Continent 8 designed, planned and executed full-service VMware-to-Nutanix migration effort, helping Sportingtech avert 42% increase in virtualisation costs.

Continent 8 Technologies, the leading provider of global managed hosting, connectivity, cloud and cybersecurity solutions to the iGaming and online sports betting industry, is pleased to announce an expanded partnership with multi-award-winning global betting and gaming provider, Sportingtech. In a strategic collaboration to optimise its virtualisation environment, Sportingtech entrusted Continent 8 to successfully oversee and implement their VMware-to-Nutanix cloud migration initiatives.

In the wake of Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, Sportingtech encountered an unexpected increase in costs, rising by as much as 42% due to licensing changes. This development significantly impacted the cost structure of their VMware-based virtualised enterprise private cloud architecture. To mitigate against these cost fluctuations, Sportingtech chose Continent 8, a Nutanix Authorised Service Provider and their current cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity services partner, to provide professional and managed services for a VMware-to-Nutanix migration.

Continent 8 executed a comprehensive assessment, prioritisation plan and migration journey of hundreds of virtual appliances. The significant efforts led by Continent 8, in close collaboration with Sportingtech, ensured no disruptions in operations or to users and were completed well within the originally anticipated target date. As a result, Sportingtech now benefits from a more predictable, manageable and cost-efficient virtualisation platform and environment.

Michael Jack, Chief Technology Officer at Sportingtech, said: “We are always looking for ways to enhance the solution we build for our customers and to keep costs down. Working with Continent 8, who constantly push to provide efficiencies, cost reductions and value-added expertise, made good sense to us. They continue to be a valued partner and managed to deliver the project on time with no service interruption for us or our customers, which is critical.”

Justin Cosnett, Chief Product Officer at Continent 8, said: “Continent 8 is able to use its experience with VMware, Nutanix, private and public clouds to provide professional as well as managed services to customers, enabling them to focus on core revenue-generating operations. Being able to demonstrate such a significant saving and ROI will be of interest to many enterprises in today’s market.

“It’s thanks to the experienced and highly qualified project and cloud engineering staff at Continent 8 that we were able to successfully complete this project, while earning Sportingtech’s trust to manage their critical operational infrastructure.”

Read the full Sportingtech virutalisation migration case study here.

The Customer

The customer is a technology services supplier to iGaming and online sports betting customers operating globally.

With a legacy “all-VMware” virtualised enterprise architecture, and a requirement for high availability, scalability and multi-purpose workloads, they needed to replace the current hardware and future­ proof whilst maintaining 24/7 availability.

Needing a service provider to design, plan and execute a migration to a new, cost­ effective virtualised hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), Continent 8 Technologies, a Nutanix Authorised Service Provider, provided managed and professional migration services to deliver the project.

The Challenge

There were multiple requirements to be met, from technical to commercial, with a requirement for minimal operational impact. The project’s migration requirements included:

• Hardware replacement – Existing hardware was soon to be end-of-life (EOL) and needed to be replaced with new HCI cluster nodes.
• Hypervisor change – Due to cost, an alternative solution was sought which could minimise licensing fees while supporting current and future workloads and providing additional native benefits.
• Speed/ timescale and 24/7 availability – The project had to be completed within fixed timescales at pace, whilst not disrupting operations.
• Multiple geographic locations – The enterprise was located in North America and West Europe with three data centre environments – interconnected across a WAN/LAN – reducing to two locations.
• Mixed workloads – Virtual servers ran a mixture of vendor applications, databases and in-house intellectual property – of different sizes and priority – with one server being 8 TB alone.

Current traditional three-tier architecture using VMware as their hypervisor

The Solution

Continent 8 proposed and delivered a solution using Nutanix Acropolis hypervisor (AHV) in two clusters in two geographically diverse locations. The solution involved multiple components:

• Current hardware utilisation was assessed, and new hardware specification designed by Continent 8 provided requested capacity availability and easy additional future node capabilities.
• Continent 8 provided an ROI cost comparison of numerous alternate vendor choices and recommended Nutanix AHV.
• Continent 8 demonstrated migration ease in a test proof-of-concept (POC) environment.
• Existing workloads were assessed and prioritised into a plan with milestones for key operational activities.
• Continent 8 executed migrations in advance of switchover so the Nutanix Move service – a cross-hypervisor mobility solution to move virtual machines (VMs) with minimal downtime – could copy data to new cluster ahead of availability.

On average four to eight virtual servers were migrated per day around an agreed, lowest impact schedule between Monday to Thursday.

