California Polytechnic State University to Go All-In on AWS

SEATTLE, WA – Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), recently announced that California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), one of the top engineering schools in the nation, will migrate all core applications to AWS. By choosing the cloud with the most functionality, the fastest pace of innovation, the largest ecosystem of customers and partners, and the most proven operating and security expertise, Cal Poly is well-positioned to offer a best-in-class student experience.

Faced with aging IT and the need to expand its infrastructure, Cal Poly is transforming its IT operations by going all-in on AWS. By moving to AWS, Cal Poly is avoiding an $8-10 million data center build, and in addition, estimates saving $3.5 million on its current infrastructure costs over the next three years. Cal Poly is migrating all core applications to AWS, including learning management systems (LMS), payroll, database services, mobile applications, data warehouse, content management service, security applications, student scheduling and advising services, among others. Cal Poly will also launch the “Cal Poly Digital Transformation Hub, Powered by AWS,” a collaboration that will help government agencies across California move to the cloud by developing technology solutions designed to address the unique digital transformation challenges public sector agencies face.

“Cal Poly’s motto is ‘Learn by Doing,’ and as an institution focused on technology, what better way to embody that than by transforming our own IT infrastructure and going all-in with the world’s leading cloud provider, AWS? Because AWS offers the broadest and deepest set of functionality and superior performance and security, we’ll be able to leverage the latest and greatest technologies as we innovate on behalf of our students,” says Jeffrey Armstrong, president, Cal Poly. “We’re also very excited to launch the Cal Poly Digital Transformation Hub powered by AWS. As a public institution based in California, we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to team with AWS to help other public organizations solve their digital challenges using the power of the cloud.”

“As the leading cloud provider with over a decade of experience, we’ve seen educational institutions across the world benefit from AWS’s cost savings, scalability, and agility,” says Teresa Carlson, vice president, Worldwide Public Sector at AWS. “We’re so pleased that Cal Poly raised the bar by not only moving its infrastructure to the cloud, but also working with AWS to launch the Cal Poly Digital Transformation Hub, giving an opportunity for its students to also use cloud technology and have an even broader impact on citizens. This is a great example of how technology can act as a catalyst to help make the world a better place.”

Cal Poly joins the growing list of customers going all-in on AWS, including 3M Health Information Systems, AOL, Acquia, Ancestry, Atlassian, Australia Health District, Blackboard, Change Healthcare, Discovery Communications, Dole, City of McKinney Texas, Clark Construction, DigitalGlobe, Edmunds.com, Ellucian, Eliza Corporation, Enel, Fast Retailing, FINRA, GameStop, Hertz, Intuit, Juniper Networks, Kempinski, LexisNexis, Live Nation, Magazine Luiza, Matson, MetGlobal, Ministry of Justice UK, MPAC, Motorola, National Democratic Institute, Netflix, Nordstrom, Pristine, Qlik, Smiles, Sony New Media Solutions, Splunk, Suncorp Group, Talen Energy, The Guardian, Time Inc., Trainline, Twilio, University of Notre Dame, Vend, Vidyard, and Zillow.

About Amazon Web Services
For 11 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 90 fully featured services for compute, storage, networking, database, analytics, application services, deployment, management, developer, mobile, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), security, hybrid, and enterprise applications, from 42 Availability Zones (AZs) across 16 geographic regions in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the UK. AWS services are trusted by millions of active customers around the world – including the fastest growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies – to power their infrastructure, make them more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit https://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 www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

About Cal Poly
Founded in 1901 and part of the renowned California State University system since 1960, Cal Poly is a nationally ranked, four-year, comprehensive polytechnic public university located in San Luis Obispo. Known for its Learn by Doing approach, small class sizes and open access to expert faculty, Cal Poly is a distinctive learning community whose 21,000 academically motivated students enjoy an unrivaled hands-on educational experience that prepares them to lead successful personal and professional lives. For more information, visit www.calpoly.edu.

Featured

  • Duncanville High School Breaks Ground on New CTE Building

    Duncanville High School in Duncanville, Texas, recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the newest addition to its campus, a Career and Technical Education (CTE) facility. The new building is part of a larger CTE expansion project for the school included in a 2023, $170-million bond program.

  • Kimball International Debuts Health & Education Experience Center

    Kimball International recently opened a new facility at its corporate headquarters in Jasper, Ind., that will act as a hands-on showroom for a variety of its furniture products and solutions, according to a news release. The 13,000-square-foot Health & Education Experience Center was originally designed by Gensler as the headquarters for Kimball International’s National brand.

  • Abstract colorful arrows in front of a contemporary university building

    Spaces4Learning 2025 Trends in Higher Education

    With 2025 well underway, it’s time to take a look at some broader trends submitted by you, our Spaces4Learning readership. We asked for your thoughts on topics like classroom design, health & safety, materials & construction, and technology in both K–12 and higher-education environments. Below is a roundup of 2025 trends in higher education from the experts in the trenches.

  • Ancient Resilience: How Indigenous Intelligence Shapes the 4Roots Education Building

    As climate change intensifies, educational spaces must evolve beyond basic sustainability toward true resilience – we must design environments that can adapt, respond, and thrive amid shifting, and intensifying, climate hazards. Drawing on indigenous wisdom and nature-based strategies, integrating resilient design offers a path to create learning environments that are not only functional but deeply in tune with their natural surroundings.

Digital Edition