Presentation by Paula Vickers, Middlesex University on leading a successful move to cloud computing

1. Moving to
the Cloud
Successfully
Paula Vickers

2. Middlesex – a Global University
30,000 Students (excluding validated programmes)
10% Students study overseas
33% Overseas students study at MDX London
1,650 Staff
5,800 Desktops (UK)
£7.5m Annual revenue spend on IT (UK)
4.9% IT spend as % of total expenditure (UK)
52 IT staff – Desktop, infrastructure, MIS, Operations (UK)

3. With 3rd party IT assistance
Desktop Managed Services
Halls Network
Student email & filestore (Live@edu)
Off shore helpdesk
Telephony Managed Service
Server Managed Service

4. Server Managed Service
24x7 Remote & Off site DR
Off site 24x7 Local Managed Centre and Hardware
Service
Data Centre Infrastructure invocation procurement &
Management
Services assistance consultancy

5. Data Centre & Network
 Tier 1
 5 Racks (space for 10)
AW
 40 physical servers  DMZ, Local Services & T&R
RF
 250-300 virtual servers
 > 90% virtualised
(3 Oracle DB’s not virtualised) HE
DR DC
 Tier 4  Tier 4
Janet
 2 Racks  10 Racks (space for 20)
 75 SQ FT Internet  18 Kw/hr
 One 3 day invocation test / year  79 TB
 Dedicated Kit for priority recovery  1.72 PUE
 Syndicated equipment for 2hr+ recovery  574 SQ FT
OS Campuses, partners, off-campus students & staff
 80 miles from campus  Tape Movement
 8 miles from campus

6. 24x7 Remote & Local Managed Infrastructure Services

7. Service & Contract Management
 Terms & Conditions
 Statement of Work
 Change Management
 Hardware Schedule
 Charges
 Exit Management
 Premises
 Contract Extension
 Confidentiality
 DPA
 Operations Manual
 Information Security Controls
 System Baseline
 DR Plan

8. Exit Strategy
Tier 4 DC with low PUE, servers and storage on demand, delivered using multi tenanted
architecture and connected to JANET
System
Baseline configuration
Internet

9. Why – Compelling business case
Estates Strategy
Not Core Business
Total Cost Ownership
Global 24 x 7 service
Value Add

10. Why - estates Strategy
 Uncertain estate strategy - 11 UK campuses closed
since 2000
 Only basements and other unsuitable
space offered – on campus space too
important to dedicate to DC
 No resilient power supply to campus
 Data Centre’s not our core business

11. Why – Focus on Core
o Budget pressure - reducing number of
staff
o University looking to IT to enrich
curriculum and drive efficiency
o OS & firmware patching; DC
management & operation; server
installation & commissioning - Not Core
Business
o Release staff to focus on tasks that
deliver visible business benefit to
students and staff

12. Why – TCO eg. Data Centre
Shared Focus on institution cost
not just IT department
VAT In-house
Contract
Electricity
Network Links VAT
Space
Training
Electricity
24 x 7 security
Fit out & upgrades
Cleaning & maintenance
Resilient / concurrent power
Poor quality space costs more to fit out 24 x 7 Operations staff inc overheads
Server air con technology keeps changing Lost Opportunity - space, funds & staff

13. Why – Global 24 x 7 service
• MDX Global core hours 4am – 10pm 365 days
• ALL MDX students & staff use UK based IT systems
• Planning for 50% students based outside UK within 5-7 years
• UK students expect uninterrupted access outside Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm
• Want maintenance carried outside core 4am – 10pm
• Scaling up internal UK staffing for 24x7 not an option

14. Why - Value added
Hardware purchase / rental
Firmware patching
Maintenance
Data Centre provision
+
Disaster Recovery Services
Migration Consultancy
Greater opportunity supplier
Greater spread of spend
with one supplier = has to present affordable value
added services from margin

15. How
January 2009 Tender issued via EU Journal
March Workshops with shortlisted supplier, 1 week each
June Governor Approval
September Contract & schedules signed
February 2010 Infrastructure in place ready for migration
July Migrations Complete
January 2011 Transition Complete
Consultants
Backfill to release staff to work on project
Snr technical staff
Benefits: cheaper, better design/implementation,
First Line staff helps staff to move on mentally
Agency staff

16. Lesson Learnt
 Shape & know your service contract
 Don’t rely on supplier to do due diligence
 Know your baseline configuration and
technology – it’s your exit strategy
 Look for fully resourced Service team behind 3rd
party Service Manager
 ITIL practice at the boundary of the
service is key
 Key roles to retain: Technical architect, Service
Management, Contract Management, Project
Management, Business Analysis
 Help staff let go and understand the future could be
more interesting

17. The cloud
• Maturing & unstoppable – plan for it
• If > 50% students / staff off campus why put high big
bandwidth services on-campus eg video content
• Moves CapEx to OpEx & impacts on benchmarks and
boom & bust investment cycle
• For users it’s the service, not the location or
provider that’s important
• Taking small steps towards cloud is more manageable,
finesse next contract with lessons learnt
• Internal focus moves to architecting solution,
integration, and service management
• HR Impacts: TUPE, VR, Restructuring, Unions etc

18. Final thoughts
ITIL
∑
Institution
costs