George Crump

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According to our recent survey, one of the requirements of any VMware alternative is to exit VMware without a server refresh. IT leaders are driving this requirement for three primary reasons:

  1. VMware’s latest versions force decommissioning server hardware long before it has outlived its applicable service.
  2. The quality and performance of server hardware built within the last five years suggest that it can reliably support workloads for up to ten years.
  3. Delaying or eliminating server refreshes is a great way to contend with flat budgets.

Why, then, does VMware require customers to upgrade to go through a server refresh so they can run the latest versions of their software? Why also do most VMware alternatives force you to buy prepackaged hardware bundles? The answers come down to efficiency and hardware dependency. Infrastructure software vendors with bloated code and strict server hardware requirements are forcing you into a lifetime of premature server refreshes.

Efficiency Eliminates Server Refreshes

Skip the heavy lifting, exit VMware without a server refresh
Skip the heavy lifting, exit VMware without a server refresh

Vendors force you into server refreshes to hide the inefficiencies in their code and the lack of foresight in design. Most infrastructure software is an assortment of different software applications, often from different vendors, that they attempt to “glue” together through a common management GUI.

VMware, for example, uses ESXi for the hypervisor, vSAN for the storage software, and NSX for the networking software. Each application has a different code base and overlapping code, which compounds VMware’s already significant virtualization tax.

As a result, there is a lot of redundant code and metadata in the infrastructure software and extra communication overhead to keep these separate applications in sync. The lack of integration between these applications creates significant overhead that impacts server performance and scalability.

Traditional Three-Tier Architectures don’t fare much better. Customers still face four to five-year refreshes for servers, plus they now add a separate refresh cycle for storage. There is also the unnecessarily high cost of a dedicated storage array.

Ransomware Makes It Worse

Our server also highlighted a significant concern about ransomware, and customers are constantly looking for solutions to give them an edge against the ever-evolving threat of having all of their data encrypted. In response, vendors constantly release patches to close down vulnerabilities in their code, releasing new software (for a fee) that keeps their older software safer. For example, VMware promotes NSX to help better protect ESXi. Instead of starting with secure infrastructure as a software core, they are bolting on potential fixes, which further impact performance and force customers into premature server refreshes.

According to our recent survey of almost 200 VMware customers, using existing hardware and improving ransomware protection were two of their top requirements for a VMware alternative. Join us for our live webinar tomorrow at 1:00 PM ET to learn the study results and see a live recovery from a ransomware attack. Register Now

Bundles Don’t Eliminate Server Refreshes

To hide continual software bloat, some vendors create predefined server bundles. These bundles use the latest processing power, which depends on specific CPU chip capabilities and fast NVMe flash drives to hide inefficiency, but they don’t eliminate server refreshes. They make server refreshes even more challenging. The customer still needs to refresh servers to provide enough power to compensate for the bloated software, but now they can only get that hardware from one or a tiny list of certified vendors. IT teams need to look no further than vSAN-Ready Nodes or Nutanix’s very restrictive hardware compatibility list as examples.

Turnkey HCI Makes it Worse

The turnkey bundle approach also makes a VMware Exit less appealing. Vendors that force the customer to buy new hardware as they are exiting VMware increase the costs of the exit dramatically. They also make installation more difficult because, at least for a while, the new hardware and the old must co-exist in the same data center.

VergeIO Eliminates Premature Server Refreshes

VergeIO unifies networking, virtualization, and storage software into a single software code base, eliminating the redundances common in other solutions. It also eliminates the extra and unnecessary lines of communication between the services, enabling a more scalable infrastructure.


Breathes New Life Into Existing Servers

VergeOS does more than leverage existing hardware; its efficiency gives it a new lease on life. Our customers typically can increase overall virtual machine density and improve the performance of I/O intensive applications without resorting to an expensive dedicated storage array. Most VergeIO customers find they can delay or even eliminate the subsequent several server upgrades. When it does come time to add new servers to the infrastructure, add whatever brand and type of servers you’d like. VergeOS enables you to mix different server types within the same VergeOS instance.

