DXC Technology's A/NZ managing director, Seelan Nayagam (L) and WSU chief information and digital officer, Kerry Holling (R). (DXC Technology)
DXC Technology has won a cloud services migration deal with Western Sydney University (WSU), that is set to see the integrator move 75 per cent of the institution’s on-premise tech services to a managed Internet-as-a-Service (IaaS) hybrid cloud platform.
While DXC Technology is remaining tight-lipped about the precise value of the deal, the university’s chief information and digital officer, Kerry Holling, said it represents a multimillion-dollar, multi-year commitment.
Under the terms of the deal, DXC will provide a managed private cloud platform in its Western Sydney Data Centre, which is expected to give the institution the ability to flexibly and securely consume virtualised infrastructure, including compute, storage and DXC Service Management.
DXC will also develop a migration strategy to rapidly and securely move the applicable workloads, letting the university quickly implement private or public cloud services for future consumption.
“This…is designed to completely transform the provisioning of compute and storage for WSU,” Holling said. “Our sector-leading proposition will ensure that we can quickly react to the needs of our staff and students, and deliver dynamic learning and research experiences, whether on, or off campus.”
The deal is part of a broader IT and digital services strategy by the university, dubbed “Future Now”, which aims to “maximise opportunities presented by digital technologies”.
Factors contributing to the IT initiative include a growth in students, staff and researcher intake, an increase in online content being made available to students and staff, and a shift in the style of learning where students were taking part in classes through digital platforms. These factors were beginning to overload the university’s existing IT infrastructure.
“This transformation will deliver seamless, scalable and secure services to academic staff, researchers and students; extend the university’s footprint to the local and international community; and fulfill the potential of all learners,” Holling said.
Holling said the university went with DXC Technology because it offered an experienced team capable of leading institution through its transformation journey, from standard workload migration, application transformation and colocation.
“We are pleased to be the first university in Sydney to undertake a transformation of such a large scale,” Holling said.
