The IT infrastructure landscape is undergoing a major shift. As businesses grow, traditional virtualisation platforms and siloed hardware systems are proving too rigid, too expensive, and too complex. Many organisations are actively seeking smarter alternatives - platforms that offer better performance, tighter security, lower cost, and seamless hybrid cloud capabilities.
Microsoft Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI), powered by Azure Stack HCI, is quickly becoming the platform of choice. At Inlight IT, we help mid-sized businesses reimagine their infrastructure using Microsoft’s HCI stack - giving them a scalable, high-performance foundation that’s future-ready, secure, and tightly integrated with Azure.
Microsoft HCI consolidates storage, compute, and networking into a single, software-defined solution. It runs on validated industry-standard hardware and is built with technologies like Storage Spaces Direct, Hyper-V, Azure Arc, and Windows Admin Center.
But Microsoft HCI is more than just another virtualisation platform. It’s a hybrid cloud infrastructure that allows businesses to keep critical workloads on-prem while extending capabilities to the cloud for backup, monitoring, governance, and security. This makes it especially attractive to organisations that are invested in Microsoft 365, Azure Active Directory, or Defender - but still need on-prem performance and control.
One of the most compelling reasons organisations are moving to Microsoft HCI is cost control. Compared to VMware, Azure Stack HCI offers a more flexible, subscription-based pricing model and eliminates licensing complexity, especially for organisations already in the Microsoft ecosystem.
Beyond cost, Azure Stack HCI brings speed, scale, and simplicity. With support for NVMe and advanced caching mechanisms, businesses can deploy clusters that scale effortlessly from two to sixteen nodes - without re-architecting the environment. Day-to-day operations are streamlined with Windows Admin Center, which offers a unified interface for managing virtual machines, storage, networking, and Azure services, all from one place.
As well as that, security is embedded at every level. Features like Shielded VMs, BitLocker encryption, and role-based access controls are native to the platform. When combined with Azure Defender and automated patching, businesses gain a much stronger and more compliant security posture.
A prime example of HCI success is our recent engagement with Beijer Ref Australia, one of the region’s leading refrigeration and climate control solution providers.
Beijer Ref was operating across multiple physical sites with aging infrastructure, growing workloads, and limited disaster recovery capabilities. They needed a centralised, resilient solution that could support their operational expansion, without introducing new complexity.
We implemented a tailored Azure Stack HCI cluster that consolidated their core infrastructure and provided secure, high-availability performance across all sites. With Azure Arc integration, they were also able to manage workloads across hybrid environments, while Inlight IT provided proactive monitoring and support.
The result was a modern, scalable infrastructure that improved uptime, centralised control, and enabled future growth, with no compromise on performance or security. Beijer Ref is now positioned to expand further, with an HCI environment that adapts alongside them.
"With Inlight IT’s solution, we’ve taken a major step forward. Our infrastructure is now not just surviving our growth, it’s empowering it.
You can read the full case study here.
We often hear questions like, “How does Azure Stack HCI compare to VMware or Nutanix?” The key difference is ecosystem alignment. Microsoft HCI is designed for hybrid environments and integrates natively with Azure services, so your infrastructure, cloud, identity, security, and compliance tools work in unison.
Another common question is: “How fast can we get started?” A typical two-node deployment can be completed in under a week. From hardware configuration to virtualisation and Azure integration, we handle the entire process, ensuring your team can hit the ground running.
If you’re facing challenges with infrastructure costs, cloud transition, legacy virtualisation platforms, or compliance mandates, Microsoft HCI offers a strategic path forward. It’s especially suited to:
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Our HCI engagements are not just implemented, they’re engineered. Our methodology includes:
From architecture to orchestration, we deliver infrastructure that scales intelligently and aligns with business, compliance, and DevOps requirements.
Ready to Transform Your IT Stack?
If you’re considering a move from VMware or exploring hybrid options for your infrastructure, let’s talk. Visit our Microsoft HCI Stack page or contact us for a tailored roadmap.
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