Aston University Data Centre Modernisation Case Study

This case study documents the data centre modernisation efforts undertaken by Aston University to enhance its IT infrastructure. The ageing infrastructure was unable to meet the growing demands of nearly 15,000 students and staff, leading to the need for a new, secure, and scalable system. MTI was engaged to design, supply, install, and support a hyper-converged infrastructure platform tailored to the university’s needs. The solution involved replacing an outdated VMware SAN and server infrastructure with a stretched vSphere cluster, ensuring improved performance, additional capacity, and better manageability. The redesign also enabled enhanced disaster recovery capabilities and reduced operating costs. The implementation involved close collaboration between Aston's internal team and MTI to ensure effective knowledge transfer and adherence to project timelines. Overall, the new system not only provided immediate performance improvements but also accommodated future growth and scalability for the university's systems.