IT Optimization at Cornell University

IT optimization requires agencies to modernize their old technologies and embrace the new. If you think that is difficult, you are not alone. To run a more effective and efficient government, employees need modern IT that helps them meet citizen expectations and keep data and systems secure in the digital age.

Public sector organizations have invested heavily in infrastructure, but many of those environments are now antiquated. And while pressure mounts to adopt new technologies to better serve citizens, keep up with demand for accessibility and mobility, and control costs, IT departments can’t always abandon their existing investments. Let’s take a look at an example of the the end state of IT optimization at one university:

Founded in 1865, Cornell University is the largest university in the Ivy League with more than 20,000 students from around the world. Cornell has more than 100 interdisciplinary research organizations and 3 national research centers that serve broad scientific communities and reflect the strong partnership between academia, government, and industry.

Cornell University Center for Advanced Computing (CAC) conducts research on current and emerging technologies to enhance the capabilities of high-performance computing. Cornell’s Institute for Biotechnology and Life Science Technologies turned to Red Hat, a leader in open source technology for government, to identify and deploy a storage solution for its department to help manage data-intensive research technologies.

Those technologies include: DNA sequencing, proteomics, and imaging.

The institute was able to achieve the growth needed to continue its critical research programs with the help of Red Hat Storage’s flexibility and reliability.

Cornell’s move toward IT optimization involved optimizing existing resources so they can continue to add value, as well as integrating old and new systems and practices. With the help of the right vendor, agencies can optimize and modernize their infrastructures by building modern applications and delivering cloud infrastructure and services, as well as secure everything with tested, hardened systems.

Today, modernizing IT systems is a must as government moves forward to innovate for the future. But you don’t need to start from scratch. By deploying IT optimization, with the right tools and approaches, your agency can optimize, and build for what’s next while maintaining the systems that you’ve invested.

This blog is an excerpt from our recent self-paced online course, “Achieving IT Optimization in the Public Sector Today.” To learn more about the need for IT optimization in government today, access the free course here.