A Thai Law Enforcement Agency

In the process of replacing VMware, how to ensure a smooth migration of core business systems while preserving existing investments is a common challenge faced by institutions worldwide. Recently, ZStack, leveraging its “100% core scenario replacement, 50% TCO reduction, worry-free migration” VMware-to-ZStack Solutions, successfully deployed its enterprise cloud platform ZStack Cloud for a major law enforcement agency in Thailand. This project became a benchmark case of hardware reuse, uninterrupted business operations, and zero data loss during VMware migration — injecting sustainable digital power into the agency’s core mission of fighting crime.

As the vanguard of national security, this agency’s IT systems must meet strict standards for both stability and agility in response. Confronted with rising VMware costs, declining support quality, and changes in the product roadmap, the agency decided to adopt a new platform to replace VMware. However, during planning, a dilemma emerged: the performance of its previously purchased DELL servers and Hitachi storage devices remained robust. If they adopted a traditional VMware replacement approach, the old hardware would be discarded, requiring costly procurement — resulting in asset waste and increased fiscal pressure on the government.

ZStack identified the agency’s core requirement of lowering TCO and, based on its real-world environment, proposed a VMware-to-ZStack migration using ZStack Cloud. Thanks to ZStack Cloud’s strong heterogeneous compatibility and reuse capability, the existing IT assets were seamlessly integrated and fully utilized. Even the older DELL servers continued to operate efficiently on the cloud platform. Meanwhile, with its unique Shared Block technology, ZStack Cloud seamlessly connected to Hitachi centralized storage, natively supporting multiple protocols such as iSCSI and FC. Complex storage protocols at the infrastructure level were abstracted into unified standard interfaces, allowing business transformation without replacing existing storage devices. This enabled the agency to turn existing resources into a stable, high-efficiency cloud infrastructure without additional hardware investment — perfectly aligning with the government’s “efficient and intensive” development philosophy.

In addition, ZStack Cloud offers flexible licensing, shortened delivery and migration cycles, intelligent operations, broad ecosystem compatibility, and production-grade cross-version hot upgrades. It also supports elastic deployment from 1 to 1,000 servers in a single cluster, forming a comprehensive cost-reduction solution and helping the Thailand law enforcement agency cut TCO by 50%.

Gartner has noted that migrating at scale from VMware’s server virtualization platform requires significant effort, incurs high project costs, and brings operational risks, often taking 18 to 48 months. Therefore, a proven phased migration plan is essential.

Once the replacement solution was established, the next step was a smooth migration of selected core workloads from VMware to ZStack Cloud. Leveraging experience from serving 30+ countries and regions with over 1,000 successful VMware-to-ZStack cases, ZStack delivered a complete “Five-Step Migration Methodology” covering the entire lifecycle from pre-migration preparation, business assessment, solution planning, migration execution, to post-management — ensuring the migration process remained controlled and traceable, achieving true “worry-free migration.” In this project, the methodology was put to the test with mission-critical systems and zero business downtime.

During the agency’s VMware migration process, ZStack provided full “worry-free migration” support:

Pre-migration (Planning Assurance): The ZStack technical team carried out a full assessment of the agency’s IT infrastructure, gathering key data on hardware configuration, network architecture, virtualization platform versions, VM resource allocation, and system dependencies. Based on continuity requirements, migration feasibility and risk points were evaluated. A customized migration strategy and contingency plan were created. Multiple simulation tests were performed with the ZStack ZMigrate tool, along with comprehensive data backups to ensure reliability.

Migration (Product & Implementation Assurance): Using a “On-site + Remote” dual-support model, ZStack engineers provided continuous guidance. Agentless migration technology read VMware VM disk data and configuration directly via VMware VADP interfaces — without installing any agent inside the VMs — enabling nearly non-intrusive migration for workloads. For mission-critical systems, a standardized process of Shutdown → Final Incremental Sync → Startup was strictly followed, preventing human error.

Post-migration (Operational Assurance): Multiple rounds of stringent functional, data, and performance verification ensured migration results met standards. Via ZStack Cloud’s unified control plane, both old and new platforms were managed together. Productized O&M capabilities included multi-dimensional monitoring & alerts, batch operations, and automated script libraries — significantly boosting IT operational efficiency.
Ultimately, all targeted systems were successfully migrated to ZStack Cloud, with zero data loss and seamless business transition. IT efficiency was greatly improved, turning technology upgrades into a true enabler of law enforcement missions rather than a burden.

From hardware reuse as part of cost-optimized design, to worry-free migration safeguarding business continuity, ZStack remains committed to solving real customer challenges. Looking ahead, ZStack will continue to deliver flexible, reliable, and needs-aligned cloud infrastructure solutions — enabling government institutions in more countries and regions to achieve VMware-to-ZStack 100% core scenario replacement, 50% TCO reduction, and transformation from “seamless migration” to “worry-free migration.”