Sovereign cloud provider AUCloud deploys scalable Virtual Desktop as a Service solution for The Australian National University.

AUCloud, a Canberra based sovereign cloud Infrastructure-as-a- Service provider (IaaS), today announced the successful deployment of a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure as a Service (VDIaaS) capability to Australia’s premier university, the Australian National University (ANU).  Known within the ANU as the “Virtual Information Commons”, the service provides circa 20,000 students remote access to their ANU Teaching Labs.

Based on VMware’s world leading Horizon® 7 application and working with partner Insitec, the AUCloud VDIaaS provides a resilient, highly secure, sovereign service that meets the Australian Government’s security controls for data classifications at Official, Official:Sensitive and Protected (in accordance with the  Australian Signal’s Directorate’s (ASD) Information Security Manual (ISM)).  In short, the solution provides ANU with the assurance that all their supported data remains in Australia, operated by security cleared, Australian citizens – always.

Available to both Windows and MAC users, the solution provides immediate access to some 80 applications used by ANU staff, lecturers and students providing the ability to work, learn, study and research remotely with, as near as possible, the same level of access to university resources, functionality and confidence as working in the ANU physical environment.

The underlying infrastructure is built using Cisco’s leading Unified Compute System (UCS) Platform which allows service providers, such as AUCloud to scale rapidly. As a result, this was implemented in less than 2 weeks, with AUCloud’s remote desktop solution ensures curriculum continuity for all ANU students.  Furthermore, it enables rapid, on demand scalability, to meet changing and ongoing requirements.  This includes the ability to support thousands of additional users and hundreds of additional applications, based on the needs of the University and its users. 

Additional features Include:

• • A complete Managed Support Service to address ANU students’ needs for a seamless experience, augmenting the University’s Service Desk capability;
  • Desktop service performance levels that match ANU requirements, with the ability to vary VDI performance levels for specific curriculums;
  • Cloud and cyber monitoring, using world leading protective monitoring technology at the AUCloud perimeter and supported by AUCloud’s 24×7 Canberra based SOC capability; and
  • The ability to white label browser and student facing support collateral to ANU branding for visual consistency to students.

“It is testament to the expertise, shared sense of purpose and collaboration of the AUCloud and ANU teams that the solution has been successfully deployed so quickly.  Feedback to date is that the service is easy to set up and access and that users are experiencing performance similar to that available to them on campus“ said Phil Dawson, Managing Director of AUCloud.

“From an AUCloud perspective, our ability to deliver our VDIaaS to meet the needs of ANU so quickly is, in no small part, due to our longstanding relationship with Cisco and specifically having access to their Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) programme.”

Ken Boal, Vice President for Cisco Australia and New Zealand said of the role of the CDA investment.

“The Cisco Country Digital Acceleration investment with AUCloud was critical to ensure dedicated secure clouds without any compromise and support the sovereign demands of Australia. Cisco UCS is the original compute platform, built API first with 100% automation and programmability at its core. This has allowed AUCloud to scale out and repurpose infrastructure to meet the demands of ANU. “

“The CDA programme has enabled us to build a robust, cloud Infrastructure and environment that facilitates the rapid stand-up of traditional as well as new IaaS services” continued Mr Dawson.

“As a result, implemented in less than 2 weeks, AUCloud’s remote desktop solution ensures curriculum continuity for all ANU students.”

“Being a sovereign cloud IaaS provider that meets all the required security and compliance requirements of Government, has also made a difference – there is no question about our security credentials to host Australian data and no time delays or additional costs due to additional risk mitigation requirements” concluded Mr Dawson.