CASE STUDY continue to meet growing demand and evolving expectations across teaching and learning. Rather than pursuing a like-for-like replacement, the university chose to invest in a modern, integrated platform to improve performance, simplify management and support future innovation.
“ Changing something as fundamental as our virtualisation platform is a major decision and we approached it with a clear focus on longterm capability,” said Stephen Payne, UniSQ Associate Director, Hosting Infrastructure.
“ We wanted to strengthen the foundations of our environment – improving reliability today while giving us the flexibility to evolve as our needs change. Nutanix provided a platform that aligned with that direction.”
Working with Nutanix Professional Services, UniSQ implemented the Nutanix Cloud Platform, including AHV hypervisor, to streamline its infrastructure and accelerate deployment.
According to Payne, the university achieved its migration on deadline. It migrated its Test and Development environment( 500 VM) and production environment( around 300 VMs and appliances), including business-critical applications, such as the Moodle-based learning and teaching system, uConnect student and staff portal and PeopleSoft ERP system. Its Oracle databases now run on NCP.
“ We had a clear timeframe to work to and the combination of platform capability and implementation support allowed us to move quickly while maintaining confidence in the outcome,” said Payne.“ Equally important was ensuring we had the right architecture and documentation in place to support future initiatives, including containerisation, cloud integration and new digital services.”
Since adopting Nutanix, UniSQ has reduced its infrastructure footprint by 52 % based on UniSQ’ s internal assessment, consolidating workloads while maintaining strong performance and improving operational efficiency.
“ Previously, managing performance and capacity required significant manual effort across multiple systems,” Payne said.“ Now we have a more streamlined environment where resources can be managed proactively, helping us maintain consistent performance for both students and staff.”
The new platform also enables UniSQ to mitigate potential disruptions during maintenance and upgrades – critical in an environment where teaching and assessment occur continuously throughout the year.
“ When you’ re supporting students studying across different modes and timeframes, downtime isn’ t really an option,” continued Payne.“ The ability to manage and update systems while mitigating potential disruptions is a significant step forward for us.”
Michael Alp, Managing Director, Nutanix A / NZ, said the university is positioned to adapt quickly to future needs and innovate without complexity or compromise.“ Education has always been critical, but the rapid-fire pace at which entire industries are evolving today makes education more important than it has ever been,” said Alp.“ University of Southern Queensland has doubled down on the future, helping ensure it has the infrastructure flexibility to not only keep pace with emerging technologies, but to innovate ahead of them.”
Stephen Payne, UniSQ Associate Director, Hosting Infrastructure, discusses the collaboration in depth.
What was the tipping point that convinced you to replace the previous virtualisation platform with the Nutanix Cloud Platform?
The increasing cost pressure associated with maintaining our existing virtualisation platform. Rather than treat that as a routine renewal exercise, UniSQ used it as an opportunity to reassess its broader infrastructure strategy and consider whether the current model remained the best fit for our future needs. Nutanix presented an alternative that would allow us to simplify the environment, improve resilience and move towards a more integrated and sustainable infrastructure platform.
The commercial arrangements negotiated through CAUDIT, combined with strong executive support and a clear migration pathway, gave us the confidence to proceed.
We had an opportunity to transform how UniSQ delivers and manages its core infrastructure while reducing risk, improving value and creating a stronger foundation for future growth.
During the migration stage, how did you ensure you hit your deadline without disrupting teaching, assessment or student services?
We approached the migration as a tightly controlled operational programme, with a
Changing something as fundamental as our virtualisation platform is a major decision and we approached it with a clear focus on longterm capability. www. intelligentcio. com
INTELLIGENT CIO APAC
15