Revamping its 33-year-old IT infrastructure was faster, less painful — via the appointment of a solutions vendor that handled the whole process

Founded in 1991, Semyung University is a private institution of higher education located in the city of Jecheon, North Chungcheong.

In the latter part of its 33-year history, the institution had been experiencing operational challenges such as system failures, outdated data backup/information systems infrastructure, insufficient storage space and inadequate cyber resilience.

To address these issues, the IT team had set to work on upgrading to a modern suite of solutions that addressed all the aforementioned problems holistically. This was announced on 5 Sep 2024, and the system revamp involves capabilities that:

  • provide data protection and security services seamlessly in the event of unexpected physical storage interruptions
  • feature multiple redundancy mechanisms to handle disasters and emergencies, enhancing cyber resilience
  • offer autonomous ransomware protection (including automatic creation of ‘storage snapshots’ in case of ransomware encryption, and instantaneous point-in-time recovery features), as well as an advanced disaster recovery solution that can be administered remotely
  • double the previous storage capacity with scalability provisions for future expansion

The infrastructure revamp alleviated the aforementioned operational burdens, significantly enhancing productivity and operational/cyber resilience. Following the implementation, Semyung University saw a threefold improvement in the performance of its academic administration system and data storage scalability.

According to its President, Dong-Hyun Kwon, using a single vendor for the revamp “allowed us to simplify our complex backup environment… ” and paves the way for “future advanced infrastructure projects, including (upgrades of campus) video lectures and remote classes.”

Said Henry Kho, Area Vice President and General Manager (Greater China, ASEAN and South Korea), NetApp, the firm chosen to provide the integrated revamp of Semyung University’s IT infrastructure:  “We are proud to bring positive changes to Semyung University’s academic operations and research environment through this solution implementation…  enabling faculty and students to learn and (perform) research in a more stable and efficient environment.”