Topgolf saved over $11.3 million after leaving VMware
2 min read
Summary
Topgolf’s VMware costs were going to increase by 400 percent under Broadcom. To avoid that cost, the sports entertainment company moved 12,000 virtual machines (VMs) to VergeIO’s VergeOS and has saved over 11millionsofar.Beforemigrating,Topgolf’sVMwareconnection“ranverydeep,”ScottForehand,Topgolf’sglobalinfrastructuremanager,toldArsTechnica.Topgolfhasover100locationsworldwidefeaturinginteractivegolfgameswithreal−timeshottrackinganddigitalanalytics.ThecompanyusedvSphereandESXifordecadesandstartedusingVxRail,thehyperconvergedinfrastructure(HCI)platformthatVMwareco−engineeredwithDell,in2017.TopgolfemployeespreviouslyparticipatedinnumerousVMwarecustomercouncilsandhavebeeninterviewedforbooksonhowTopgolfusedvSphereandHorizon(nowOmnissaHorizon),perForehand,whoisaleaderofthe[Dallas/Ft.WorthVMwareUserGroup](https://dfwvmug.com/).ButBroadcom’sdecisiontostopselling[VMwareperpetuallicenses](https://arstechnica.com/information−technology/2025/07/some−vmware−perpetual−license−owners−are−unable−to−download−security−patches/)andbundleVMwareproductsintofewer,larger,andmoreexpensiveSKUsledTopgolf,aswellas[manyotherVMwarecustomers](https://www.sdxcentral.com/news/vmware−rivals−circle−as−gartner−predicts−55−enterprise−exodus−by−2029/),tolookelsewhere.WithVMware’sstrategicchangescomplicatingfutureplanning,Topgolfdecidedtomigrateitson−premisesworkloads,includingthoseforitsvenues,offices,labs,anddatacenters.TwentyTopgolfvenuesarestillrunningVxRailwiththeVMwareCloudFoundationsoftwarestack.ForehandexpectsTopgolftobecompletelyoffVMwarebythesecondweekofDecember.Headded:Overall,wereducedoreliminatedover11.3 [million] in combined infrastructure costs prior to the adjustments in hardware cost in the market. Comparatively, it’s much more now when you look at the cost of a solution similar to the configuration of the old VxRail solution we installed.
The money Topgolf saved by moving to VergeIO isn’t typical because Topgolf has larger needs than many organizations. However, saving money on software licensing and avoiding proprietary HCI appliances and separate tools for data protection, replication, and multi-site management is common for VergeOS users coming from VMware, VergeIO Chief Marketing Officer George Crump told Ars.
“Most customers who move from VMware see meaningful reductions in all three,” he said.
