Derby University signs hosting deal to improve online services

The University of Derby has signed a data centre hosting deal to support the expansion of online information services to students and academics.

The university’s Learning Centre provides library and IT facilities to students and academics, and is one of the largest in the country, housing 300 PC workstations and meeting facilities for up to 900 students and academics.

Derby wanted to expand access to online study material, journals and discussion forums, which meant having to deal with increased volumes of data and using more servers.

Realising it would have struggled to achieve this on it own, the university contracted Griffin Internet to provide a bespoke hosting facility.

The infrastructure includes a 1GB Ethernet connection together with a 100MB backup from the Learning Centre directly to its hosting centre where 20 servers are allocated to store and protect the university’s data.

Griffin Internet’s service level agreement guarantees ensure around-the-clock surveillance and a controlled environment to ensure servers operate efficiently.

Tony Brookes, head of infrastructure services at the university, said: ‘The demand for this service has exceeded our expectations. The issue however was one of time and space. Our own hosting facilities were fast being outstripped as was our ability to effectively manage and protect the data until our new Markeaton campus is available.’

Future expansion of the online resource is guaranteed via the hosting facility and the university’s IT department is now able to focus on improving its functionality and enhancing features.

‘We now have the ability to meet the rate of change demanded by the business,’ said Brookes.

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