Case Study

A large UK university identified potential savings of over £8 million ($10.8 million) by comparing AWS with a traditional data centre move. Through our Cloud Viability Assessment, the university gained the evidence needed to understand infrastructure utilisation, technology risk, application dependencies and future hosting costs before committing to a long-term infrastructure strategy.

The Challenge

A large UK university supporting around 30,000 students needed to make an important infrastructure decision. Two on-campus data centre rooms had to be vacated, creating the need for a new long-term hosting strategy. The university operated approximately 2,000 Windows and Linux virtual machines supporting teaching, research, and professional services.

Several options were available. The university could relocate its infrastructure into another physical environment, partner with a specialist hosting provider or explore whether AWS could provide a stronger long-term option.

The question was not whether cloud technology was possible. The university was already familiar with AWS through previous work with Perform Partners. The challenge was understanding whether moving to AWS would provide a better commercial, operational and risk position than investing in another physical infrastructure move.

To support this decision, Perform Partners conducted a Cloud Viability Assessment through the AWS Optimisation and Licensing Assessment program. The objective was to establish a clear fact base around infrastructure utilisation, future requirements, potential savings and the comparative costs of the available options.

Our Approach

The university needed evidence, not assumptions. Facing a significant infrastructure decision, the priority was to understand how the existing estate was being used, what future requirements looked like and how the available hosting options compared from a cost, operational and risk perspective.

• Understanding the current environment
  Working with the university’s IT team, we established a detailed view of the estate, including virtual machines, databases, operating systems, applications and technology dependencies. This created a reliable baseline for assessing future hosting options.
• Collecting evidence with minimal disruption
  The university’s IT services team completed the installation and configuration activities, with Perform Partners support where required. Assessment tooling collected infrastructure information on CPU, memory, storage, and communication between systems without disrupting day-to-day operations.
• Creating an evidence-based comparison
  Using data collected from across the environment, we evaluated utilisation patterns, future requirements, technology risks and optimisation opportunities. This enabled a like-for-like comparison between a move to AWS and an alternative physical infrastructure approach.
• Giving stakeholders confidence to decide
  The findings were consolidated into a structured assessment that brought together cost analysis, dependency mapping, utilisation insights and risk considerations. Decision makers could evaluate their options using evidence from their own environment and determine whether, when and how to progress their next steps.

Supporting People Through Change

The assessment provided the university with something it did not previously have: confidence in the information available to support a major infrastructure decision.

Rather than relying on assumptions, historic allocations or estimated future requirements, stakeholders gained a clearer understanding of how the estate was being used, the implications of different hosting options and the factors most likely to influence future costs and risks.

• Understanding the financial impact of future decisions
  The findings identified potential savings exceeding £8 million ($10.8 million) across three years. This provided a stronger financial foundation for evaluating AWS alongside alternative hosting approaches and enabled stakeholders to assess future investment decisions with greater certainty.
• Improving visibility of technology risk
  The assessment highlighted unsupported and extended-support operating systems, infrastructure utilisation patterns and application dependencies that may otherwise have remained hidden. This enabled the university to better understand technology risks that could influence future planning activities.
• Supporting evidence-based decision making
  Most importantly, the university gained an independent evidence base for one of its most significant infrastructure decisions. With a clearer understanding of cost, risk, utilisation and future requirements, stakeholders could determine the most appropriate next step using a robust evidence base.