Case Study – Africa Re Insurance
Project Details
Client Name: Africa Re Insurance
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Customer Overview
Africa Re is a leading pan-African reinsurance provider supporting critical insurance operations across
multiple regions. Its core systems — underwriting, claims processing, enterprise applications, and
virtual desktops — were running on VMware Cloud (VMC) on AWS. The environment consisted of 6
VMC nodes in the primary site, 3 VMC nodes for disaster recovery, VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery
(VCDR) for business continuity, Omnisia VDI enabling a distributed workforce, and 200+ virtual
machines supporting mission-critical workloads. Following Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, Africa
Re faced rapidly escalating licensing costs, operational uncertainty, and limited flexibility — putting
pressure on IT budgets and long-term strategy.
Challenge Overview
- 3× increase in VMware licensing costs creating unsustainable budget pressure
- Limited control over ESXi, vCenter nodes, and the network layer
- Unclear long-term pricing and significant vendor lock-in risks
- Single-vendor DR strategy with limited flexibility and no multi-region redundancy
- Dependence on a single primary data centre increasing downtime risk
- Backup reliability concerns impacting regulatory compliance and audit readiness
- Difficulty adopting AWS-native services while maintaining VDI and DR workloads
- Lack of a phased modernisation pathway without major re-architecture
Solution Overview
F9 Infotech designed and implemented a resilient Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) on AWS architecture,
enabling Africa Re to seamlessly transition away from VMware while maintaining uninterrupted business
operations. The solution leveraged:
- High-performance primary NC2 cluster on AWS i4i instances for performance-intensive insurance
workloads - Cost-optimised DR cluster on AWS i3en instances for high storage density and efficient failover
readiness - Near-real-time replication using Nutanix Prism Replication — continuous synchronisation across
regions - Omnisia VDI redeployed on NC2 ensuring uninterrupted access for a geographically distributed
workforce - Druva cloud-native immutable backup integrated to reduce backup failures and improve audit
readiness - Security embedded via AWS IAM, GuardDuty, CloudTrail, Security Hub, and centralised logging and
monitoring - Clear modernisation roadmap toward AWS-native services: Amazon EC2, EKS, and AWS Lambda
Benefits Delivered to Customer
The overall infrastructure and licensing costs were reduced by 40%, delivering
approximately USD 280,000 in annual savings compared to VMware Cloud on AWS, with
65% faster workload provisioning and ROI achieved within 18 months.
QUALITATIVE RESULTS
- Zero disruption to mission-critical insurance operations during migration
- Improved operational agility through simplified, unified AWS and Nutanix management
- Enhanced platform stability with faster issue resolution and reduced operational risk
- Stronger business continuity with multi-region disaster recovery architecture
- Improved data protection, audit readiness, and regulatory compliance
- Reduced vendor lock-in enabling greater strategic and commercial flexibility
- Future-ready foundation to gradually adopt AWS-native services for modernisation
- Elimination of unpredictable VMware licensing escalations and cost volatility
STRATEGIC OUTCOMES
- ✓ Future-Ready Architecture — Africa Re can now modernise at its own pace, selectively migrating workloads to AWS-native services for better performance and cost efficiency.
- ✓ Vendor Independence — Reduced reliance on VMware licensing and single-vendor DR solutions.
- ✓ Enhanced Security Posture — Improved threat detection, visibility, and governance via AWS-native security services.
- ✓ Business Confidence — IT leadership gained predictable costs, stronger resilience, and a scalable growth foundation across Africa.
About F9 Infotech
F9 Infotech is a global consulting and system integration company headquartered in the UAE, operating across the Middle East, India, Singapore, Canada, the USA, KSA, and Ireland. We specialize in emerging technologies with strong capabilities in IT infrastructure modernization, cloud computing, and cybersecurity.
We support enterprises through end-to-end cloud managed services and innovative strategies that accelerate their cloud journey. In cybersecurity, we deliver comprehensive services including vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, SOC solutions, risk management, and compliance consulting, backed by AI-driven threat detection and proactive monitoring.
With a proven global track record, cutting-edge technology investments, and a highly skilled team, we deliver secure, scalable, and customer-focused solutions that help businesses overcome challenges and achieve growth.