Oxfam is migrating to Microsoft Azure from its own private cloud, relying on Rackspace's Fanatical Support to do so.
The move is part of a major cloud migration project, which will see the a replacement of older Oxfam private infrastructure, including an on-premise 'Computer Equipment Room', in favour of Azure's cloud.
Oxfam, which has more than 1.5 million supporters in the UK, relies heavily on its web presence for fundraising activities, and as a source of income through its online store.
The move will allow the organisation to scale in a cost-effective way, according to Nick Harris, information systems manager at Oxfam.
"After reviewing a number of cloud platforms, we decided that Microsoft Azure was the one that best matched [our] needs," said Harris. "We acknowledged early on that we required additional skills and 24/7, 365 [days a year] support to maintain the infrastructure, and Rackspace demonstrated that it had the capability and experience to provide this."
"Having this support available means that our IS service delivery team can spend more time working towards the charity's key objectives, with peace of mind that our IT systems are running efficiently," added Harris.
Rackspace Fanatical Support services will play a key role in providing a reliable service that stays online at peak times, including during a humanitarian crisis and any large-scale events the organisation is involved with, such as the Glastonbury Festival.
The move, which is set to take at least 10 months to complete, will also aid in the development and quick deployment of new website features, as well as provide ongoing architecture design and analytics reporting.
"Migrating to the cloud has many benefits, especially for organisations like Oxfam that like to keep an eye on costs so that its fundraising efforts have the biggest possible effect," said Darren Norfolk, managing director of Rackspace UK.
"However, the cloud also brings challenges such as the in-depth planning needed to prepare for a migration, the complexity of architecting a public cloud solution, and figuring out how it can meet the constant internal demand to reduce IT costs."
