Azure Migration

Overview

In alignment with the TechNova 2026 Cloud Smart strategy, University Technology Services is migrating on-premise servers, data, and services to Azure/Microsoft Cloud services. This will increase resiliency and modernize the infrastructure.

What is Azure Cloud Migration?

Azure Cloud Migration is the process of moving on-premises applications and servers to Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure. Instead of hosting systems in a physically managed data center, resources are transitioned to a secure, scalable, and highly available cloud environment hosted by Microsoft.

This migration modernizes the underlying infrastructure that supports business and academic operations, while maintaining system performance, security, and reliability.

Why Move to Azure?

  • Improved Reliability & Availability
    • Azure provides built-in redundancy, geographic failover options, and enterprise-grade uptime.
  • Enhanced Security & Compliance
    • Microsoft Azure includes advanced security monitoring, identity management, encryption, and compliance capabilities that meet industry standards.
  • Scalability & Flexibility
    • Resources can scale up or down based on demand without purchasing additional physical hardware.
  • Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity
    • Cloud-based backup and recovery solutions reduce downtime and improve resilience.
  • Cost Optimization
    • Eliminates large capital expenditures for hardware and shifts to a more predictable operational expense model.
  • Operational Efficiency
    • IT teams can focus less on hardware maintenance and more on strategic initiatives and service improvement.

Timeline

Phase 1 of the project will begin in February 2026 and will be completed by June 2026

Project Team

Executive Sponsor

  • Tej Patel, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer

Project Steering Committee

  • Matthew Morrissey, Assistant Vice President, Technology, Infrastructure and Research Computing
  • Joshua Poinsett, Executive Director, Cloud & Research Computing Systems

Project Management

  • Emily Wilms, Senior Project Manager

Project Operational Team

  • Ryan Chace, Manager of Information Security Operations
  • Matt Ferro, Enterprise Systems Cloud Engineer
  • Michael Kriwonos, Senior Manager, Linux Systems Administration
  • Peter Palladino, Solutions Architect
  • Gavin Printz, Senior Network Security Administrator