The COVID-19 Pandemic and Retooling Application Delivery: The Transformation from Physical to Cloud-Based Infrastructure

Abstract

As was the case with many sister institutions, the Office of Technology Services (OTS) at the Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech) needed to implement a robust solution for academic software access. The shift of primary university application delivery from locally-hosted Apache-based technology and physical computer labs to a cloud-based virtual computer lab during the global COVID-19 pandemic is presented. The method utilized had the following components: evaluation of different levels of conversion to cloud-based application delivery; evaluation of vendor capability; methodology for application deployment; methods of faculty engagement with software selection; methods of monitoring the user experience; quantitative assessment of total sessions, total usage hours, and maximum concurrent user usage; quantitative comparison of those fields to the previously used Apache iteration; quantitative and qualitative evaluation of support incidents generated; and qualitative assessment of the user experience. Overall sessions increased nearly threefold, and maximum concurrent users quadrupled, hours spent on the platform per capita decreased as a result of increased performance, engagement with faculty in the application delivery process increased, and improved overall user experience.