University of Idaho migrates major systems to OCI in just 14 weeks
By moving integral workloads to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, the university chooses an easy path toward modernization and cost management.
“Performance is better on OCI than it was on-premises. It’s good knowing that the environment performs well, and we have the ability to easily increase performance as we need to.”
Business challenges
Since 1993, the University of Idaho relied on an on-premises Ellucian Banner system to run its critical student, HR, and finance operations. Though the system worked well and was a major part of university operations, the overhead costs, maintenance requirements, and lack of modern technological capabilities were a longtime concern. A move to the cloud was imminent to lower its costs, improve security, and enhance scalability, however, the university hadn’t yet found the right solution.
Administrators knew that moving to the cloud would bring several strategic advantages, but needed a way to manage costs for Banner, the supporting Oracle software, as well as computer and storage infrastructure.
With OCI’s continuity benefits, major events such as power outages, ice, or windstorms no longer affect operations.
Why University of Idaho chose Oracle
When university officials reached out to Oracle, they learned that Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) with Enterprise Database Service could provide an easy path toward modernization and cost management. Moving to OCI would enable the university to dodge an imminent and expensive hardware refresh as well as take advantage of new services like intrusion detection and prevention.
Another priority was moving the university’s Ellucian Banner environment to OCI quickly to accommodate contract and hardware replacement timelines, while also addressing challenges presented by COVID-19. With most campus personnel working remotely, the migration needed to be orchestrated from a distance.
After weighing its options, the University of Idaho decided to move Ellucian Banner to OCI and, at Oracle’s suggestion, recruited Astute Business Solutions as an implementation partner to assist with a swift migration.
Results
The university was able to quickly take advantage of the versatility of OCI. Its implementation partner, Astute, created a clone of the university’s production environment and began testing almost immediately. The university went live in 14 weeks, moving approximately 150 virtual machines and 24 databases to OCI.
Improved security was another benefit. OCI natively enables database encryption, so the university’s data, both at rest and in motion, is fully encrypted. This continues to become increasingly important as cyberattacks on universities continue to rise.
The move to OCI also gave the University of Idaho dependable disaster recovery and business continuity benefits. Major events affecting the main campus, such as power outages, ice, or windstorms, would significantly impact the previous on-premises data centers. With critical systems now running on OCI, the university is at ease knowing that operations will not be affected by similar events.
Partners
The university selected Astute Business Solution as its implementation partner. The migration was completed in 14 weeks.
“In Astute we found more than a vendor with the technical and project management skills to deliver our needed outcomes—we found a trusted partner that became part of our team, helped deliver a successful migration, and will continue to support our long-term success in OCI,” says Dan Ewart, the university’s vice president of information technology and chief information officer.
About the customer
Founded in 1889, The University of Idaho is Idaho’s land grant university. With almost 12,000 students, the college is known for its agricultural, science, and business programs, as well as for its beautiful setting in picturesque Moscow, Idaho.