Drive Innovation with Cloud

Executive Summary 

A leading medical training college in Kenya faced challenges with scalability, system reliability, and data security due to its expanding digital operations. Redington implemented a comprehensive AWS cloud solution, optimizing infrastructure with auto-scaling EC2 instances, advanced security measures, and compliance-focused monitoring. The migration improved performance, reduced risks, and enhanced operational efficiency, leading to a 35% cost reduction while ensuring a seamless learning experience for students and faculty.

About the Customer

One of the top training College in Kenya and falls under the Ministry of Health. The College is entrusted with the role of training various disciplines in the health sector, conducting research and consultancy. The College has many Campuses and 6 satellites strategically located in 45 of the 47 counties in the country, offering 90+ medical courses  within 18 departments.

Customer Challenge

• The Training College expanded its services and digital operations, its on-premises infrastructure struggled to handle the increasing volume of traffic and operational demands. The platform encountered significant challenges with scalability, system reliability during peak periods, and ensuring the security of sensitive student and faculty data.

  These limitations disrupted institute ability to provide a smooth and efficient learning experience, which could potentially affect student satisfaction and the institution's reputation. Additionally, complying with stringent data protection regulations added further complexity to their IT requirements, as the existing infrastructure lacked the advanced security and monitoring capabilities necessary for safeguarding sensitive information. If these issues remained unaddressed, Institute risked compromising its competitive advantage and the trust of its stakeholders, which could lead to potential financial losses and damage to its public image

Solution Workflow

Redington collaborated closely with the Institute to design a comprehensive solution, leveraging AWS Cloud to modernize and optimize their infrastructure. The solution not only addressed infrastructure challenges but also ensured a robust security framework to protect sensitive data and support the institution’s operational needs.

1. Migration and Assessment:
   Using AWS Migration Hub, Redington assessed institute existing infrastructure to identify dependencies and prioritize migration steps. The migration process was carefully planned to ensure minimal disruption to ongoing operations at the college.
2. Core Infrastructure Modernization:
   • Compute: Institute’s application was rehosted on Amazon EC2 instances with auto-scaling capabilities, enabling seamless handling of traffic spikes during peak periods.
3. Security and Compliance Enhancements:
   To ensure the highest levels of security, Redington worked with Institute to implement centralized security management and advanced threat detection:
   • Centralized Control and Proactive Threat Detection: Security was managed from a single point, ensuring consistency and efficiency across all AWS accounts. Continuous monitoring allowed for rapid responses to any potential threats.
   • Compliance Focus: The infrastructure was designed to help Institute meet regulatory requirements, with centralized auditing and policy enforcement.
   • Layered Defence: Multiple layers of security were put in place to protect against various threats, with an emphasis on least-privilege access and vulnerability management.
   • AWS Security Hub: Aggregates security findings from services such as GuardDuty, Inspector, and Config, providing a comprehensive view of the security posture.
   • AWS GuardDuty and WAF: Enabled proactive threat detection, with GuardDuty analyzing logs for malicious activity and AWS WAF providing web application protection from common exploits like SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS).
   • IAM and IAM Access Analyzer: AWS IAM Identity Center was used to manage access to resources across all accounts, ensuring secure and streamlined access. IAM Access Analyzer monitored and managed permissions to ensure least-privilege access and prevent external data exposure.
   • CloudTrail and Inspector: AWS CloudTrail provided centralized logging of all API calls, enhancing accountability and security investigations. AWS Inspector enabled continuous vulnerability scanning, ensuring that Institute's infrastructure remained secure.
4. Performance Optimization:
   • Global Experience: Amazon CloudFront was integrated to reduce latency and improve user experience, enabling students and faculty to access services smoothly, regardless of their geographical location.
5. Support Services:
   • Pre-Migration: Redington conducted comprehensive assessments and developed a detailed migration roadmap.
   • Post-Migration: The team provided 24/7 monitoring and management services using AWS CloudWatch, ensuring consistent uptime and rapid issue resolution. Dedicated support staff worked closely with Institute to fine-tune the infrastructure and address operational challenges as they arose.

Centralized Security Management
To further strengthen the security posture of Institute’s infrastructure:

• AWS Config was used to track resource configurations, ensuring compliance across all accounts.
• AWS Network Firewall protected Institute’s VPCs from unauthorized network traffic, enforcing security policies and blocking malicious activities.

Technical Architecture Overview

Results and Benefits:

• Auto-scaling EC2 instances ensure seamless handling of traffic spikes, providing consistent access for students and faculty.

• Centralized security management, proactive threat detection, and regulatory compliance through AWS GuardDuty, WAF, Config, and IAM Access Analyzer ensure data protection.
• Multiple security layers, including AWS Network Firewall, safeguard against various threats.

• Amazon CloudFront reduces latency, enhancing the user experience globally.

• Centralized logging and monitoring with AWS CloudWatch and CloudTrail streamline issue resolution, reducing manual efforts and overhead.

5. Risk Reduction

• Ongoing vulnerability scanning and access monitoring minimize exposure to security risks.

• 24/7 monitoring and management services ensure the infrastructure is optimized and responsive to challenges.

• KMTC Migration to AWS led to cost savings of up to 35% cloud-based infrastructure.