Carleton University Modernizes Critical Infrastructure with Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer
From end-of-life SPARC to future-ready hybrid cloud in six weeks, securely, seamlessly, and cost-effectively.
Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer
Overview
Carleton University, a leading academic institution in Ottawa, Ontario, relies on Oracle Database systems to support a wide range of critical applications, from student information systems to financial platforms.
When its aging SPARC infrastructure approached end-of-life, Carleton faced growing challenges around performance, supportability, and cost. Partnering with DSP-Eclipsys, the university completed a six-week transformation to Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer (ExaCC), resulting in a scalable, secure, and future-ready hybrid environment.
Carleton’s SPARC-based infrastructure was nearing end-of-life, with rising support costs, declining performance, and a lack of modern DR capabilities. A full hardware refresh was financially unfeasible, and the university needed a way to modernize without compromising on-premises control or disrupting mission-critical services.
Carleton had explored the possibility of moving away from Oracle entirely, but DSP-Eclipsys presented a hybrid ExaCC strategy that demonstrated both the long-term value and affordability of staying within the Oracle ecosystem.
The IT team sought a solution that would optimize cost, strengthen reliability, and support long-term innovation.
DSP-Eclipsys delivered a fixed-price, full-stack migration to Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer (X9M Quarter Rack) in just six weeks. The initial engagement included:
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Migrating all production and test workloads off SPARC
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Consolidating infrastructure using BYOL license optimization
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Integrating academic and financial systems (e.g., Banner and Pinnacle)
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Leveraging Oracle Zero Downtime Migration (ZDM) for a seamless cutover
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Tuning performance with AWR/ASH diagnostics
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Implementing secure OCI networking, IAM policies, and audit logging
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Deploying 24x7 Elite Managed Services with OEM13c alerting, patching, and SLA-backed support
Following the successful migration, DSP-Eclipsys implemented a disaster recovery solution using Oracle Active Data Guard on OCI, delivering geographic redundancy and business continuity for Carleton’s most critical workloads.
- $585,186 in total projected savings, fully offsetting the cost of the modernization initiative
- Zero unplanned downtime during migration, ensuring uninterrupted service for mission-critical academic and financial systems
- Improved throughput and lower latency, enhancing performance across key workloads while increasing platform observability
- Elevated security posture through a fully encrypted environment for Ellucian Banner, leveraging Exadata’s integrated encryption and security stack to protect institutional data
- Operational agility and elasticity, enabling compute “bursting” to handle peak-demand events like course registration without overprovisioning year-round
- Modernized infrastructure economics, shifting from fixed-capacity hardware to a flexible consumption model, paying only for additional performance when needed
- Enhanced business continuity, with Cloud-based disaster recovery implemented post-migration using Oracle Active Data Guard on OCI for geographic redundancy and resilience
- A scalable hybrid architecture, ready to support future innovation and expanded Cloud services across the university
DSP-Eclipsys developed a repeatable deployment framework during the Carleton engagement, codifying OCI landing zones, IAM policies, monitoring templates, and DR configurations into scalable blueprints. These assets reduced complexity and accelerated time-to-value while supporting best practices in governance and security.
The project demonstrated how Oracle Engineered Systems can be deployed rapidly and affordably, even in complex, compliance-sensitive environments like higher education.
Carleton selected DSP-Eclipsys for its Oracle Engineered Systems specialization, public sector delivery track record, and outcome-focused methodology. Key differentiators included:
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Oracle-certified Exadata architects and Cloud engineers
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Deep understanding of academic workload needs and SLAs
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Close collaboration with Oracle teams and adoption of official reference architectures
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Transparent, fixed-price project delivery with clear milestones
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Long-term optimization through a three-year managed services agreement
This initiative stands as a benchmark for hybrid Cloud modernization, delivering the unique value of Oracle ExaCC through expert planning, execution, and support.
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