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Belk ensures uninterrupted customer service across its retail locations by building a hyperconverged infrastructure around StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN)

January 13, 2026
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Matthew Brooks
Infrastructure Architect. Has over a decade of enterprise infrastructure experience, specializing in cloud security, containerization, and technical documentation.
Infrastructure Architect. Has over a decade of enterprise infrastructure experience, specializing in cloud security, containerization, and technical documentation.

CHALLENGE

Before deploying StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), Belk relied on a two-node VMware vSAN setup running on HPE DL360 Gen10 servers. However, following the acquisition of VMware by Broadcom, the company began to reassess its virtualization strategy, looking for a more cost-effective and vendor-independent solution. As part of this shift, Belk decided to move from VMware to Microsoft Hyper-V as its hypervisor of choice. This transition raised a new challenge – finding a vSAN alternative that could match VMware vSAN in terms of functionality and performance. The new solution also had to support deployment automation and be compatible with its existing hardware.

The team needed a solution that offered both technical reliability and responsive support to ensure a smooth migration to a new virtualization stack.

The experience with StarWind has been outstanding. Wonderful product, excellent service, not a lot more I could ask for.

Matthew Brooks, Infrastructure Architect

SOLUTION

Belk chose StarWind VSAN because it allowed the company to fully replicate the functionality of VMware vSAN without compromising performance or availability. StarWind’s team provided end-to-end assistance throughout the process – from initial engagement and PoC to scripting and customization of the deployment, ensuring seamless production migration. Automation was a key benefit, with StarWind helping to streamline and simplify the deployment process for the IT team. Post-migration support has also been a highlight, with quick and effective resolutions provided for the few support tickets raised.

With StarWind VSAN, Belk now enjoys a stable, cost-efficient, and vendor-independent hyperconverged infrastructure that meets its operational demands.

About the Company
Belk, Inc. is a long-standing American department store chain founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, North Carolina. Over the decades, the company expanded across the Southeastern United States, operating nearly 300 stores in 16 states. Belk offers a wide range of products, including clothing, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home goods, and a wedding registry.
Region
NA (North America)
Country
United States
Industry
Retail
Product
StarWind Virtual SAN
Inspired by Matthew Brooks’s success? Want to improve business continuity for your business-critical apps and services?
Dmytro Malynka StarWind Virtual SAN Product Manager
We’ve got you covered! StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) is specifically designed to provide highly-available shared storage for Hyper-V, vSphere, and KVM clusters. With StarWind VSAN, simplicity is key: utilize the local disks of your hypervisor hosts and create shared HA storage for your VMs. Interested in learning more? Book a short StarWind VSAN demo now and see it in action!