New hyperconverged Nutanix stack complemented with Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV)

The Benefits

Availability:

• Continent 8 created a migration plan and schedule which minimised impact to the customer and maximised productivity.
• By delving into the customer’s key operational requirements and understanding workload utilisation, this plan minimised the chance of failure or impact.
• During migrations there was no user experience impact, although Continent 8 provided heightened support availability in case of issue or roll-back.

Cost:

• By recommending Nutanix AHV and a two-cluster environment, Continent 8 was able to demonstrate:
• Direct comparative cost savings in licensing costs
• Futureproofing against volatility in post-Broadcom acquisition of VMware
• Reducing hardware infrastructure footprint, whilst providing easy additional node capabilities for scale
• Reducing geographical footprint to minimise operational support costs
• Continent 8 was able to offer up-front CAPEX or OPEX options to suit the customer’s needs and demonstrate managed service costs to maintain and operate.

Speed:

• Continent 8 performing the work allowed the customer’s operational-focused teams to continue with uninterrupted work and the project to be undertaken at speed.
• From engagement to execution, the project was completed on time and within budget.
• Continent 8 utilised project management resources to ensure all tasks were completed in order and key milestones achieved.

All migrations were completed prior to hardware EOL and Broadcom VMware licensing update following acquisition completion.

“Infrastructure migration and management can be a costly and long process, with pitfalls for even the most skilled technical teams. Continent 8 has demonstrated that customers can achieve the benefits of lower cost, quicker deployment, and therefore swifter ROI, by engaging us to scope and execute this project with experienced and certified professionals. When Continent 8 is engaged, we don’t just try to achieve a migration – but a future-proof and scalable platform for growth.”

Justin Cosnett, Chief Product Officer, Continent 8 Technologies

Francisco Santos, Cloud Operations Manager at Continent 8 Technologies, alongside several of his colleagues in the global Cloud team, recently attended Nutanix .NEXT 2024. The event featured a full agenda of keynote presentations, game-changing breakouts, and hands-on demos, with a focus on how hybrid cloud unlocks the full potential of on-prem, private and public clouds.

Here, Francisco shares his key takeaways from the event.

Tell us about your impressions of Nutanix .NEXT 2024? What did you enjoy most about the show?

I was really impressed with the .NEXT event. I attended a smaller version last November, but this full version provided a lot more information about new products, features, and partnerships.

I had a great time meeting with the Nutanix team, checking out new features for the Nutanix AHV virtualisation and Nutanix NCM multi-cloud management platforms, and learning about how other companies are using Nutanix. It was also interesting to explore the services available from partners like RedHat, Suse and Parallel.

You presented a session titled “Creating Multi Tendency Offering with Nutanix.” How did that session go? What resonated the most with attendees?

The session was fantastic! We had over 100 attendees, and many people reached out afterward to learn more about our approach to building the multi-tenancy offering with Nutanix. The session covered how tenant operations are performed with NCM Self-Service, how to provide isolation with Flow Virtual Networking and VPCs, and even how to plan a migration from VMware to Nutanix AHV.

I think the session was timely given the recent changes to the new licensing model used by VMware Broadcom – a topic of concern for some. As a premier partner in Broadcom’s Partner Program for VMware Cloud Service Providers (VCSPs), we not only help customers migrate from non-virtualized and existing VMware infrastructure to fully managed and compliant clouds but also provide cost savings through licensing scalability and 24/7 support capability.

While at Nutanix .NEXT Nutanix, did you see a common themes, whether it was on the show floor or at the various speaking engagements?

During the event, I noticed that most of the topics revolved around containers, cybersecurity, AI and hybrid cloud as most of the companies are using public/private cloud to establish their environment and disaster recovery solutions. The use of containerised applications can assist customers in understanding how to decouple their applications and optimise their use of the public cloud.

Did you notice any other topics of interest? Do you have any final thoughts?

Hybrid cloud and AI are consistently the main topics covered at most cloud events, and Nutanix has some intriguing solutions available.

Overall, this was certainly an informative event, with a lot of great takeaways and customer interest. I look forward to attending next year’s Nutanix .NEXT event.

Continent 8 offers a comprehensive cloud offering that can support any cloud-based iGaming and online sports betting environment, tailored to the customer’s specific project requirements.

Learn how our cloud team can help simplify, optimise and reimagine your hyperscale, hybrid, public multi-tenant and private single-tenant cloud infrastructure – contact us today!