Sheetz accelerates exit from VMware, migrating 11,000 virtual machines to StorMagic
The retailer has completed over 600 store transitions and expects to finish the remaining 238 locations within four months, retaining existing Dell hardware while shifting to StorMagic’s SvHCI platform.
US convenience store chain Sheetz is in the final stages of migrating its IT infrastructure from VMware to StorMagic’s SvHCI platform, a move driven by uncertainty surrounding Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware. The retailer is moving approximately 11,000 virtual machines across its 838 locations, a process that began after the company determined that Broadcom’s new licensing models created excessive budget risk.
Sheetz has completed migrations at more than 600 stores to date, averaging 200 sites per month. The company expects to conclude the transition across all remaining locations within four months. Each store is transitioning 12 to 14 virtual machines from VMware vSphere to StorMagic, with an additional two VMs per site to be replaced over the coming months to facilitate the upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11.
The decision to leave VMware was precipitated by Broadcom’s shift from perpetual licenses to mandatory subscription bundles with five-year commitments. Scott Robertson, Sheetz’s infrastructure team manager, stated that the projected price hikes and increased vendor dependence forced the retailer’s hand. The company is retaining its original Dell R440 and R450-series server hardware, which has been deployed across its sites since 2019, thereby avoiding capital expenditure on new physical servers.
Sheetz opted for StorMagic after already utilising its SvSAN storage virtualisation solution for critical in-store applications. Gary Sliver, the company’s director of platform engineering, noted that the initial rollout demonstrated StorMagic’s resilience and centralised management capabilities. The migration is being conducted remotely, leveraging automation and StorMagic’s VM Import Utility to minimise business disruption in a 24/7 retail environment.
The move highlights a broader trend among enterprises seeking to reduce reliance on VMware. Other organisations, including Allstate, T-Mobile, and Tesco, have similarly announced plans to migrate off the platform. StorMagic’s SVP of global sales, Scott Mann, indicated that the company is targeting large enterprises with distributed edge locations, noting that these sites face similar IT constraints to small-to-medium businesses.
