FEATURE CLOUD
agility and greater operational flexibility. By securing enhanced support, we can now deploy our on-site staff more effectively and dedicate valuable time to strategic initiatives rather than routine maintenance and management.
What were the biggest challenges you encountered during the migration, and how did your team overcome them? The transition was largely seamless, thanks to Nutanix’ s robust migration tools. Additionally, knowing that OVHcloud did not impose ingress or egress charges gave us peace of mind that the entire process was fully reversible should any critical issues arise.
However, we did encounter some highpressure moments early on. On the first day of the term, an unexpected IT outage left crowds of students stranded outside a college campus. The culprit was our use of a single IP interface for all connections; the sudden surge in student traffic triggered a false positive in the DDoS detection system, cutting off all network access. We resolved the problem swiftly with support from PrimeSys and OVHcloud and adapted our strategy, ensuring that every individual site now utilises distinct connection pathways to prevent future disruptions.
How has the new Nutanix on OVHcloud environment improved resilience, flexibility and day-today IT operations? Transitioning from an on-premises setup to the cloud has brought substantial benefits. While we possess a superb internal team, the addition of the PrimeSys and OVHcloud teams provides invaluable extra support and around-the-clock availability whenever required.
Partnering with PrimeSys to migrate to the cloud has delivered superior technological agility and greater operational flexibility.
We resolved the problem swiftly with support from PrimeSys and OVHcloud.
Our resilience was proven during a regional test that caused a local power failure; because our cloud campus was fully operational, our services remained uninterrupted. In the past, such an incident could have forced a campus closure and compelled staff to take leave.
Ultimately, this comprehensive solution has delivered enhanced technical support and a robust platform at an equivalent cost to running on-premises. As a result, we enjoy greater resilience and availability compared to our former environment, alongside a reduced carbon footprint, which aligns perfectly with our institutional values as an educational provider.
What impact have single sign-on and multi-factor authentication had on security and the experience of students and staff? Prior to migrating to Nutanix, WCG had already implemented single sign-on and multi-factor authentication( MFA). The implementation of these systems has had a two-fold impact: logging into systems is now much more efficient and secure, as users generally only need to enter their credentials once. Security has significantly improved due to MFA, which is a well-documented security method against phishing attacks. Staff and students have quickly adapted to these MFA requirements; furthermore, we generally find that students expect this enhanced level of security for any account that holds value to them.
What lessons did you learn from the migration that could help other education institutions planning a similar transition? While many peers often view cloud adoption as cost-prohibitive, WCG successfully implemented a comparable alternative.
We had considered Nutanix in the past, but the value-to-payoff ratio wasn’ t sufficient back then. Today, it stands as a robust and
straightforward platform that delivers exactly what we require.
In terms of procurement, rather than relying on the OCRE framework, we leveraged the NHS SBS framework. I would encourage other institutions to remember that compelling options exist well beyond the standard G-Cloud when evaluating buying frameworks.
Crucially, selecting the right partners can make or break a project. Every migration is bound to face initial teething problems, and ours was no exception. However, our technical engineers frequently highlighted how much it
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