North Texas Tech Connect · Main Stage

Infrastructure Software
That Replaces VMware

  • A single piece of software for your entire infrastructure
  • Runs bare metal on the servers you already own
  • Mixes vendors and generations in one cluster
  • Private AI on your own GPUs
An Infrastructure Operating System
George Crump, VergeIO · with Scott Forehand, Topgolf
01 / 11
Our Guest

Evolving Topgolf’s Private Cloud: Replacing VMware in Six Months

SF
Scott Forehand
Scott Forehand
Manager, Global Infrastructure
Topgolf
DFW VMware User Group Leader

Scott led the move from the first evaluation through the national rollout. He will walk through:

  • The decision. Why Topgolf left VMware after Broadcom and how the team evaluated the alternatives.
  • The architecture. One design from the venue edge to the core data center.
  • The lessons. What to test, what breaks, and what a hypervisor migration at scale really takes.
  • Day two. What running and upgrading a 100-venue fleet looks like now.
verge.io
02 / 11
What Makes Us Different

Every Function. Unified Infrastructure.

Hypervisor Storage Networking Backup Disaster Recovery API API API API API VergeOS Infrastructure OS Unified infrastructure Hypervisor Storage Networking Backup DR
Five products, five upgrades, five vendors. One platform, one unified infrastructure.
  • VergeOS runs compute, storage, networking, and data protection as one unified infrastructure.
  • One install turns standard x86 servers into a complete infrastructure, including the DR site.
  • One upgrade moves the whole environment forward, so the maintenance window shrinks to hours.
  • An operating system, not a stack, means less overhead and a smaller footprint than assembled products, so the same physical servers hold more VMs.
verge.io
03 / 11
Where Teams Start

Four Ways Customers Put It to Work

Most environments arrive through one of these four doors and then expand into the others, since the same platform answers all four.

01
Exit VMware
Virtual machines import from the running VMware environment and come up on VergeOS with their storage and networking intact. Applications stay as they are.
02
Fight Data Center Inflation
Stretch the hardware you already own. VergeOS mixes server generations in one cluster, runs on refurbished nodes, and uses less RAM and storage per workload, so the next purchase order moves out a year or more.
03
Run Every Site the Same Way
From one place. Every location runs the same VergeOS and takes the same upgrade, automated with Terraform, Ansible, and Packer. A remote site becomes part of the environment, not its own project.
04
Stop Paying Per Token
Models run on GPUs inside your own tenant, on the same operating system that runs production. The per-token bill goes away, and the data stays in your data center.
verge.io
04 / 11
Exit VMware

Migrate One Server at a Time. No Big Bang.

Production on three VMware hosts vMotion the VMs off host 3 Reimage host 3 with VergeOS Full backup of host 2’s VMs into VergeOS Test the copies on VergeOS Incremental backup: changed blocks only Cutover: the VMs now run on VergeOS Reimage host 2 with VergeOS Spread the VMs across both VergeOS hosts Full backup of host 1’s VMs to both VergeOS hosts Test the copies on VergeOS Incremental backup: changed blocks only Cutover: the VMs now run on VergeOS Reimage host 1 with VergeOS One VergeOS cluster on the same three servers VMware ESXiServer 1 VergeOSServer 1 VMware ESXiServer 2 VergeOSServer 2 VMware ESXiServer 3 VergeOSServer 3 VM 1 VM 2 VM 3 VM 4 VM 5 VM 6 VM 7 VM 8 VM 4 VM 5 VM 6 VM 8 VM 1 VM 2 VM 3 VM 7 VERGEOS · ONE CLUSTER, SAME HARDWARE
  1. 1Start. Three VMware hosts running production.
  2. 2Free host 3. vMotion its VMs to the other two and reimage it with VergeOS.
  3. 3Move host 2’s VMs. Back up into VergeOS, test, run an incremental, cut over.
  4. 4Convert host 2. Reimage it and spread the VMs across both VergeOS hosts.
  5. 5Move host 1’s VMs. Back up to both VergeOS hosts, test, incremental, cut over.
  6. 6Finish. Reimage host 1 and spread the VMs across all three.
Plays automatically · Replay to restart
verge.io
05 / 11
What It Looks Like

Mixed Hardware. One Platform.

