Marconi University Transitions To Private Cloud
Marconi University, Italy’s first Open University, has relocated their e-learning program to the cloud via a virtual private cloud platform. The university, which has roughly 15,000 graduate and post-graduate students worldwide, offers various scholastic resources and streaming of academic information through this e-learning program.
Previously, the e-learning program was hosted in a data center facility in Rome. More concerning, the servers were maintained by another third party. Hardware depreciation was taking its toll on the university which ultimately leads to a lack of innovation and a reduction in quality provided to its students. Furthermore, the university was experience a decrease in uptime which caused a lack of good experience for the students.
IT systems manager for Marconi University, Marco De Nicola, said, “We wanted to completely release our IT department from the burdens of managing hardware systems. Our students from around the world need to be able to access our services and educational materials any time, day or night. In technology terms, this means we need a high-performance infrastructure that has very high levels of availability and network resilience.”
Since the decision to transition to the cloud, the IT team has chosen to use the Virtual Data Center of network provider Interoute for the e-learning program. Using a VPN, the university is now better connected and can backup critical material offered to the students.
Additionally, switching to Interoute will reduce the IT department’s operating costs by a whopping 23% annually. De Nicole continued, “The Interoute VDC solution is 23% cheaper a year to run than our previous solution, which means we can now focus much more time and financial resources on driving strategic projects for the university.”
Increasing uptime and cutting costs by using Interoute creates the ability to scale up or down as needed. Matthew Finnie, Chief Technology Officer of Interoute, additionally commented, “Educational institutions are increasingly turning to virtualized online learning platforms to make sure students can follow lessons, prepare for exams, take practice tests and interact with tutors at whatever time of day they wish. By moving its e-learning platform to VDC, Marconi University has achieved cost savings and financial flexibility.”
