Sheetz, a major US convenience store chain operating 838 locations, announced it is transitioning its virtualization infrastructure away from VMware to StorMagic’s SvHCI platform. The migration involves moving between 12 and 14 virtual machines from each store, totaling approximately 11,000 VMs, with an additional two VMs per location to be replaced in coming months as part of a Windows operating system upgrade.
The company has been using VMware vSphere on Dell R440/R450-series servers at each location since 2019. According to Scott Robertson, Sheetz’s infrastructure team manager, the decision to switch was driven by Broadcom’s licensing changes following its acquisition of VMware. The shift from perpetual licenses to mandatory subscription bundles with five-year commitments created budgeting uncertainty and increased vendor dependency, Robertson stated. The company has already completed migration of more than 600 stores at an average rate of 200 locations per month, with full completion expected within four months.
Sheetz selected StorMagic based on existing familiarity with the vendor’s products. The company has used StorMagic’s SvSAN virtual storage area network alongside VMware since 2019 for critical in-store applications. Gary Sliver, Sheetz’s director of platform engineering, noted that StorMagic demonstrated the resilience and centralized management capabilities needed across a distributed retail environment. The migration to SvHCI can be executed remotely without requiring hardware upgrades, resulting in significant cost savings.
The project presented typical challenges for large-scale migrations. Automation tools and SvHCI’s VMware VM Import Utility proved essential for managing the transition while minimizing disruption to 24/7 retail operations. Some additional work was required due to API maturity considerations in SvHCI. Robertson noted that coordinating planning, development, and implementation simultaneously across such a large distributed environment required meticulous planning and extensive automation.
Sheetz joins other major enterprises migrating from VMware, including Allstate, T-Mobile, and UK grocery chain Tesco. Industry analysts project that 35 percent of VMware workloads could migrate elsewhere by 2028. StorMagic, traditionally focused on small and mid-sized businesses, sees significant opportunity in serving large distributed enterprises operating numerous remote locations. Broadcom maintains that its licensing changes align with industry standards and considers its VMware acquisition financially successful.
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
Article summary produced by Claude AI