Executive Summary
Customer: National Rural Support Programme (NRSP)
Industry: Not for Profit Organization
Location: Pakistan
Challenges
- Decentralized VMware Infrastructure
- High risk due to lack of DR
- Redundant, underutilized servers
Sangfor Solution
- aServer × 6
- HCI for 6 Sockets
- aDR + 1 VM
Customer Background
The National Rural Support Programme (NRSP), established in 1991, is Pakistan’s largest rural development organization. Operating across 72 districts including Azad Jammu and Kashmir, NRSP works with over 3.8 million poor households through a network of 254,749 Community Organizations. Its mission is to alleviate poverty by harnessing people’s potential and driving sustainable development.
NRSP is a key player in Pakistan’s microfinance and development sectors. Its Microfinance and Enterprise Development Program (MEDP) has been providing credit and insurance services to rural men and women since 1992, focusing on crop and livestock-related loans.
Challenges
NRSP’s infrastructure was a mix of bare-metal servers and non-clustered VMware ESXi hosts, lacking centralized management, shared storage, and high availability.
Key challenges included:
- High operational costs due to outdated infrastructure.
- Complex and resource-intensive management of decentralized systems.
- Limited scalability to meet growing business demands.
- No disaster recovery (DR) or business continuity mechanisms.
- Inefficient resource utilization and lack of centralized visibility.
Sangfor Solutions
NRSP evaluated multiple virtualization platforms, including VMware, Oracle Virtualization, and Sangfor HCI. A comprehensive Proof of Concept (POC) was conducted with each vendor. While some competitors offered lower pricing, NRSP’s technical team found Sangfor’s platform to be the most intuitive, scalable, and support-friendly. The local presence of Sangfor’s team and the simplicity of its licensing model were decisive factors.
Why Sangfor
- Sangfor’s HCI solution delivers a simplified, cost-effective, and scalable alternative to traditional VMware environments. Its intuitive management console streamlines daily operations, significantly reducing the need for specialized IT expertise.
- Designed with modular architecture, Sangfor HCI enables seamless resource expansion to support future business growth. Integrated features such as centralized management, disaster recovery, and backup ensure robust business continuity and minimize downtime.
- Powered by all-flash, software-defined shared storage, Sangfor HCI offers high performance and ultra-low latency—ideal for demanding workloads like financial applications.
- The solution also supports the migration of existing workloads from BareMetal servers (P2V) and VMware ESXi environments (V2V), effectively reducing server footprint and optimizing infrastructure efficiency.
- With a simplified licensing model, Sangfor HCI helps lower overall software and support costs, making it a strategic choice for modern IT environments.
Sangfor has leveraged me and my team to increase their productivity as previously most of our time was being consumed by the operational tasks for managing the infra, while now on a single click, I can get the entire health check summary of my complete infra. Thank you Sangfor for easing up the operations for me.
Mumtaz Ghafoor, CTO NRSP
With the successful deployment of Sangfor HCI across both primary and disaster recovery sites, NRSP has significantly enhanced its IT infrastructure. The new solution has enabled centralized management, improved system availability, and reduced operational complexity. By consolidating resources and streamlining operations, NRSP’s IT team can now focus more on strategic initiatives rather than routine maintenance. This transformation supports NRSP’s broader mission of empowering communities and driving sustainable development across Pakistan.
