BelOrta migrates from VMware to Proxmox: state-of-the-art infrastructure for less money
Key takeaways
Challenge: End-of-life hardware combined with sharply increased VMware licensing costs following the Broadcom acquisition, with no clear renewal path for the existing VxRail setup.
Solution: Full migration to a managed Proxmox environment on new Dell hardware, including network redesign, redundant data center in a stretched setup, integrated backup via Veeam, and 24/7 monitoring and patching by Epact.
Result: A €30,000 saving over five years, including managed services for that period, compared to an unmanaged VMware renewal, a reduced RTO, ISO 27001 support, and a fully unburdened IT team that can refocus on the business.
Conclusion: For BelOrta, the switch to Proxmox was not a budget exercise, but a strategic choice for greater control, less vendor lock-in, and a future-proof infrastructure. The combination of Epact's technical expertise, local presence, and fully managed model was the decisive factor.
BelOrta is Belgium's largest and oldest fruit and vegetable auction cooperative. From its headquarters in Sint-Katelijne-Waver, 550,000 tons of over 200 different products are auctioned annually for more than a thousand Belgian growers.
IT is not merely a supporting function; it is the backbone of the company. The auction platform, the ERP solution, communication between twelve locations and with end-users: everything relies on an infrastructure that must be available day in, day out.
The twelve-person IT team manages this environment within a context that is anything but static: NIS2 compliance, food safety standards, changing customer demands, and a volatile environment requiring high availability.
When the existing hardware approached its end-of-life and VMware licensing costs sharply increased following the Broadcom acquisition, ICT Manager Tim Van Cayzeele faced a choice with strategic implications.
The challenge: a crossroads for infrastructure and virtualization
BelOrta's existing setup was based on VMware VxRail: a co-engineered solution from Dell and VMware that had functioned well for years. However, in 2025, several issues converged.
The hardware was five years old and due for replacement. Simultaneously, Broadcom's acquisition of VMware created structural uncertainty: there was no longer a clear renewal path for VxRail customers, and end-of-support for vSphere 8 is scheduled for October 2027. Moreover, those who opted for extended VMware licenses paid three to five times more than with the previous contract renewal.
BelOrta sought a partner who could not only execute the technical migration but also take on full management. A partner who actively contributed ideas, not just executed tasks. Additionally, there was a concrete technical objective: to reduce the RTO (Recovery Time Objective) compared to the existing situation.
The solution: replacing VMware with Proxmox
The choice for Proxmox was not a budget exercise, but the result of a thorough consideration across five areas: cost, technology, functionality, operational reliability, and (internal) knowledge.
Ultimately, a fully managed Proxmox solution - including hardware, licenses, management, and managed services from Epact - proved to be cheaper than an unmanaged VMware extension, calculated over five years. By the end of 2025, the contract was signed and the hardware ordered from Dell.
The hardware was delivered in early February. What followed was an implementation process that placed minimal burden on the BelOrta IT team. Epact carried out the installation autonomously: the internal team did not need to be present. Meanwhile, BelOrta's core network was also redesigned and accelerated: a network redesign that not only supported the new infrastructure but also improved overall network performance.
Go-live, including handover and test VMs, followed in mid-March. By mid-April, over 95% of all virtual machines had been migrated to the new environment.
Epact's approach went beyond hardware and hypervisor. The specifications detailed every aspect: from power consumption and cooling to cable type and length. The CPU choice was aligned with the Microsoft licensing structure. Licenses for Veeam and the hypervisor were included in the proposal. And close collaboration with Dell ensured a hardware offering that was competitively priced and quickly available.
“We are saving a good €30,000 over five years compared to an unmanaged VMware extension. So we got a fully managed environment with more performance for less money. And with data sovereignty on top of that.”
Tim Van Caeyzeele, IT Manager at BelOrta
The result: more performance for less money
The results are very clear: BelOrta saved €30,000 over five years compared to an unmanaged VMware extension, even though the new solution is fully managed.
The data center was set up redundantly at one location, with the possibility of stretching to a second site for higher availability. We are talking about a medium-sized environment of around eighty VMs. The network became faster, more secure, and fully documented. Backup is integrated via Veeam into Epact’s Cloud-in-a-Box platform, including management, monitoring, patching, reporting, and licenses.
But the value goes beyond those figures. Tim Van Cayzeele, IT Manager at BelOrta, summarizes it this way: "Everything was spot on. Everything was on time and on budget. The installation proceeded exactly as planned. Our technical staff worked alongside Epact, thereby increasing their own knowledge. And we ticked off several extra boxes for our ISO 27001 certification regarding disaster recovery, documentation, backups, and patching. We chose against the path Broadcom is taking and, in doing so, have inadvertently gained a sovereign European software solution. This was never the intention, but given the current geopolitical situation, it's a welcome bonus."
How is working with Epact?
Four factors were decisive in choosing Epact as a partner, according to Tim Van Caeyzeele: the combination of hands-on expertise with Proxmox, VMware and Veeam, the proximity as a local partner, the fully managed model that takes patch and backup management off their hands, and proven references in sectors where IT is business-critical.
"If I have a question or a problem, Epact is just one phone call or one visit away," says Tim Van Caeyzeele. "We can focus on our business, they make sure our infrastructure is running at its best. Essential tasks like patch and backup management are outsourced and monitored. We're no longer dependent on individuals when problems arise. That gives peace of mind."