VDC 01 Finance Dept · Enterprise Isolated tenant VM VM VM VM VM VM VDC 02 Acme Corp · CSP Customer Isolated tenant VM VM VM VM VM VM VDC 03 Dev/Test Lab · Enterprise Isolated tenant VM VM VM VM VM VM VERGEOS Dell HPE Cisco UCS Supermicro
Three isolated tenants, one operating system, four server vendors in the same cluster.
  • Step 1. Install VergeOS on your hardware. Dell, HPE, Cisco UCS, and Supermicro run side by side in the same cluster, including older generations and refurbished nodes.
  • Step 2. Migrate your VMs to the new infrastructure. They come across with their data and network settings intact.
  • Step 3. Use the capabilities VergeOS adds, starting with virtual data centers that give each department or customer its own isolated compute, storage, network, and protection.
verge.io
06 / 11
Fight Data Center Inflation

Put Every Drive on the Right Tier. Live.

How a tier move works (VergeOS) SQL Server VM Online · serving queries OS 80 GB Tier 1 Data 200 GB Tier 1 moving… Tier 4 Log 40 GB Tier 1 TempDB 40 GB Tier 1 Backup 150 GB Tier 4 Storage media cost $263 Saved $130 · 49% Tier 1 · NVMe Performance: OS, transaction log, tempdb Tier 4 · HDD High capacity, cost-effective OS80 GB Log40 GB TempDB40 GB Backup150 GB Data200 GB Data200 GB Preferred Tier changed: Tier 1 → Tier 4 · live, online background migration Move complete · no downtime Capacity after the move Flash 160 GB HDD 350 GB · 69% of the VM
  • One setting per drive. Change the preferred tier and VergeOS moves the data in the background.
  • No downtime. The SQL Server VM stays online and keeps serving queries.
  • Flash where it counts. OS, log, and tempdb stay on NVMe. Bulk data moves to high-capacity HDD.
  • $263 to $133. The VM’s storage media cost drops 49%.
Cost basis: raw media at $706/TB for a 15.36 TB NVMe SSD and $56/TB for a 24 TB HDD, street prices September 28, 2026. Excludes redundancy copies.
verge.io
07 / 11
Why You Should Care

Simpler to Run, Cheaper to Own, Ready for What Is Next

IT leaders are asked to run more sites, more workloads, and more data with the same team. The platform has to give that time back.

01
Simplify Your Life
One interface covers virtual machines, storage, networking, snapshots, and failover. Your team stops moving between four consoles, four support contracts, and four upgrade calendars.
02
Lower Cost
A single license replaces the hypervisor, the array software, and the backup product. The servers stay. The savings repeat at every renewal rather than once at purchase.
03
Future Ready
Add a second site, a new tenant, or a GPU cluster for AI from the same platform. The architecture holds as the requirements change, which protects the decision you make today.
verge.io
08 / 11
North Texas Tech Connect · Thank You

Run Your Entire Infrastructure on Hardware You Already Own

Integrated storage, built-in data protection, and site-to-site DR come with the platform. Bring the servers you have and the workloads you want back.

Get a Copy of
This Presentation
verge.io/north-texas-tech-connect-vergeio-topgolf-presentation
Schedule a Technical
Virtual Whiteboard Session
meetings.hubspot.com/gcrump/technical-whiteboard-session
George CrumpVergeIOScott ForehandTopgolf
Visit the VergeIO booth through the networking reception
09 / 11
Backup · Customer Story

100+ Venues. Every One a Data Center.

  • Each venue is an autonomous edge data center that has to keep running through a WAN outage, with no dependency on the core.
  • Real-time workloads run at every site: ball-tracking analytics, camera systems with machine learning, Kubernetes microservices, and state-specific compliance applications.
  • The core data center sits here in Dallas-Fort Worth and runs the same architecture as the venues.
  • Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware started the search. The licensing change hit every venue at once.
“
We’re a technology company masquerading as a sports and entertainment company.
Scott Forehand · Topgolf
verge.io
10 / 11
Backup · What Changed at Topgolf

The Same Four Doors. One Customer.

Topgolf came in to exit VMware. The same platform then answered the other three.

01 · Exit VMware
1 Day
Full venue migration, VMware to VergeOS
The cluster upgrade the next day ran during business hours, with customers in the bays.
02 · Data Center Inflation
6 → 3
Nodes per venue
Six-node VxRail clusters became three-node VergeOS clusters on standard Dell PowerEdge. Built-in protection retired Rubrik.
03 · Every Site the Same Way
3 Weeks
Fleet-wide upgrade, down from 2–3 months
Power-loss recovery went from 30–45 minutes of manual work to under 15 minutes, unattended.
04 · Private AI
L40
NVIDIA GPU nodes in the core
Two GPU nodes run VergeOS at the core site, positioned for swing analysis and shot modeling without sending data to the cloud.
The four doors are not a pitch. Topgolf walked through all of them.
verge.io
11 / 11
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