Run Servers Until They Break

There is a common saying, “sweating the asset,” which means getting more than the typical four years from server and storage hardware. VergeOS enables customers to run the asset until it breaks permanently. Customers can do this because the entire infrastructure is redundant; VergeOS transitions VMs to surviving servers if a server fails. There is no extra charge for high availability (HA); VergeOS includes HA and all other features in every product edition. VergeIO has production customers running servers over six years old with no complaints about performance or fear of hardware failure. Those servers can co-exist with servers a few months old within the same instance. VergeOS eliminates server refreshes while maintaining availability.

Ransomware Resilient from Day One

Ransomware resiliency is not an afterthought with VergeOS. As we discuss in our paper, “Creating an Infrastructure-Wide Ransomware Resiliency Strategy,” it is built into the core of our Utraconverged Infrastructure (UCI) platform. Our multi-layered, infrastructure-wide ransomware protection strategy includes the following:

  1. Virtual Data Centers (VDC) that enable customers to shrink the attack surface
  2. IOclone, which provides frequent, immutable snapshots without impacting performance
  3. IOfortify, which provides rapid detection of a potential attack and a hardened operating environment that acts as firmware, eliminating the potential of platform-level exploits.

Conclusion – Skip The Server Refresh

Exiting VMware without undergoing a server refresh is crucial for organizations looking to maximize their IT infrastructure efficiency and cost-effectiveness. VMware’s insistence on frequent server hardware upgrades and the challenges posed by ransomware threats have left many IT leaders seeking alternatives. However, most alternatives require new hardware and enforce restrictive hardware compatibility lists.

VergeIO enables you to exit VMware using your existing hardware, extracting more life from it while not compromising features or data resiliency.

Filed Under: VMwareExit Tagged With: ,

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VMware is coming under ever-increasing scrutiny for its ransomware shortcomings, and now customers are considering a VMware exit for ransomware resiliency instead of just to reduce licensing costs. The heightened concerns come from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, and recent VMware vulnerabilities have been part of the problem.

In conversations with numerous VMware users infected by a ransomware attack, they often recount tales of belated attack discoveries, followed by intensive recovery efforts that take weeks, if not months, to restore their systems entirely. VergeIO has identified key ransomware shortcomings in the VMware environment, and offers a viable means to address them effectively by exiting to VergeOS.

So, how can IT professionals break this cycle?

The Infrastructure-Wide Approach to Ransomware Resiliency

Click to Watch a Ransomware Recovery in Action

Ransomware resiliency revolves around more than backup software and hardware. If you have to count on backups to recover from a ransomware attack, you are in for a very long and painful process. Counting on a separate, third party backup process as VMware does, is why customers are considering a VMware exit for better ransomware resiliency, in addition to trying to reduce licensing costs.

A more comprehensive approach to ransomware resiliency is required, focusing on:

  1. Limiting Attack Surface: This means not all virtual machines (VMs) are exposed, creating barriers between them. The Virtual Data Center (VDC) technology by VergeOS mimics this concept, bundling VMs, storage, and network configurations within a group of applications, creating a “walled garden” to contain potential threats. By default, it is nearly impossible for a malware trigger file to move between VDCs.
  2. Prioritizing Frequent Data Protection: Regular backups won’t suffice. Ransomware can encrypt data faster than most backup schedules can accommodate. This ability to deliver rapid, frequent data protection is where VergeOS stands out with its IOclone-based snapshot technology. It ensures frequent, space-efficient, and impact-free data protection. VergeOS snapshots are independent copies rather than legacy snapshots that are a cascading tree of dependence. With VergeOS, customers can execute snapshots frequently with no disruption to performance.
  3. Immutable Data Storage: Traditional backups can still be compromised. VergeOS ensures that IOclone-based snapshots are immutable and safe from ransomware intrusions unless deliberately changed to read-write by an authenticated Administrator. Malware may launch within a single virtual data center, but it can’t spread beyond it, and it can’t infect immutable protected copies, which can easily be only a few minutes old.
  4. Timely Patch Application: VMware Administrators often need help to apply patching timely, potentially exposing vulnerabilities longer than organizations would like. VergeOS uses its VDC and snapshot technology to allow quick patch tests, ensuring smooth deployments without disruptions. IT Administrators can clone the entire VDC into a “Lab” VDC and test the patch impact against the entire data center without disruption to production.
  5. Swift Ransomware Detection: Recognizing a breach early is crucial. VergeOS’ IOfortify technology swiftly detects potential threats, often within minutes, allowing for prompt action and containment. The recovery effort increases in complexity exponentially with each minute the attack goes undetected.
  6. Efficient Attack Victim Identification: Once contained, it’s vital to pinpoint affected VMs. VergeOS’ telemetry information, coupled with IOfortify timestamps, accurately indicates compromised systems for quick recovery. It enables you to focus on the few infected VMs instead of needing to scan every VM in the environment.
  7. Zero-Data Movement Recovery: VergeOS enables a near-instant recovery process, allowing IT Administrators to restore operations promptly without lengthy data transfer processes. There is no data movement. Bring up the most recent snapshot, scan for a potential trigger file, remove it if present, and launch the clone into production. There is no data movement.
  8. Detailed Forensics: Instead of hastily erasing infected datasets, VergeOS enables you to quarantine and retain them, offering valuable insights into the attack mechanisms and aiding with future prevention strategies.
  9. Robust Operating Environment: VergeOS stands out with its hardened operating environment, ensuring that its core remains unexploited, and in case of any breach, a quick restoration is possible.

