Macquarie University has concluded the next step of its digital transformation journey with the migration of its IT infrastructure to a hybrid cloud environment.
With over 44,000 students and more than 3,000 staff, Macquarie University is one of Australia’s leading universities and public research institutions.
With the aim to improve its learning offerings, enhance the student experience, and bolster the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations, Macquarie University is working towards an ambitious digital agenda. A key pillar of that strategy is modernisation of the cloud environment.
Macquarie University, Sydney
During a four-month implementation period, Macquarie University migrated a large number of IT applications from an -premise infrastructure to the VMware Cloud on the AWS environment. In total, 480 virtual machines supporting foundational and critical applications such as finance, CRM, and student support systems were shifted to the new cloud environment.
The migration project was supported by Kyndryl, a recognised partner of Amazon Web Services.
Jonathan Covell, Chief Information and Digital Officer (CIDO) of Macquarie University, said that working in the cloud enables the institution to provide easier access to learning materials and seamless on-campus and virtual experiences to students and staff members, including a faster and easier approach to exam scheduling, class timetabling, accelerated access to academic resources, and training for staff members.
In addition, Kyndryl implemented AWS tools to help improve cyber resiliency, disaster recovery for critical business applications, automated cyber threat detection, and cybersecurity monitoring.
Meanwhile, with AWS, Macquarie University can drive efficiencies by streamlining its IT infrastructure, and consolidating on-premises and cloud workloads, reducing its dependence on costly on-premises systems that are challenging to maintain.
“Our collaboration with AWS and Kyndryl is crucial when it comes to driving our digital strategy forward to create a connected university with a strong service delivery culture,” said Covell.
Reflecting on the project, Kyndryl boss for Australia and New Zealand, Ashish Kumar, said: “We are proud to be involved in this critical phase of Macquarie University’s transformation as it sets a high standard for what it means to be a truly digital education provider.
“Kyndryl’s expertise in modernising mission-critical workloads and strong collaboration with AWS has already delivered positive results for the university, and we’re looking forward to achieving more milestones together in the future as the university positions itself for the next step into cloud native delivery.”