VergeIO announced that CenterGrid has completed a major overhaul of its IT infrastructure with the implementation of VergeIO’s Ultraconverged Infrastructure (UCI). This strategic shift significantly advances CenterGrid’s service offerings, particularly in the demanding Media and Entertainment (M&E) sector and GPU-powered workloads such as VFX and AI.
Revolutionizing Managed IT Services
CenterGrid has evolved from providing essential infrastructure services to comprehensive, turnkey-managed IT solutions, including Cloud services. This evolution was driven by the need to respond swiftly to dynamic IT requests, including deploying new systems or scaling existing ones, while adhering to stringent timelines.
Specialization in Media and Entertainment Industry
Recognizing the unique challenges in the M&E industry, CenterGrid has developed a specialization that addresses the limitations of traditional MSP data centers, particularly those imposed by legacy infrastructure software. These challenges include restricted virtual machine density and inadequate graphics processing capabilities.
Overcoming the Legacy Virtualization Challenge
Chris Beard, COO of CenterGrid, identified restrictive hardware support and high resource consumption as significant hurdles when using legacy hypervisors that make up the core of an infrastructure software solution. “The limitations imposed by legacy infrastructure software’s support of hardware variability and its performance penalties were throttling our ability to meet our client’s needs, especially in the rapidly evolving Media and Entertainment (M&E) sector,” Beard stated.
Embracing VergeIO’s Innovative Solution
After extensive testing of various alternative hypervisors, CenterGrid discovered VergeIO. VergeIO’s UCI solution, VergeOS, stood out for its per-server licensing model, comprehensive networking, virtualization, and storage integration. CenterGrid was particularly impressed with VergeOS’s exceptional migration capabilities from legacy infrastructure software solutions.
Yan Ness, CEO of VergeIO, expressed enthusiasm about this partnership: “We are thrilled to see CenterGrid leverage VergeOS to its full potential. Our vision has always been to provide a versatile and powerful platform for Mid-sized data centers, enterprises, and service providers. It provides unique benefits to service providers like CenterGrid, enabling them to excel in service delivery.”
Operational Excellence Achieved
CenterGrid’s rigorous testing proved that VergeOS matched and exceeded their previous solution’s capabilities, especially in terms of setup, operation, and GPU support. The platform’s responsiveness in large-scale environments was a game-changer for CenterGrid’s operations.
Significant Cost Savings and Enhanced Efficiency
The transition to VergeOS has led to considerable cost savings for CenterGrid, especially in licensing fees. “The shift to VergeOS is not just a technical upgrade; it’s a strategic move that aligns with our vision of cost-efficiency and operational excellence,” added Beard.
Future Outlook
With the successful implementation of VergeOS, CenterGrid is now well-positioned to focus on expanding its customer base and enhancing service offerings, moving away from the constraints of infrastructure management.
