Healthcare Imaging Firm Turns to ZehnTek to Dramatically Lower Virtualization Costs
- Professional Services
Healthcare
Proxmox virtualization platform eliminates software licensing while managed support services contract absorbs implementation and support costs
THE CLIENT
Samsung Healthcare USA develops advanced imaging solutions for healthcare providers across the United States, including ultrasound, digital radiography, and computed tomography. The company brings world-class innovation and engineering expertise to translate clinical challenges into imaging solutions that improve diagnostics, enhance workflows, and support patient care.
THE CHALLENGE
Samsung Healthcare USA previously relied on VMware as the hypervisor for its on-premises IT infrastructure. When VMware changed its licensing model, that’s when Information Technology Manager Christopher Gattoni knew it was time to re-evaluate.
“We faced a 156% increase in our licensing costs, and we would have had to lock in for three years,” Gattoni points out. “Previously, our contracts ran for one year at a time.”
Given that licensing costs would continue to rise, Gattoni realized the company’s financial team would require an alternative solution. “It wasn’t just that costs were rising dramatically,” Gattoni says. “We needed more predictability in what our licensing costs would be year over year.”
Gattoni first thought of looking into the cost of Hyper-V, the Microsoft server virtualization solution. But he realized that Microsoft would likely follow the VMware licensing model strategy. The company needed a third alternative.
THE SOLUTION
To take on this challenge, Gattoni turned to his trusted technology services partner, ZehnTek. ZehnTek has supported the company’s VMware environment for five years and offers senior technology professionals with expertise across the entire IT spectrum, including open-source technologies.
“ZehnTek brought Proxmox to our attention,” says Gattoni. “Proxmox has more mature enterprise features around storage and the single pane of glass management console. Although we were unfamiliar with the solution, it ticked a lot of the boxes for us as a mid-size company. We don’t need a Cadillac solution, but we need a solid Jeep.”
The Proxmox Virtual Environment solution is an open-source server management platform for enterprise virtualization. The platform integrates a kernel-based virtual machine hypervisor with Linux containers, software-defined storage, and networking functionality. With a web-based user interface, customers can use Proxmox to manage virtual machines, containers, clusters, and disaster recovery.
Gattoni says the migration from VMware to Proxmox went very smoothly. “I give the project an A+ rating in relation to other IT projects we have handled,” says Gattoni. “We worked collaboratively as a team, with ZehnTek providing their expertise so we could pick up on how Proxmox works for managing our infrastructure.”
A big key to the project’s success was the upfront risk analysis performed by ZehnTek. This identified which applications moving from VMware to Proxmox might run into issues. ZehnTek also helped Gattoni develop a backup plan in case something went wrong.
“Together, we found some gaps between the virtualization platform and applications, and we addressed them before the cutover, so we weren't caught flat-footed,” notes Gattoni. “The cutover took place on a weekend, and come Monday morning, it was business as usual for our end users.”
THE RESULTS
Within the stable, virtual environment at Samsung Healthcare USA, Proxmox functions the same as VMware. The internal IT team quickly picked up on the technology, and the end-users did not notice anything changed when using their front-end applications. And because Proxmox is offered as open-source software, the company did not incur any licensing costs upon implementation. They can also keep using Proxmox without any future licensing costs. “Our costs all come from implementation and support, which we can effectively work into our ZehnTek managed services contract,” says Gattoni. “Because Proxmox shifts the cost from a per-core subscription model, we eliminate unknown cost increases that we have no control over. The open-source model makes it easier to forecast our system support costs over the coming years.” | Key ZehnTek Technology Expertise
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Gattoni notes that from a cost perspective, using Proxmox on-premises is similar to using the cloud. It becomes an operating expense instead of capital expenditure. But in the cloud, many add-on services are behind a paywall, or customers have to upgrade to use a more expensive service.
“It’s easy for expenses to get out of hand,” Gattoni explains. “However, with a partner like ZehnTek and a solution like Proxmox, we can keep the system running in-house where it’s easier to control add-on costs.”
Another benefit comes from how ZehnTek streamlined the Proxmox configuration. “Platforms like VMware and Hyper-V tend to get more and more complicated over time,” says Gattoni. “With a small staff and a stable virtual environment, we don't need all the bells and whistles. We just need something that works, is cost-effective, and easy to manage. And that’s what we get with Proxmox.” | Samsung Healthcare USA projects it will generate a three-year ROI of 34% by migrating from VMware to Proxmox. |
Looking back at the five-year relationship with ZehnTek, Gattoni says, “We enjoy working with ZehnTek; they have a great team who knows our market and the IT challenges we face. Compared to large solution providers and consulting firms, they provide a cost-effective model for companies like ours. And when we need help, all we have to do is call, and someone immediately starts helping us. We don’t have to go through a portal to manage tickets, which can be a hassle and creates a layer between customers and IT support teams. We like having one person to call who will then manage each incident and bring in the right resources.”