Executive Summary

This report offers the findings from research and investigation into Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Platform, identifying the benefits of relocating elements of physical IT structure and student services from four college campuses to a central, virtualised setting in the cloud with the purpose of supporting college and student needs longer term, encompassing an aim to achieve access to learning resources from any location or device.

The investigations carried out will provide the information for products and services available in Azure, the advantages garnered, and the potential risks that require careful consideration prior to migration.

Recommendations of the services to be transitioned to Azure will be based on the examination of case studies from organisations who have already made the switch and their rate of success, and the requirements set forth by management.

The points noted below will be factored into any commendations:

• Specifications established by the college IT department,
• Laws governing data, storage, geographical location,
• Current and future license requirements
• Service Level Agreements (SLA).

The conclusion put forth will be based on the research conducted throughout the report and observations that were formed to give an informed overall opinion of the product and services on offer with Azure.

Introduction

The Board of Directors were contacted by a representative from Microsoft about the potential benefits of Azure services, and the technology enhancement cloud facilities could introduce to the college.

The Board have requested that research is compiled, and a recommendation articulated, to ensure an informed decision is made at board level whether cloud services are a viable option.

The services which should be migrated to Azure’s Cloud Platform and those which muststay in-house will be recommended. The strategy must incorporate supporting education for the following 10 years.

Potential problems of security were a determining influence in deciding to retain and administer core services in-house.

The overall aim is to achieve a level of autonomy and provide a reliable and robust learning environment capable of scaling, but ultimately reduce the costs of vital services.

The subsequent sections of the report will determine;

• What is Azure?
• The associated benefits and risks of hosting services in the cloud.
• Licensing, and the products and services available in Azure,
• Connecting internal infrastructure to the Azure framework.
• An evaluation of previous case studies will be used to make informed recommendations

This information will be of paramount importance in the decision-making process.

What is Microsoft Azure?

Conventionally servers, databases and storage facilities were housed within an organisation, however, a variety of developments in technology have made it possible to consider facilitating in-house resources differently and hosting services in a virtual world called the Cloud.

(S, TechRepublic 2018)explain how in 2010 Microsoft launched its proprietary cloud computing service named Azure. Institutions now had the ability to utilise virtual machines, storage, networking, Active Directory, and SQL Server technologies, with no internal data centre. Azure is a solution capable of handling fluctuating workloads using VMware and Hyper-V technology, across multiple platforms, including Android and IOS mobile.

Now the basic concepts of what Azure is are known, it raises the questions, “how can migrating services to Azure be of benefit to the college? and what are the potential risks involved?” The following section will attempt to answer this conundrum.

Benefits and Risks of Deploying Cloud Services

Before embarking on a decision to take a project forward, management should be aware there are elements of benefits and risks involved, these must be thoroughly explored.

A table has been constructed below to give a brief overview of the potential benefits of migrating to cloud services according to (Marketing 2017),  and possible risks associated with this action as described in (Ackermann 2013)and (Association of Colleges 2014).