After more than 150 years as one of New Zealand’s leading academic institutions, the University of Canterbury (UC) continues to invest in technology that supports research, teaching and innovation. As part of its ongoing digital transformation, UC has partnered with Datacom to modernise its infrastructure through a new multi-cloud model.
The project has strengthened UC’s operational resilience, improved efficiency and positioned the organisation to better meet the evolving needs of researchers, students and staff. The initiative also earned recognition at the 2024 Reseller News Innovation Awards, winning Best Cloud Project.
UC’s previous IT environment was primarily based on their premises in Christchurch. To improve resilience, diversify its technology footprint, and prepare for future access to Microsoft’s New Zealand Azure region, the University undertook a structured migration to a multi-cloud model.
The programme was led by UC’s Planning, Finance and Digital Services team, with Datacom providing strategic support, migration expertise and technical implementation. The first phase of the project commenced in March 2024 and was completed by September 2024, with minimal service disruption.
This move has reduced UC’s reliance on local infrastructure, improved continuity and scalability, and created a foundation for future growth and innovation across the University’s academic and administrative functions
By adopting a multi-cloud model, UC has reduced the time and effort previously required for maintenance, patching and manual system management. The migration introduced new automation capabilities and infrastructure-as-code practices, creating a consistent and secure approach to system deployment.
The transition also allowed for a significant clean-up of legacy systems, with around one-third of outdated platforms identified and decommissioned. This has simplified operations, lowered risk and improved cyber maturity through standardised processes and security controls.
The University’s operational teams now benefit from increased autonomy through self-service capabilities. For UC’s researchers, the new digital ecosystem provides access to a wider range of tools and services, supporting faster and more flexible research collaboration and data management.
Datacom supported UC’s cloud transformation with its established frameworks, migration templates, and collaboration with Microsoft. The partnership ensured the project followed a structured and efficient delivery model, underpinned by robust governance and security standards.
The approach enabled UC’s internal teams to build capability throughout the process, ensuring the new cloud environments could be maintained and expanded independently post-migration.
“The project with the University of Canterbury reflects Datacom’s collaborative approach,” says Datacom’s Director – Cloud, Mike Walls.
“We work alongside our customers to build capability, strengthen processes and ensure their teams can fully realise the long-term benefits of cloud technology.”
The UC and Datacom collaboration was recognised at the 2024 Innovation Awards, where Datacom received the Tech Partner category award for its work on the project. The judges cited Datacom’s “expert teams and robust safeguards,” and noted the project’s success in “optimising costs while enhancing security and efficiency”.
With a modern, flexible cloud environment now established, UC is continuing its transformation journey. The next phase will transition the University’s learning management system, used by thousands of students, into the cloud, further enhancing scalability and performance.
The project has created a resilient digital foundation for UC, supporting its continued growth as a research-led institution and enabling it to meet the needs of a diverse and evolving academic community.
Datacom helps organisations adopt, migrate and modernise their cloud environments through a proven framework spanning strategy, workload discovery, migration and ongoing optimisation.
This approach was used to support the University of Canterbury’s shift to a resilient multi-cloud model, improving efficiency, security and research capability while reducing reliance on on-premise systems. With strong global partnerships and local delivery expertise, Datacom enables organisations to reduce risk, accelerate value and build a cloud foundation ready for future growth.