Our newest white paper, Creating an Infrastructure-Wide Ransomware Resiliency Strategy, will enable you to create a strategy to help you recover from an attack within minutes and with no data loss —Download Now. Justify a VMware exit for ransomware resiliency in addition to reducing licensing costs.

Rethinking Infrastructure Choices with VergeIO

VMware exit for ransomware resiliency

VergeIO’s focus isn’t a mere reaction to the ransomware challenges IT faces; it’s a well-thought-out strategy integrated into the core code base from day one. It ensures a fortified operating environment. When seeking a VMware alternative, cost savings are essential but not exclusive. If, during the VMware Exit, you can improve your ransomware resiliency, it makes the decision both compelling and logical.

Converting your VMware environment is painless and risk-free. Schedule a technical whiteboard session; our experts will walk you through the process.

Read about how ransomware infiltrated MGM’s infrastructure on 9/15/2023 encrypting more than 100 ESXi servers.

Watch as we protect, detect, and recover a VM that is being attacked by ransomware.

Filed Under: Ransomware Tagged With: , ,

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Plan Your VMware Exit

Broadcom has announced that its acquisition of VMware will be complete by the end of October. VMware’s accelerating renewal costs will accelerate while support and development will focus primarily on VMware’s largest 600 customers. Analysts and Pundits are almost universal in their recommendation; IT Planners need to develop a VMware Exit Strategy now.

Key Takeaways

  1. Select New Infrastructure Software (Don’t Compromise)
  2. Identify Hardware Requirements (Will Your Current Hardware Work?)
  3. Identify Changes to Data Protection / DR Strategy
  4. Develop a Testing and Migration Strategy
    4.5 Start by Taking a ½ Step – Work with a solution that will allow you to exit gradually. This is Infrastructure

Dive Deeper

✔️ Learn about “Mitigating VMware Migration Risks“

✔️ Get a Demonstration from one of our VMware Migration Experts. In less than 30 minutes, we will walk you through the VergeOS. Book a demonstration now.

✔️ Test it Yourself: You can try out the full power of VergeOS right now without hardware. Sign up for a test drive, and we will create an instance just for you.

Filed Under: Past Webinar, Webinar

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mitigating VMware migration risks

Many VMware customers are concerned about ever-increasing licensing costs, and are actively considering VMware alternatives. However, mitigating VMware migration risks is an even more significant concern. There are four steps that IT planners can take to ensure a seamless and risk-free migration to a new infrastructure platform:

  1. Upfront Assessment
  2. Virtual Proof of Concept
  3. On-Premises Evaluation
  4. Gradual Cut Over

Upfront Assessment of a VMware Alternative

Before diving deep into any IT project, you want to ensure the result will be significantly better than the current state. When considering a VMware alternative, reducing and simplifying licensing costs is one of the obvious areas to examine. Beyond licensing costs, IT should also evaluate long-term cost savings potential like:

Additionally, moving to an alternative platform should deliver more than cost savings. IT planners should consider the move to a new platform as an opportunity to improve capabilities like:

Finally, before moving to the next step, you should talk to some existing customers and see what they have to say about the potential alternative. Get their feedback on how easy the product is to use, how well it’s supported, and learn about their day-to-day experiences. Current customers can prove vendor claims.

