Industry:
Education
The Challenge:
The university’s existing backup platform was lacking some of the modern capabilities needed tocombat evolving requirements.
The Solution:
MTI designed, delivered, and continues to support a modern
backup and recovery platform, continuously refining the solution to ensure the best possible value from the investment.
Benefits:
- Enhanced cyber resilience
- Modern backup and recovery platform
- Improved reporting, visibility, and backup verification
- Reduced operational overheads
- Greater confidence in recovery and business continuity
- Dedicated technical expertise
- Six years of proactive support and monitoring
- Flexible platform designed to support future university requirements
Company Profile
Sheffield Hallam University is one of the UK’s largest universities, supporting approximately 31,000 students and 4,000 staff across a diverse teaching, research, and operational environment.
Its Digital Technology Services team is responsible for the critical infrastructure that underpins the university’s day-to-day operations, ensuring services remain secure, available and resilient.
As part of its ongoing technology strategy, the university identified an opportunity to modernise its backup and recovery environment to strengthen cyber resilience, improve operational visibility and support future growth.
The Challenge
Like many organisations, Sheffield Hallam University was facing an increasingly complex threat landscape, with growing pressure to protect critical data against ransomware and other cyber threats.
While the university’s existing backup platform had performed reliably over many years, it lacked some of the modern capabilities needed to meet evolving security, compliance, and operational requirements.
The university wanted to improve backup immutability, increase confidence in recovery processes, and gain better visibility across its backup environment. At the same time, Sheffield Hallam University was looking for a partner that could provide more than technology alone – one that could help guide the project, share specialist expertise, and support the university throughout its data protection journey.
The Solution
MTI designed, delivered, and continues to support a modern backup and recovery platform built on Dell Technologies PowerStore and Veeam Data Platform.
Working alongside Sheffield Hallam University, MTI adopted an iterative approach throughout the project, continuously refining the solution to ensure the university received the best possible value from its investment. This included incorporating new Veeam capabilities where appropriate and ensuring the right long-term support model was in place to meet the university’s operational requirements.
Implementation was delivered by MTI consultants supported by Veeam specialists, with a strong focus on collaboration and knowledge sharing to ensure long-term success. Working closely with Sheffield Hallam University throughout the deployment, MTI ensured knowledge transfer, refined the solution as requirements evolved, and successfully transitioned the platform into a fully supported managed service.
Results
The project has transformed Sheffield Hallam University’s approach to data protection, delivering a modern backup and recovery platform built to meet evolving security, compliance and operational requirements.
Immutable backups have strengthened cyber resilience, providing greater protection against ransomware while giving the university increased confidence in recovery readiness. Enhanced reporting and visibility have also reduced manual administration, enabling teams to spend less time gathering information and more time focusing on strategic priorities.
The partnership continues beyond implementation through a six-year support agreement, including proactive monitoring through MTI Support Plus and ongoing access to dedicated Veeam expertise, ensuring the platform continues to be optimised and supported as the university’s requirements evolve.
Why MTI?
Following a collaborative tender process, Sheffield Hallam University selected MTI for its technical expertise, collaborative approach, and strong partnerships with Dell Technologies and Veeam.
As a Dell Technologies Titanium Black Partner with more than 35 years of
experience, MTI worked closely with university stakeholders to understand both immediate requirements and longer-term objectives. Through a consultative approach, MTI helped shape a solution that not only addressed current challenges but also provided the flexibility to evolve alongside future needs.
Beyond the technology itself, Sheffield Hallam University valued MTI’s ability to design, deliver, and support the solution, providing direct access to experienced specialists across both Dell Technologies and Veeam, ensuring expert guidance was available throughout the project lifecycle and into business-as-usual operations.
MTI didn’t just deliver a new backup platform; they became a trusted partner. Their expertise across Dell Technologies and Veeam, combined with a collaborative approach throughout the project, gave us confidence that we’re protecting critical university data today while building for the future.
Simon Henry,
Head of Cloud Networks & Infrastructre, Sheffield Hallam University