As students head back to the classroom this month, school IT teams across the country are heading into the new year with a fresh set of priorities: uptime, security, and budgets that stretch further. Bonneville Joint School District No. 93 (D93), Idaho's third-largest school district, is familiar with the challenge. Just in time for the new school year, D93's story is a timely reminder that the right technology foundation, built over the summer and tested before the bell rings, can make all the difference once students and staff are back in session.
For D93, that foundation came from partnering with Scale Computing and Veeam Software. By modernizing its infrastructure, strengthening data resilience, and redirecting real savings back into the classroom, D93 has entered this school year on stronger footing than ever — with faster backups, quicker recovery, and a lean IT team empowered to focus on students instead of firefighting technology issues.
The Challenge: Doing More with Less
D93 serves more than 13,000 students across 26 schools, including 15 elementary schools, four middle schools, and seven high schools. Its mission — preparing today's learners for tomorrow's success — depends on IT systems that are reliable, secure, and always available, especially as the back-to-school rush puts new demands on district networks and devices.
But the district's lean IT team faced a familiar constraint: big responsibilities, limited staff, and strict government regulations around data security and availability.
"We have a relatively lean IT team serving thousands of users, so the pressure is on to make the right technology decisions. We're always looking for the best combination of performance, efficiency, and ease of management. At the same time, we have government regulations around data security and availability that we must meet too," said Jonathan Voter, server administrator at D93.
The tipping point came when D93, previously an HPE and VMware shop, saw licensing costs climbing sharply — a projected 31% annual increase that would have diverted funding away from classrooms and student programs. The district needed a new computing platform paired with a data resilience solution that could meet its high standards, without adding administrative burden.
The Solution: Scale Computing and Veeam, Working as One
D93 chose to migrate off VMware onto the SC//HyperCore™ virtualization suite, paired with Veeam Data Platform and Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 for comprehensive data protection. The combination gave the district's IT team a unified, simplified way to manage virtualization, backup, and recovery, without the complexity or cost of its legacy environment.
Scale Computing supported D93 directly through the rollout of its new computing platform before the district layered in its Veeam-powered data resilience environment. "Having someone there during deployment was reassuring, but both the Scale Computing and Veeam solutions were pretty much plug and play," Voter said.
D93 migrated 85 servers and roughly 110 terabytes of data onto its new SC//HyperCore environment, establishing backups to an on-premises cluster and Wasabi cloud storage, while also deploying Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 to protect data for 200 users, retaining that data for a full year to support recovery from accidental deletions and to meet regulatory requirements.
The Results: Faster Recovery, Real Savings, Stronger Security
By combining Scale Computing and Veeam, D93 transformed its IT operations across three key dimensions heading into the new academic year:
- Backup windows cut by 85%. Backup times dropped from seven hours to just one, giving the IT team far more agility and confidence in its data protection strategy.
- Recovery reduced to minutes. Using Veeam Instant Recovery, D93's team can now respond to accidental data deletions or disruptions with just a few clicks, keeping classroom learning on track even during the busy back-to-school season.
- Significant cost savings. By migrating off VMware to the SC//HyperCore suite, D93 avoided a projected 31% annual increase in hypervisor licensing costs — savings the district can now reinvest directly into student programs.
The district's data is also better protected than ever, giving the IT team assurance in the event of a ransomware attack or operational error. "Our backups are now air gapped, encrypted, and immutable, which gives us great peace of mind that we're covered in the event of a cyberattack," Voter said.
Looking Ahead
For D93, the partnership between Scale Computing and Veeam has done more than solve an immediate cost problem — it has built a foundation the district can grow with as students settle back into the school year.
"We've seen backup times drop from seven hours to just one, an improvement of more than 85%," Voter said. "The performance gains give us the confidence to evaluate extending our Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 deployment to even more users. We know our environment can scale without adding complexity, which lets us stay fully focused on delivering the best education possible for our students."
It's a story Scale Computing hears often from customers: when IT complexity disappears, teams get their time and attention back for the work that truly matters, so organizations like D93 can concentrate on their real mission. As classrooms fill back up this month, the Bonneville school district's infrastructure is ready to support that mission for years to come — proof that a strong IT foundation, set before the first bell, pays off all year long.
To learn more about how Scale Computing helps organizations simplify IT and strengthen data resilience, take a tour of our solutions and schedule a demo today.