Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

The October AWS NET+ Tech Share covered infrastructure migration strategies, innovative AI implementations, and upcoming community events. Here's a summary of the key discussions:

Key Events

  • Webinar on NET+ AWS, NET+ GCP, NET+ Kion and CICP (slides and recording)
  • NET+ AWS Barn Raising: Amplify AI Build Out (no recording, but blog will be coming soon)
  • Upcoming re:Invent Keynote Watch Parties featuring main keynote, Werner's infrastructure presentation, and Peter Desantis's Monday night session
  • Are you working on a project on AWS that you’ve been heads down on for the past few months? If so, you should consider submitting a proposal for the 2025 Cloud Forum.

Infrastructure Strategy Insights

Penn State University's Approach

Penn State University shared their comprehensive strategy for infrastructure transformation:

  • Operating within a three-year VMware transition timeline
  • Focusing on IT department centralization
  • Implementing Kubernetes environment in AWS
  • Maintaining flexibility between cloud and physical servers
  • Taking an "if you build it, they will come" approach to cloud adoption

Cloud Migration Experiences

The UC Office of the President shared their experience migrating on-premises VMs to the cloud:

  • Successfully addressing around 92,000 security findings during migration
  • Rebuilding applications with new operating systems
  • Implementing vulnerability mitigation strategies

Innovation Highlights

AWS shared notable implementations from recent tech conferences:

  • UCLA Anderson School of Business: Developed GenAI-powered custom email templates for alumni donation campaigns, featuring adversarial model validation
  • UC Irvine: Created an open-source alternative to paid backup services for AWS to S3 data backup

Hybrid Infrastructure Discussion

Several institutions explored hybrid cloud possibilities:

  • Interest in AWS Outposts and Azure Stack HCI implementations
  • Discussion of EKS and ECS anywhere deployments
  • Questions about EKS anywhere on AWS outposts for on-premises Kubernetes management

Conclusion

This Tech Share highlighted the diverse approaches institutions are taking to infrastructure modernization, from full cloud migrations to hybrid solutions. The discussions emphasized the importance of careful planning and consideration of various deployment options to meet specific institutional needs.

Be sure to check out the other blog posts we've written. As always, feel free to send any feedback to tmanik[at]internet2[dot]edu.