Virtual Proof of Concept of a VMware Alternative

Once IT completes its initial assessment, most vendors try to rush to a proof of concept (POC). POCs are the cornerstone of mitigating VMware migration risks, but the problem is that a POC requires IT to find some hardware or make space for the vendor’s hardware. It also means that IT must find the time to go through the testing process and have a strategy for performing that test.

mitigating VMware migration risks

An alternative is a virtual proof of concept, where the vendor creates a virtual environment for you to test drive their solution. However, this virtual environment must give you full reign to perform whatever type of testing you want. You should be able to do more than “just drive the GUI.” You should be able to load up your virtual machines (VMs), test data protection capabilities, and start to think through on-premises test plans.

Your virtual instance should be 100% isolated from any other virtual POCs. Otherwise, you can’t deploy your applications and data without the risk of another organization gaining access to them. If the vendor can only deliver that isolation by dedicating specific hardware for the test, they will likely have to limit the time you can test. If the vendor can deliver that isolation, then they should be able to provide a very flexible testing timeframe.

On-Premises Evaluation of a VMware Alternative

If the potential VMware alternative still interests you after completing the virtual proof of concept, it is then time to move to an on-premises evaluation of the solution. Most vendors are happy to provide an on-premises evaluation. Still, the IT planner must pay attention to the vendor’s behavior as you move through this process.

There are red flags that will appear, even before you start testing. These red flags should give you some insight into how well the solution is going to perform for you in the coming years:

? Does the vendor require a multi-hour meeting to ensure all the technical requirements are met?
? Does the vendor insist on providing you with hardware even though they say they are "software-only"?
? Does the vendor want to come on-site to install the evaluation?
? Does the vendor push you to do a "try-and-buy" where you commit to buying the solution if critical requirements are met?
? Does the vendor insist you use the local technical resource for any technical questions that might arise?

An on-premises evaluation should be a strings-free relationship. You should be able to use existing hardware. It should only require a quick call, not a three-hour workshop, to ensure the hardware you plan to use is optimal for your testing. If the vendor claims to be software-only, then as long as you can provide hardware that meets their minimum requirements, you should be given the green light for your evaluation.

Usually, having a vendor come on-site to install an evaluation, or worse, providing you with a “turnkey” hardware package for the evaluation is a sign that the vendor is trying to hide how complex their solution is to get running. If it is hard to install, it will be hard to operate.

You are testing something new, and you will run into technical questions. You should go through regular technical support channels to get those questions answered. This process lets you see what kind of support you will get years after installation.

Gradual Cut-Over to the New Platform

Once you’ve completed the evaluation, you should map out a migration strategy before you commit to purchase. Mitigating VMware migration risks requires that the cut-over to the new platform is gradual. In most cases, you won’t flip a switch and, in a single pass, move all your VMs to the new platform. You typically migrate in “lumps,” one workload at a time. This more gradual process means the migration capabilities, if there are any, should be continuous. The new platform’s migration capabilities need to keep VMs from the VMware environment in sync so that the most recent copy of data is on the new platform when IT is ready to convert the next workload.

A near-continuous sync of VMware VMs to the new platform also means that it can provide enterprise-wide value from day one while you are gradually migrating to it. Suppose the migration function is near-continuous and intelligent enough only to move changed data blocks. In that case, it can act as a disaster recovery solution (DR) for the entire VMware environment. The result is from day one; it can save you money while you migrate at your pace. Without it, you are under too much pressure to show value from the new purchase quickly, making you more likely to rush VM migrations.

If the new platform achieves the efficiency mentioned in the initial assessment, IT should be able to carve off two or three physical servers to act as the initial foundation. Those initial servers should be able to receive all the migrated VMs and the continuous updates to them. Then, as you move VMs into production on the new platform, resources will free up in the VMware environment, enabling you to add a few more servers to the new platform.

A De-Risked VMware Migration

Selecting a vendor that is patient enough to walk through the above process de-risks the migration away from VMware. Each of these steps is essentially a checkpoint in the process, and you don’t move to the next step until you are confident in the results of the prior step.

