Managed Mahara Hosting with NetSpot

Managed Hosting is a cost effective way to reduce the risk associated with transitioning to a new platform. NetSpot is the largest Mahara Partner in Australia and has detailed knowledge of how to implement and support enterprise level deployments of Mahara. This expertise dramatically reduces implementation time and supports best practice service delivery from the first day of semester.

NetSpot offers enterprise level Australian based managed hosting services including gigabit connectivity to AARNet, 24x7 monitoring and response, nightly backups, infrastructure from tier 1 vendors, options for disaster recovery, and well defined upgrade practices including staging, user acceptance testing and regular maintenance windows.

Mahara plus NetSpot equals 'Enterprise Mahara'

Our services are designed for mid-sized to large organisations where eLearning is mission critical. NetSpot has been hosting Learning Management Systems for the Higher Education Sector for over a decade and applies the resultant mature processes and infrastructure to hosting ePortfolio solutions like Mahara.

NetSpot's Managed Hosting Service enables:

• Change and risk management
• Increased service quality
• Refocusing on core activities
• Cost management.

NetSpot currently manages online learning environments which are accessed by over 650,000 users. We have invested in signicant infrastructure and sta to provide high levels of availability.

Putting You in Safe Hands
NetSpot uses only Tier 1 server equipment (Cisco, HP, Citrix) in order to minimise the risks of server downtime due to hardware failure. The solution also utilises a wide range of system monitoring elements that provide 24x7 coverage of critical
infrastructure.

NetSpot employs the following redundant components and devices to achieve high availability:

• Redundant server and device components
• Redundant rewalls and networking equipment
• Redundant paths to the Internet
• Redundant load balancers
• Redundant Storage Area Networks (SANs)
• Redundant disks.
  

NetSpot operates out of two data centres, this means we can mirror data between sites giving our clients better disaster recovery assurance. We host on the AARNet backbone, providing the highest speeds available, and at no cost to AARNet
customers as all data is classied as 'on net'.

Benefits of Mahara Hosting with NetSpot

Sustainability
By choosing a Mahara Partner you are supporting the further
development of Mahara (due to royalties we share back to the Mahara project).

Direct Access, responsiveness and quality
Mahara Partners have a direct relationship with the Mahara project team, so get up-to-date information on plans; are able to have bug and feature requests prioritised; receive and act on early advice on security issues prior to general announcements so our release branches will be more secure than most Mahara installations.

Advocacy
As a Mahara Partner in Australia and one who is almost exclusively
focussed on higher education, we believe NetSpot has a valuable role and
opportunity to represent the interests of universities and to ensure that new
versions of Mahara incorporate functionality which enhances its use in such
institutions.

Inhouse hosting
Oon the surface, offers a high level of control and is often viewed
as a low risk option. In reality, there are substantial project cost and time risks
related to acquiring knowledge to manage a learning management system
inhouse. Outsourcing (particularly offshore) often represents a reduction in
control but offers a lower total cost due to higher efficiencies.

NetSpot offers a blended alternative called 'co-sourcing' where the university and
NetSpot build a tight integration with existing university management, systems
and expertise and NetSpot's Australian hosting capability delivered via AARNet. In
this way the low risk/high control model of inhouse operation can be matched
with the efficiencies of outsourcing through a partnership with NetSpot.

NetSpot is Australia's largest official Mahara partner and is also among the top
four of 50 official Moodle Partners world-wide. NetSpot has vast experience in
supporting enterprise-level learning management systems in Australasia for
universities and TAFE's and provides managed hosting (on AARNet) for over
650,000 students and related services including integration, development,
content migration, customisation, training, technical support and end-user
(academic and student) help-desk.

Read more about NetSpot's Managed Hosting Services and Help Desk Support Services.