Australia's University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) is planning a cloud migration project to Microsoft Azure.

As reported by iTNews, the Queensland-based university is planning to start moving its core infrastructure workloads to the cloud out of two on-premises data centers by the second half of this year.

Initially, the project will be a "lift and shift" migration according to the university, which will then look to re-architect its systems to be cloud native, serverless, and platform-oriented.

“This will modernize infrastructure and transform capabilities, service delivery, and digital culture at UniSC,” CIO Niranjan Prabhu said. “A robust architectural framework governs each migration phase to ensure alignment with strategic goals, continuity of critical services, and minimal disruption.”

UniSC has selected Microsoft's Azure cloud platform for the migration.

Prabhu added: "This migration is a core pillar of our university-wide strategy for accelerating digital transformation across education, research, and operations that emphasise people-centric digital experiences, strong digital governance and stewardship, and modern, resilient infrastructure."

In addition, the university will be looking to strengthen its cybersecurity and data governance, expand digital learning platforms, and enhance research technology environments.

The university was seeking partners to assist with the migration project last month. Applications closed on May 6.

Microsoft has cloud regions in Canberra, New South Wales, and Victoria in Australia. The cloud giant committed to investing AU$5 billion (US$3.18bn) in expanding its Australian infrastructure footprint in October 2023. Part of that commitment would see the company increasing its number of data centers in the country from 20 to 29.

In December 2024, Microsoft revealed it would be launching an "Azure Extended Zone" in Perth by mid-2025.