Using existing hardware and providing value while you migrate are critical. If, during the evaluation process, you discover something you don’t like about the solution, you are not saddled with a bunch of hardware that you must de-install and return. And the ability to add value while you gradually migrate, in our example acting as a DR solution, puts less pressure on you to migrate too quickly.

The VergeIO Team is happy to guide you through this process, which is why we have such high customer satisfaction. The first step is to perform the upfront assessment—schedule yours now with one of our technical experts.

Filed Under: VMwareExit Tagged With: ,

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Hyperconverged Infrastructures (HCI) were supposed to ease IT professionals’ management burdens, but flaws in their design explain why HCI doesn’t simplify IT. These flaws have led HCI, which should be the one infrastructure for the enterprise, to be a niche solution for corner use cases within the data center. Instead of simplifying through convergence, HCI solutions from companies like VMware and Nutanix exacerbate complexity.

The HCI Flaws

  1. HCI Isn’t Scalable
  2. HCI Isn’t Flexible
  3. HCI Isn’t Secure

Because of these three flaws, complex and expensive three-tier architectures with dedicated storage arrays, restrictive compute tiers, and proprietary network switches continue to flourish despite their own challenges. Can HCI be fixed so it can finally deliver its full promise?

HCI Isn’t Scalable

How can an architecture like HCI that is scale out by design, not scale? It’s true, though; HCI can’t scale large, and it can’t scale small. Most HCI vendors force you to start with three nodes, making HCI impractical for Edge and small offices. The inability to scale small and scale large is one reason why HCI doesn’t simplify IT.

Lack of a unified code base is one reason Why HCI doesn't simplify IT
HCI Doesn’t Converge, It Squeezes

At the same time, most HCI solutions can’t scale beyond eight or so nodes without serious performance concerns. These performance concerns stem from the fact that HCI solutions don’t actually converge the three data center tiers (networking, computing, and storage). They are three separate software packages, often from three separate vendors. HCI squeezes the three separate software-based tiers onto a single server. Each of these tiers has different lanes of communication between the servers. As a result, internode communication is exponentially increased by a factor of three.

UCI Solves the HCI Scale Issue

Ultraconverged Infrastructure (UCI) solutions, like VergeOS, solve both aspects of the scale issue. It can scale small, and it can scale large. Instead of using a separate application for networking, another for compute, and still another for storage, UCI is a single piece of very efficient code.

Lack of a unified code base is one reason HCI doesn't simplify IT. UCI has a Unified Code Base
UCI Converges Networking, Compute, and Storage Into a Single Code Base

Thanks to UCI’s unification of the legacy IT stack into a single piece of software, there is only a need for a single lane of communication between nodes. The reduction in east-west traffic enables scaling beyond 200 nodes without significant network overhead. At the same time, the efficiency of the code base enables a two-node UCI environment to deliver the performance and cost-effectiveness that Edge and remote locations need. The common code base also means a unified GUI for simple administration and day-to-day operations. UCI simplifies IT by providing a single software package. It can support small offices and Edge locations while scaling to meet the needs of the primary data center.

HCI Isn’t Flexible

Another reason why HCI doesn’t simplify IT is that it restricts the type of nodes users can add to the cluster. The idea behind HCI is that as you add additional servers to the environment, you automatically scale each of the three data center tiers to support new applications or additional users. The reality is that most organizations don’t need or want to scale all three of these tiers simultaneously; sometimes, you only need additional computing power, and other times, you only need additional storage capacity.

While some HCI solutions can now add “storage-only” nodes, they compromise performance and place restrictions on data protection and efficiency. Practically speaking, most HCI solutions must use nearly identical nodes as they scale, or create an entirely separate instance with an entirely different node configuration. Each additional HCI instance further adds to data center fragmentation instead of converging it.

In some cases, vendors require customers to replace servers, even if they are only a few years old, to support the latest version of their software. This requirement is not optional with them; upgrading to the new hardware means replacing older hardware.

UCI Solves the Flexibility Issue

UCI simplifies IT by solving the flexibility issue. It allows a mixture of different nodes within the same instance. Within the instance, VergeOS can group like nodes together. Then IT can allocate some or all those resources to specific workloads. This flexible intelligence also means that customers don’t have to upgrade or replace hardware to run the latest version of the HCI software.

The efficiency of VergeOS enables customers to extract more serviceable life from aging servers while fully exploiting the capabilities of modern servers that are only a few months old. Servers within a single VergeOS instance can be from different decades, processor manufacturers, and storage types.

