to minimize business disruption while simultaneously planning, developing, and implementing the transition across hundreds of locations. StorMagic noted it traditionally serves small- to medium-size businesses but views large enterprises with numerous distributed locations, like Sheetz, as a strategic growth opportunity as they reassess their virtualization spending in light of recent industry changes.
The Sheetz migration reflects broader dissatisfaction with VMware among enterprise customers. Gartner estimated that 35 percent of VMware workloads would migrate elsewhere by 2028. Other major companies including Allstate, T-Mobile, and UK grocery chain Tesco have also announced VMware migration plans. Broadcom has maintained that its licensing changes align with industry standards and views its VMware acquisition as financially successful.
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