UAC moves to cloud to optimise its storage with the support of Logicalis

The University Admissions Centre (UAC) is an Australian not-for-profit organisation that processes admissions applications for most undergraduate courses at participating tertiary institutions across Australia, predominantly those located in New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). In collaboration with participating institutions, UAC continuously explores ways of improving its service and the ways that service is delivered to promote equity of access across tertiary education.

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Upsizing systems and storage space with Logicalis and Dell Technologies

UAC transitioned its system from a physical to virtual network in 2015, including the delivery of its two primary and secondary sites. UAC developed a relationship with Logicalis through this project and, subsequently, Logicalis also helped to upgrade UAC to new technologies and continues to support UAC on their digital transformation journey.

As a result of this trusted relationship, Logicalis was the first port of call for UAC when the organisation needed to upgrade its technology while simultaneously replacing and expanding on its storage. UAC approached Logicalis for a proposal, and, after a rigorous tender process, Logicalis was selected for its cost effectiveness and delivery of equipment.

Muhammad Shahid, systems administrator, UAC, said, “The cost and equipment Logicalis was providing were superior to others and, given our extensive relationship with Logicalis, we trusted that Logicalis knew our system and whatever the team recommended would meet our requirements. We also wanted to stick with Dell Technologies and the PowerStore solution as we have had a great experience with their products in the past and saw no reason to change.” Says Muhammad. .

Benefit

Since transitioning to cloud and the new Dell Technologies SAN (Storage Area Network) deployment, UAC has achieved results at twice the speed of its previous system. And, Dell EMC PowerStore always on data efficiency techniques such as pattern matching, deduplication, and compression helped to reduce the amount of data that is physically stored within the system. Hence, reducing the total cost of ownership. This ensures UAC can use the new SAN for at least three years without incurring additional costs, while simultaneously experiencing performance that is two times faster.

Muhammad Shahid said, “With the support of the new Dell EMC PowerStore, the UAC team can achieve more in less time, and our IT team is now better positioned to focus more on strategic growth. Since moving to the new SAN solution, UAC has also seen an increase in productivity. Processes that would typically take 24 hours to read or write with the previous system now take half the time."

The way forward

Since deploying the new PowerStore solution, UAC has commenced development on a new credential and credit management product to better support and streamline the admissions process both internally and externally. This will help UAC create a digital wallet for applicants that will let them store their qualification, education, and work experience in the cloud, creating a more seamless process to transfer credits interstate or overseas.

While the current system works on-premises in a private cloud, this will ultimately be integrated with its new admissions system, making the move to cloud and support from Logicalis increasingly important for the organisation.

Muhammad Shahid said, “UAC and Logicalis worked seamlessly together on this deployment, and the Logicalis team was very accommodating and efficient in terms of our timeframe. We’ve received positive feedback on the deployment from our project managers and finance director among others; all users have been happy with the Dell Technologies solution we’ve deployed.”

In addition to its new product development, UAC is also planning to deploy new firewalls in 2022 as well as moving to a new office location, which will be supported by Logicalis.

Muhammad Shahid said, “The UAC team is happy with what we’ve achieved with the support of Logicalis and is looking forward to continuing our relationship into the future. Working with Logicalis has meant that someone is always available to find a solution or answer a question. That reliable support has been critical for UAC.”