Lack of a flexible scale is another reason why HCI doesn't simplify IT. UCI delivers complete flexibility.

Nodes can also have different areas of focus. Some can be heavily weighted for computing power while using the storage from other nodes in the instance, and others can be heavily weighted for storage capacity or performance and provide that storage or performance to the rest of the instance.

HCI Isn’t Secure

The lack of a robust security strategy is another reason why HCI doesn’t simplify IT. Customers must fill data protection and ransomware resiliency gaps by using third-party applications and creating additional infrastructures. As a result, legacy HCI forces IT planners to look at threats like ransomware as a backup and recovery problem instead of as an infrastructure problem, which is what it really is.

After IT discovers a ransomware attack, the malware file must be found, stopped, and removed. Then, IT must methodically recover data. By only looking at ransomware as a data protection problem, the average downtime associated with a ransomware attack is typically measured in days and sometimes weeks.

UCI is Hardened and Secure

UCI simplifies IT by providing infrastructure-wide data protection and resiliency capabilities. First, VergeIO’s Virtual Data Centers (VDC), which encapsulate the entire data center, also shrink the attack surface available to ransomware. It is nearly impossible for a malware file infecting one VDC to cross over to another VDC.

Second, VergeOS’ snapshot capabilities are powered by IOclone, which provides independent, immutable copies. However, because VergeOS implements global inline deduplication at its core, clone/snapshot copies are also space efficient. Taking frequent immutable snapshots without impacting performance provides the second layer of defense against ransomware.

Third, VergeOS’ IOfortify provides early detection of a ransomware attack. With it, your notification comes minutes after an attack starts instead of coming from confused users hours later. This early detection, combined with frequent, immutable clones, means recovery occurs within minutes and with little to no data loss.

Finally, VergeOS operates as read-only firmware at its core and injects a copy of itself into each VDC. As a result, if a cyber-attack could ever get to the actual VergeOS operating environment, a known good copy at the core is available to replace it.

The Impact of HCI Complexity

The impact of HCI complexity and its limitations means that IT must use the legacy three-tier architecture. It is also why most IT professionals don’t think HCI can replace a SAN, even though it should be a better option for virtualized environments. While legacy three-tier architectures are more complicated and more expensive, they, through brute force, work through some of the issues mentioned above.

UCI fulfills and extends the potential of legacy HCI. Using a single code base allows IT to manage all aspects of infrastructure in a cohesive, straightforward manner. UCI has flexible scalability, extending to both large and small needs. UCI can mix nodes of different types, which enables true and long-lasting actual convergence. UCI’s integrated data protection capabilities eliminate the dependency on a separate data protection infrastructure. As a result, UCI delivers more widespread convergence than HCI, while delivering infrastructure-wide data resiliency.

To learn more about UCI and VergeIO, register to watch the VergeOS Architecture Deep Dive with our CTO and founder, Greg Campbell. You can also sign up for a virtual test drive and start running VergeOS in minutes.

Filed Under: HCI Tagged With: ,

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A Customer’s Journey: VMware, Cloud or VergeOS

Listen Live to learn why SkiBig3 Chose VergeOS over VMware and The Cloud

Join VergeIO and SkiBig3 live for an in-depth look at how one of the largest Ski Resorts in Canada is using VergeOS to reduce hardware acquisition costs, improve data resiliency, and simplify IT operations.

As part of their infrastructure planning the IT leaders at SkiBig3, Mitch Matula and Chris Lamothe, reviewed the following:

  • Hyper-V
  • VMware
  • The Public Cloud

Listen live to learn why they ultimately chose VergeOS, and if you’re considering any of those options, why you too should consider VergeOS. Get your questions answered by a team of IT professionals who use VergeOS everyday.

About SkiBig3

SkiBig3 works for three ski resorts in Banff National Park; Banff Sunshine, the Lake Louise Ski Resort, and Mt. Norquay. SkiBig3 is dedicated to showcasing everything these winter destinations have to offer.

Our Speakers

Chris Lamothe, Systems Director, SkiBig3

Mitch Matula, IT Manager, SkiBig3

George Crump, CMO, VergeIO

Filed Under: Past Webinar, Webinar