Health Sciences Association of Alberta ensures 24/7 access to critical internal services by creating a high-availability cluster with StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN)

CHALLENGE

Before deploying StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), the Health Sciences Association of Alberta relied on an HPE Nimble SAN paired with Microsoft Hyper-V. While the platform was stable, it limited flexibility in hardware selection and made scaling expensive. Expanding storage required additional dedicated SAN hardware, which increased capital costs, power consumption, and rack space.

The IT team wanted a solution that could scale within budget constraints while maintaining performance and availability. Alternatives from major vendors such as HPE and Dell were reviewed, but they still depended on traditional SAN models. Without a software-defined approach, it was difficult to consolidate resources or optimize costs using existing compute infrastructure.

Since moving StarWind into our production environment, we have not had a single issue. The service and support we’ve received is unparalleled in the industry, and it’s hard to put a price on the peace of mind provided by that!

Chad Horchuk, IT Manager

SOLUTION

StarWind VSAN enabled the Health Sciences Association of Alberta to move storage directly into their Hyper-V compute nodes. By using StarWind VSAN on Dell PowerEdge servers, the organization consolidated storage and compute into a single, highly available platform. This reduced the need for separate SAN hardware and lowered power and cooling requirements. Performance improved due to local storage usage, and infrastructure management became simpler. The solution delivered enterprise features at a lower cost and allowed flexible hardware selection.

After more than a year in production, the system has operated without issues. StarWind’s support added confidence, while long-term savings reached tens of thousands of dollars compared to traditional SAN solutions.