D2L, a learning technology leader headquartered in Waterloo Region, is moving its hosting infrastructure to Amazon Web Services, the world’s leading cloud. D2L – through its pioneering learning management systems (LMS) Brightspace – supports millions of learners in schools, businesses and governments around the world.
D2L uses more than 60 AWS services to power its product suite. D2L sites have more durability and stability on AWS compared to its traditional data centre environment, due to AWS’s global reach and scale. D2L can also scale for peak periods without over-provisioning its technology resources to deal with spikes in demand, such as the start of the school year. In fact, D2L is now equipped to handle a three-times increase in the load of a large client in less than 24 hours, something that would not have been possible with its previous environment using its on-premises data centre. The company leveraged AWS’s Well-Architected Reviews and Cloud Adoption Framework – which are available to all AWS customers to provide guidance for successful builds – and expects to complete its migration to AWS by the end of 2019.
“Before we moved to the cloud, we were stuck building on the lowest common denominator in our data centres. We had to invent or cobble together open-source code to make it work,” said Nick Oddson, CTO, D2L. “Re-architecting our application on AWS has enabled a 157-per-cent increase in learner logins at the same cost point so far this year. As a whole, the transition to AWS represents a huge win for our customers.”
“D2L understood from the beginning that the cloud offered increased functionality and would result in a better user experience for its customers. With AWS, D2L is realizing better resiliency, performance and global reach,” said Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector Sales at AWS. “Re-architecting on AWS gave D2L the ability to expand and add more learners, without worrying about the infrastructure.”
About Amazon Web Services
For 13 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 165 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, robotics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, deployment, and management from 66 Availability Zones (AZs) within 21 geographic regions, spanning the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Sweden, and the UK. Millions of customers – including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies – trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit aws.amazon.com.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
About D2L
D2L believes learning is the foundation upon which all progress and achievement rests. Working closely with organizations globally, D2L has transformed the way millions of people learn online and in the classroom. Learn more about D2L for schools, higher education and businesses at www.D2L.com.
