Topgolf Reduced or Eliminated More Than $11.3 Million in Costs

Topgolf reduced or eliminated more than $11.3 million in combined infrastructure costs after moving about 12,000 virtual machines from VMware to VergeOS, the company’s global infrastructure manager said.

Scott Forehand said the figure covers combined infrastructure costs, not VMware licensing alone. He also said the calculation was made before later increases in hardware prices.

“Overall, we reduced or eliminated over $11.3 [million] in combined infrastructure costs prior to the adjustments in hardware cost in the market,” Forehand said.

The migration followed Topgolf’s projection that VMware-related costs would rise 400% after Broadcom acquired VMware and changed its licensing and product-packaging model. Topgolf secured a five-year enterprise license from VergeIO, compared with a three-year term VMware had offered.

The infrastructure redesign took roughly six months. Topgolf replaced 650 Dell VxRail hosts with about 400 Dell PowerEdge servers and moved from six-node VxRail clusters with 35 terabytes of storage to three-node VergeOS clusters with 5 terabytes.

Forehand said comparative hardware spending fell 87% and software costs declined 77%. Topgolf also eliminated third-party backup software and hardware as part of the redesign.

VergeOS now spans more than 100 Topgolf venues, offices and core data centers. The company uses its Toptracer system to send about 40 terabytes of camera-network data per day at a typical 102-bay venue, adding to its storage and processing requirements.

The migration combined a virtualization change with a hardware refresh and changes to Topgolf’s backup infrastructure. VergeOS integrates virtualization, storage, networking, disaster recovery and data protection functions.

Topgolf’s infrastructure shift reflects the cost and technology changes that followed Broadcom’s ownership of VMware. The company’s stated savings figure refers to reduced or eliminated costs rather than a separately disclosed VMware licensing reduction.