InterBel Telephone
A one-person IT team modernizes its infrastructure and finishes under budget
Summary
InterBel Telephone needed to refresh two aging systems, and a VMware quote showed a 30% cost increase. VergeOS ran on the hardware InterBel chose, built a lab in under two hours and added nodes in fifteen minutes. The company finished its refresh more than 28% under budget, a savings of more than 45% compared with VMware pricing, and gained one interface for its one-person IT team.
A refresh that came in under budget, which IT projects rarely do.
About InterBel Telephone
InterBel Telephone is a leading telecom provider in northwest Montana. Its IT environment relied on two separate systems: a legacy Dell EMC setup and a Cisco UCS configuration with NetApp storage serving virtual machines over iSCSI. The infrastructure had served InterBel well, but the UCS blades and NetApp storage had reached end of life, and the cost of maintaining the VMware platform had become untenable.
Rising Costs and a One-Person IT Team
A VMware quote showed a 30% cost increase, driven mainly by higher software licensing fees. For InterBel, the Broadcom acquisition of VMware was the final straw, and the company described the jump as a “punch in the gut.”
InterBel first explored hyperconverged infrastructure products but ran into steep pricing and resource constraints that made the team question whether modernization was feasible. IT Manager Tom Rasmussen runs everything from security to Exchange as a one-person team. He needed a simple, flexible platform that fit the budget.
Discovering VergeIO
By the time Rasmussen found VergeIO, he was almost ready to give up on finding a workable HCI option. VergeIO stood out for its simple approach and its ability to run on a wide range of hardware. After watching VergeIO videos and learning about its features, he saw its potential to simplify operations and lower costs.
A demo from the VergeIO team reinforced the decision. Rasmussen described the experience as like “reading an open book.” The simplicity stood out against the complexity of the existing Cisco UCS environment, and the platform looked easy to deploy and manage, which mattered for a one-person team. The lab setup proved it, taking under two hours, with additional nodes added in fifteen minutes.
A Smooth Implementation
The transition was remarkably smooth, with most of the work in the migration itself and IP address changes. InterBel built the new environment on Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 servers, chosen for their cost-effectiveness and long maintenance cycles. The Lenovo nodes run production workloads, each with 48-core Intel processors and all-flash storage. Another node, using hard disk drives, serves as an ioGuardian server for backup and disaster recovery.
Mixing Media and Growing on Demand
A key VergeOS feature for InterBel is the ability to mix media types in one environment. The production servers use SSD storage with plenty of room to expand. ioOptimize let Rasmussen add drives to existing servers without buying more nodes. Future growth can come from compute-only servers, bare servers with just a boot SSD, which further improves cost efficiency and scalability.
Under Budget and Faster
The benefits were immediate. InterBel had received a quote nearly 30% above its original budget for the refresh. With VergeOS, the company completed the project for more than 28% less than its initial budget, a savings of more than 45% compared with VMware pricing. Rasmussen noted how rare it is for an IT project to come in under budget. VergeIO per-node licensing and hardware flexibility made it possible, and the move to Lenovo servers significantly reduced long-term maintenance costs.
Performance improved just as much. The new all-flash system delivered speed and reliability beyond the previous setup, and the unified management interface gave Rasmussen a single pane of glass for daily operations, a major gain for a one-person team with many responsibilities.
| Area | Before | After: VergeOS |
|---|---|---|
| Systems | Dell EMC plus Cisco UCS with NetApp | One VergeOS environment |
| Hardware | End-of-life UCS blades and NetApp | Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650, all-flash |
| Licensing | VMware quote up 30% | VergeIO per-node licensing |
| Project cost | Nearly 30% over budget | More than 28% under budget |
| New node | Time-consuming configuration | Fifteen minutes |
| Management | Separate systems | Single pane of glass |
A Stronger Disaster Recovery Strategy
Disaster recovery also improved significantly. The ioGuardian node added robust DR capabilities, and InterBel plans to move it to a separate site for geographic redundancy. Rasmussen values how easy VergeOS disaster recovery is to manage and how well it fits existing processes.
Ready for the Future
InterBel can scale the environment by adding compute nodes as needed, so its investment will keep meeting its needs for years. Moving the ioGuardian node to a separate facility will further strengthen its disaster recovery strategy.
Reflections and Conclusion
Rasmussen encourages other organizations to give VergeIO serious consideration. He points to simplicity, ease of migration and compatibility with existing hardware, and describes VergeIO as offering quick virtual machine deployment and a one-stop shop for infrastructure management.
“VergeIO is where simplicity and efficiency meet. It’s the place to call.”
Tom Rasmussen, IT Manager, InterBel Telephone
For InterBel Telephone, VergeIO delivered the cost savings, performance and simplicity needed to modernize without compromise, turning what could have been a stressful refresh into a smooth, under-budget project that equips InterBel to keep serving its community.
See What VergeOS Does for Your Team
InterBel finished its infrastructure refresh more than 28% under budget with a one-person IT team. Talk with a VergeIO engineer about what that looks like for your environment.