Case Study: Nanyang Technological University achieves scalable, secure hybrid cloud and cost‑efficient HPC expansion with NetApp

Nanyang Technological University - Customer Case Study

Nanyang Technological University’s High Performance Computing Centre (HPCC) supports compute‑intensive research across campus but outgrew its on‑site capacity—472 servers and 5,040 processors were no longer enough to meet unpredictable spikes in demand while also meeting regulatory requirements for an affordable secondary site and keeping sensitive research data secure.

NTU implemented a full hybrid cloud: a private OpenStack cloud on campus, AWS VPC for burst capacity, and NetApp storage hosted at Equinix with secure replication and a unified management layer (in partnership with NetApp, Equinix and Red Hat). The design delivered scalable, secure compute and disaster‑recovery capabilities, reduced costs by avoiding new hardware and extra staff, enabled automatic provisioning, can be replicated by other sites, and won NTU a Red Hat Innovation Award.

Nanyang Technological University

Soh Yeng Chai

Founding Director of High Performance Computing