Case Study: University of Wollongong (UOW) achieves a smart campus and collaborative research breakthroughs with NetApp StorageGRID

How a modern university transformed with data

The University of Wollongong (UOW) is a large, research-intensive institution with 32,000 students across multiple domestic and international campuses that has embraced smart‑campus technologies. CIO Fiona Rankin faced the challenge of managing petabytes of diverse, time‑sensitive and sometimes highly confidential research and operational data across locations, while providing secure access, compliance and the flexibility to support collaborative research and campus services.

UOW partnered with NetApp and deployed StorageGRID in a hybrid cloud environment (AWS/Azure), using metadata‑driven policies to place and protect data appropriately. The solution unified storage and security, gave administrators analytics and visibility into what data exists and where, enabled cross‑campus collaboration, improved resource use (for example smart parking and building optimisation), and supported ongoing research breakthroughs.

University of Wollongong (UOW)

Fiona Rankin

CIO