Major Canadian University turned to Long View for a data center refresh

This major Canadian University turned to Long View Systems for a data center refresh to create a hybrid cloud environment that delivers maximum access to staff, faculty, and students reliably and securely

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For a major Canadian university, making the transition from the limitations of legacy, end-of-life technology to a hybrid multi-cloud data center environment involves more than a change in IT architecture. The path to a successful transformation also consists of understanding its impact on staff, faculty, and students – the latter paying clients.

With students, the focus is on streamlining their access to the resources they require consistently, conveniently, and securely to ensure that they will excel academically. For staff and faculty, it is all about supporting the operations to create a learning environment that delivers maximum value to the student body.

The key to the success of large projects of this nature is effective communication between teams, senior management, and stakeholders. By working collaboratively with the university to develop a master technology migration roadmap, Long View delivered a stable core data center foundational infrastructure, providing operating efficiencies and advancements with no residual reliance on legacy data center hardware, software, or infrastructure.

Through their proven assess, design, and implement approach, Long View enabled the university to achieve these core objectives by successfully transitioning to Long View NextNet, a next-generation secure, converged network, including a Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) data center, and Cisco SDWAN for Cloud connectivity.

Refreshing their multi-campus core, including the migration to a software defined infrastructure with multi-tenant segmentation for consolidation, the university gained the much needed operating efficiencies of a stable, manageable, nextgeneration SDN infrastructure that is resistant to downtime for maintenance and upgrades.

As the future of its students, the future path to data center reliability and performance is indeed bright and secure.

SUMMARY

Business Challenges:

• Due to age and end of life technology, the university’s multi-campus core data center required a refresh.
• Stabilizing the core networking infrastructure of the university was a critical objective.
• Extending the data center constructs to the collective campus to enhance access for staff and users being paying students was also critical to the initiative’s success.

Response:

• Long View leveraged a framework that included an assess, design, and implement approach with our subject matter experts (SME) for a data center Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) implementation to stabilize the university’s core networking.
• Long View’s expertise consisted of a technical project manager, data center technical consultants, a digital architect, a cloud architect, and a network operations consultant.
• Long View managed effective communications between teams, senior management, and stakeholders to address immediate objectives and identify other possible efficiencies that the university can gain over time by following the LVS customized master technology migration roadmap.

Solutions Used:

• Long View NextNet SD-WAN and SD-Data Center
• Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) data center and Cisco SDWAN for Cloud connectivity
• Utilization of the latest best of breed technologies with a focus on next generation data center security, application enablement with VMware and Dell VXRail to provide advances analytics of the environment and enable automation for the planning, deployment, and operational staff.

Customer Impact:

• Long View provided the university with a stable core data center foundational infrastructure that can now support operating efficiencies and advancements with no reliance on legacy data center hardware, software, or infrastructure.