Case Study: Tulane University achieves HIPAA-compliant, disaster-tolerant email with Microsoft Office 365 for education

Tulane University Gains HIPAA-Compliant, Disaster-Tolerant Email Infrastructure

Tulane University, a prestigious educational and research institution, needed to upgrade its aging email infrastructure to be disaster-tolerant after Hurricane Katrina and HIPAA-compliant for its medical school. The challenge was to find a cloud solution that met these stringent requirements without incurring massive capital costs, a task that initially ruled out most providers including Microsoft's original Live@edu offering.

The solution was Microsoft Office 365 for education, which provided a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement (BAA) that other cloud services lacked. By implementing this service, Microsoft provided Tulane with a robust, disaster-resistant email and collaboration platform. The results included avoiding over $1 million in infrastructure costs, saving $250,000 annually on disaster recovery, ensuring compliance, and providing a seamless experience for all 20,000 users with no learning curve.

Tulane University

Leo Tran

Technology Services, Assistant Vice President for IT Infrastructure