1. Use PaaS to simplify and improve IT services
A port of key admissions system to Azure off Amazon Web Services
Objectives
Core e-application online system was popular, but difficult to scale
Peak traffic at entrance time was cumbersome to cope with via on-premises solution
Tactics
Initially, a move to the cloud with AWS
This proved limiting and too complex for the customer
A Microsoft prompt to ditch IaaS and go full PaaS proven to be the answer
Results
Elasticity – Habib can grow or shrink its IT needs on a dime to match user demand
Reliability – managers can now plan in detail against rising student numbers
Productivity – Developers knew Microsoft; that means they can drive Azure, at speed
CASE STUDY: Pakistan’s newest university’s Microsoft-powered liberation
Photo Credit:
Link to Case Study:
Customer: Habib University
Website:
Customer size: 500 employees
Country: Pakistan
Industry: Higher Education
Customer Profile: Habib University, founded in 2014, is a privately-funded liberal arts and science-oriented institute of higher education for the best of Pakistan’s next generation
Summary: Pakistan’s new Habib University had outgrown its in-house e-applications service, as well as an initially promising, yet ultimately restrictive, Amazon Web Services cloud implementation. By moving from the Amazon infrastructure as a service (IaaS) approach to a Microsoft Azure-based platform as a service (PaaS) solution, this ambitious university is experiencing a dramatic improvement in both quality and reliability for its e-applications and for other student and partner services.
Software and services
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure Storage
Microsoft Azure App Service
Azure SQL Database
Microsoft SQL Server 2012
Microsoft SQL Database Migration Wizard
Microsoft .NET 4.5
Open source technologies
Ubuntu
CentOS 7.0
MySQL
WordPress 4.4.2
“The efficiency and scalability Azure grants us in terms of our services to students will be a big help in achieving that mission.”
— Shahnoor Sultan, Director of Operations/CFO, Habib University, Pakistan

2. Habib needed better scalability, reliability, transparency for optimal budgeting – all of which AWS struggled to deliver, but Azure has
CASE STUDY: Pakistan’s newest university’s Microsoft-powered liberation
Photo Credit:
Link to Case Study:
Customer: Habib University
Website:
Customer size: 500 employees
Country: Pakistan
Industry: Higher Education
Customer Profile: Habib University, founded in 2014, is a privately-funded liberal arts and science-oriented institute of higher education for the best of Pakistan’s next generation
Summary: Pakistan’s new Habib University had outgrown its in-house e-applications service, as well as an initially promising, yet ultimately restrictive, Amazon Web Services cloud implementation. By moving from the Amazon infrastructure as a service (IaaS) approach to a Microsoft Azure-based platform as a service (PaaS) solution, this ambitious university is experiencing a dramatic improvement in both quality and reliability for its e-applications and for other student and partner services.
Software and services
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure Storage
Microsoft Azure App Service
Azure SQL Database
Microsoft SQL Server 2012
Microsoft SQL Database Migration Wizard
Microsoft .NET 4.5
Open source technologies
Ubuntu
CentOS 7.0
MySQL
WordPress 4.4.2
“I’m extremely happy with Azure and very impressed with the exceptional technical support I’ve gotten from Microsoft, from the first day we started the Azure conversation with them. I’m very pleased with the seamless way my Linux and open source software works together too.”
— Waqar Naqvi, Senior Manager, Business Computing – IT, Habib University, Pakistan