Ucas, the organisation that processes applications for UK
university places, has revealed ambitious plans to move 90% of all
applications online by 2006.
The organisation processes 450,000 student applications a year, of
which about 40% use Apply, a web-based system that went live last
year. Ucas said it expects this figure to rise sharply in the
coming years, after seeing a 25% increase in online applications in
the past 12 months.
Although the increased number of online applications has boosted
efficiency by, for example, cutting paper directories by 75%, the
level of demand places extra pressure on Ucas' IT systems,
particularly as there are many peaks in demand through the year,
said Steve Harrop, director of technology at Ucas.
"The website is such a critical part of the application process
that it cannot go down for any time at all," he said. "This is
particularly true for peak times, such as clearing [where students
who have not got the grades they required search for spare places
on other courses]. Courses go up at midnight and, for that first
hour, demand on the site goes ballistic."
To ensure 100% availability, Ucas recently rolled out a host of
intelligent application switches from supplier Radware, which allow
the IT team to mitigate risks by using multiple ISPs and sharing
resources across separate server farms.