Open-Source Simplicity.
TrueNAS for Universities
With unmatched data integrity, scalability, and flexibility for any education organisation.
TrueNAS Systems Available
At the heart of TrueNAS Enterprise lies the revolutionary ZFS file system, originally developed by Sun Microsystems and now maintained as the open-source OpenZFS project. Unlike traditional storage systems that layer file systems on top of hardware RAID controllers, ZFS integrates volume management directly into the file system level. This architectural approach eliminates the complexity and potential failure points of traditional storage stacks while delivering unprecedented data integrity guarantees.
The Copy-on-Write (CoW) architecture ensures that your university’s critical data is never overwritten until new writes are completely verified. This means that even during power failures or system crashes, your research data, student records, and administrative systems remain perfectly intact. For universities managing everything from undergraduate dissertations to multi-terabyte genomics datasets, this level of protection is invaluable.
The Benefits of TrueNAS
Data Security
Military-Grade Encruption
Security in higher education has never been more critical, with universities facing increasing cyber threats while managing sensitive research data, student records, and intellectual property.
Integration Capabilities
Seamless Campus Compatibility
TrueNAS Enterprise integrates naturally into existing university IT environments without requiring massive infrastructure overhauls.
Enterprise-Grade Support
Support with Academic Awareness
University IT operations face unique challenges that generic enterprise support simply cannot address effectively.
Professional Services Excellence
Powerful Migration Services
University IT migrations are particularly complex because they must accommodate academic schedules, research continuities, and diverse technical requirements.
Strategic Partnership Benefits
Local Expertise with Global Backing
As a certified TrueNAS Enterprise strategic partner, we combine deep local knowledge of UK higher education requirements with the technical expertise and resources of a global technology leader.
Proudly Supporting
Data Security
Military-Grade Encryption Without Performance Penalties
Security in higher education has never been more critical, with universities facing increasing cyber threats while managing sensitive research data, student records, and intellectual property. TrueNAS Enterprise provides comprehensive encryption both at rest and in transit, utilizing AES-256 encryption that meets the most stringent security requirements without impacting system performance.
The self-encrypting drive support means that if physical storage devices are removed from your data center, the information remains inaccessible without proper authentication. For universities handling sensitive research data or student information subject to GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 requirements, this level of protection provides important compliance capabilities.
Integration Capabilities
Seamless Campus Compatibility
TrueNAS Enterprise integrates naturally into existing university IT environments without requiring massive infrastructure overhauls. Most UK universities have substantial investments in VMware vSphere infrastructure, and TrueNAS provides native integration through VAAI (vSphere Storage APIs for Array Integration) and comprehensive iSCSI and NFS support. This means your existing virtual machines, whether hosting student information systems, learning management platforms, or research applications, can immediately benefit from enterprise-grade storage without migration headaches.
For universities adopting containerized applications and cloud-native technologies, TrueNAS Enterprise offers robust Kubernetes integration through CSI (Container Storage Interface) drivers. This forward-looking capability ensures your storage infrastructure can support both current virtualized workloads and future cloud-native applications as your institution modernizes its technology stack.
Enterprise-Grade Support
Support with Academic Awareness
University IT operations face unique challenges that generic enterprise support simply cannot address effectively. Academic institutions have distinctly different operational rhythms, with critical periods during registration, examinations, and research deadlines that require absolute system reliability. TrueNAS Enterprise support is specifically designed around these academic cycles.
Our support teams understand that a storage outage during student registration can affect thousands of students, while research data corruption during grant submission periods can jeopardize millions in funding. The support infrastructure provides guaranteed response times that align with academic criticality, ensuring that your most important operational periods receive priority attention.
The support model includes proactive monitoring capabilities that can identify potential issues before they impact operations. During high-stress periods like enrollment or examination periods, enhanced monitoring ensures that any emerging problems are addressed immediately, often before university IT staff are even aware of potential issues.
Professional Services Excellence
Powerful Migration Services
University IT migrations are particularly complex because they must accommodate academic schedules, research continuities, and the diverse technical requirements of different departments and research groups. TrueNAS Enterprise professional services have developed migration methodologies specifically designed for higher education environments.
Our migration specialists work closely with university IT teams to develop phased migration plans that align with academic calendars and research timelines. Critical research data can be migrated during low-activity periods, while user-facing systems are transitioned during planned maintenance windows. The process includes extensive pre-migration testing to ensure that specialized academic applications continue to function correctly on the new storage infrastructure.
Data integrity verification is built into every migration process, with multiple checksum validations and application testing ensuring that no research data or institutional records are compromised during the transition. For universities with decades of legacy data, our teams have extensive experience in migrating from obsolete storage systems while maintaining complete historical accessibility.
Strategic Partnership Benefits
Local Expertise with Global Backing
As a certified TrueNAS Enterprise strategic partner, we combine deep local knowledge of UK higher education requirements with the technical expertise and resources of a global technology leader. Our team understands the specific procurement processes, compliance requirements, and operational challenges facing UK universities.
We maintain relationships with the major university procurement consortiums (SUPC, LUPC, NEUPC, etc.) and can navigate their framework agreements to ensure you receive optimal pricing and terms. Our experience with UK higher education funding cycles means we can structure proposals and payment terms that align with your institutional budget processes.
