Thrive Networks Inc is a leading managed service provider (MSP) operating across North America, delivering services in cybersecurity, cloud hosting, disaster recovery, network management, and end‑user computing. To ensure their next-generation network platform was designed according to best practices and built for scalability, Thrive engaged comdivision as an external advisor for an NSX‑T design initiative.
“Engaging an external advisor like comdivision confirmed our design decisions and significantly increased the team’s confidence. It’s an investment that gives us faster results and strong architectural guidance whenever we need it.”
— Head of Infrastructure
Key Facts
- Fixed‑Fee Advisory Engagement: One‑year, fixed‑fee NSX‑T design advisory
- Advisor & Design Auditor: External review and validation of NSX‑T design decisions.
- Accelerated Time‑to‑Value: Design guidance saved an estimated 3–6 months.
The Situation
Thrive planned to design an initial NSX‑T platform and migrate a subset of existing workloads to the new environment. Although their internal team had the skills and capacity to execute the design independently, VMware training alone did not provide sufficient service‑provider‑focused guidance. Thrive wanted to validate their approach early, reduce architectural risk, and ensure the platform would scale as the company continued to grow and acquire new organizations.
Q: What triggered this project?
A: The need to design a new NSX‑T platform and safely transition existing workloads, while ensuring the architecture followed best practices and was future‑proof.
Q: Why was external help needed?
A: VMware training was largely enterprise‑oriented and too concise for Thrive’s service provider use cases. Thrive wanted external validation to confirm they were heading in the right direction.
Q: How long did the engagement run?
A: Approximately one year, reflecting the advisory nature and long‑term design process.
What We Did
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Providing guidance through requirements gathering, conceptual design, and physical design phases
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Auditing and reviewing Thrive’s NSX‑T designs
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Delivering targeted design workshops at key decision points
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Acting as an on‑demand architectural sounding board
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Identifying knowledge gaps and validating design decisions
Strategic Gains
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Accelerated design process: Reduced testing and re‑deployment cycles by an estimated 3–6 months.
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Validated architecture: Increased confidence that the NSX‑T design aligns with best practices.
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Scalability: Platform designed to enable rapid integration of new companies.
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Long‑term partnership: comdivision acting as a central point of contact for future incidents and projects.
Technology Stack
By engaging comdivision early as an advisor and design auditor, Thrive Networks ensured its NSX‑T platform was built correctly from the start. The collaboration accelerated the overall initiative, reduced architectural risk, and created a scalable foundation for future growth. As a result, Thrive continues to rely on comdivision as a trusted partner to enable faster product development and informed infrastructure decisions moving forward.
