Evolving from three-tier IT to a unified platform for virtualization, management, and security.
Future-ready IT foundation
Nutanix serves as a strategic platform that scales with Den Hartogh’s global growth ambitions.
Greater control, simplified management, and lower costs
A single platform and active knowledge sharing (including via the Nutanix User Group) enables fast response to business and technology changes.
Built-in virtualization capabilities
Virtualization is easy to enable, with no need for separate tools or management platforms.
Reduced licensing and operational costs
Eliminates the need for separate virtualization licenses, removing dependency on third-party solutions.
Compatible backup and disaster recovery
Integration with Veeam provides centrally managed backup and recovery without added complexity.
By switching to Nutanix AHV, we will reduce our dependency on VMware, eliminated duplicate licensing costs, and simplified management.
Royal Den Hartogh Logistics is a Dutch family business that has been active in transport and logistics since 1920. What began in the Netherlands has grown into an international logistics service provider with 2,600 employees, 54 locations in 27 countries, and more than 30,000 tank containers worldwide. Den Hartogh supports clients across industries including chemicals, gas, dry bulk, and food, delivering logistics services on a global scale. Its IT environment, which underpins these operations, is centrally managed across four data centers.
In addition to physical goods, Den Hartogh also manages large volumes of data. This data is continuously exchanged with customers, suppliers, and partners, forming the foundation for planning and execution. It is also used to optimize processes and proactively support customers.
“Our rapid growth placed increasing demands on the IT environment,” says Westy Weijts, IT Platform Engineer at Royal Den Hartogh Logistics. “This is when you realize that a traditional three-tier architecture lacks the flexibility to scale, introduces delays, and leads to relatively high management costs.”
In addition, multiple platforms were running in parallel, resulting in duplicate licensing costs and unnecessarily complex management, according to Weijts. At the same time, IT had become increasingly critical to operations. Systems were processing large volumes of data from customer integrations, transport management systems, and EDI connections. This required a stable, easily manageable platform that could be quickly adapted when onboarding new customers or integrating systems.
Back in 2016, Den Hartogh chose Nutanix hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) to simplify its IT environment and improve scalability. Nutanix brings compute, storage, and virtualization together in a single platform, centrally managed through Nutanix Prism.
"We support all our activities from a central environment. As a result, we always have a complete overview allowing us to have the flexibility to scale quickly and easily when the business demands it," says Weijts.
The IT team has full visibility and control across the entire environment, according to Weijts. Moreover, the Nutanix Platform enables the team to set up new environments quickly. This allows Den Hartogh to simplify the onboarding of new customers and quickly establish connections with systems from partners and suppliers.
Building on its Nutanix foundation, Den Hartogh launched a project in 2025 to transition fully to the platform’s integrated Nutanix AHV virtualization layer. Because virtualization is built in, no separate licenses or standalone management tools are required. According to Weijts, this reduces IT costs, simplifies operations, and delivers a more stable infrastructure aligned with the demands of a 24/7 logistics environment.
“By switching to Nutanix AHV, we will reduce our dependency on VMware, eliminate duplicate licensing costs, and simplify management,” says Weijts. “At the same time, we will maintain the stability and flexibility required to continuously support operations.”
The migration covers approximately 130 virtual machines and is being carried out in phases by region and business unit. Den Hartogh is executing this project in close collaboration with Nutanix partner Bizzway. Thanks to thorough preparation and dedicated migration tools, workloads are transferred in a controlled manner without disrupting daily operations, according to Weijts.
The combination of Nutanix hyperconverged infrastructure and its built-in AHV virtualization layer creates a clear and efficient IT environment. By bringing virtualization, management, and infrastructure together in a single platform, the IT team can operate from one centralized environment.
Weijts: “Because AHV is fully integrated into the Nutanix Platform, we can use it from the same management environment. As a result, management has been greatly simplified and centralized. We no longer work with multiple systems and have also become more flexible.”
New systems or environments can be set up or adapted quickly. This makes it easier to connect customers or realize integrations with external systems. In this way, the infrastructure directly supports operations, where continuity and predictability are crucial.
Downtime has direct consequences for planning and transport, with immediate impact on daily operations. To ensure system and data availability, Den Hartogh uses Veeam for backup and disaster recovery. The solution is validated to work with the Nutanix environment, enabling centralized, reliable backup management without added complexity.
The infrastructure is also being further strengthened from a security perspective. “At a time when cyber threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated, we are working with Nutanix to enhance our security measures,” says Weijts. “This gives us greater control over data flows within the infrastructure and helps reduce operational risks.”
Den Hartogh has positioned Nutanix as a strategic foundation for its IT environment with the goal of creating a scalable, secure, and future-ready platform that evolves alongside the organization's international ambitions. The focus is on further migration to the platform’s integrated virtualization layer (Nutanix AHV) and on strengthening security to promote long-term continuity, flexibility, and manageability.
At the same time, Den Hartogh continues to invest in the development of its transport management system, where data plays an increasingly important role. By analyzing data patterns, Den Hartogh aims to further optimize processes, better anticipate disruptions, and proactively support customers. In this context, IT acts as a clear driver of efficiency and innovation across the logistics chain.
The collaboration with Nutanix plays a key role in this transformation. “Communication lines are short, and when an issue arises, they respond quickly,” says Westy Weijts. “Even in the case of a P1 incident, the Nutanix support team takes immediate action, and issues are often resolved without downtime. Knowledge sharing is also an integral part of the partnership. Through the Nutanix User Group, we exchange experiences with other users and experts. I highly recommend this; it helps you stay up to date on developments and learn how others manage change, so you can anticipate it more effectively.”
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