The Malawi Research and Education Network (MAREN) has taken a major step in improving digital services for Malawi’s education and research community. The organization has successfully upgraded its cloud system thereby making it more reliable, efficient, and ready to support the growing needs of universities and research institutions across the country.

In the past, MAREN’s cloud system faced challenges in meeting the increasing demands of its users. Each component of the system operated separately which made it difficult to manage and maintain. This setup also had limited flexibility as adding new services or expanding storage required a lot of manual work. As a result, MAREN’s ability to deliver efficient digital services to its members was affected.

To address these challenges, MAREN has built a cloud environment technically known as OpenStack that brings all computing, storage, and network resources under one central management system. This new setup allows the team to control and monitor everything from a single point, making it easier to distribute workloads, fix problems quickly, and add new resources whenever needed.

This upgrade means that MAREN’s member institutions, which include universities, colleges, and research centers, will now enjoy faster, more stable, and more reliable digital services. Researchers will be able to store and access large amounts of data more easily, and institutions will benefit from improved connectivity and smoother operations.

According to Jones Kumwenda, MAREN’s Systems Engineer and one of the team members behind the upgrade, the new setup gives the organization improved flexibility and efficiency.

“We can now balance workloads across different servers, automate several processes, and ensure that our services remain available even when part of the system encounters an issue,” Jones explained.

Jones Kumwenda, MAREN’s System Enginner

The move also places MAREN among the leading research and education networks in Africa that are embracing modern digital solutions to strengthen academic collaboration and innovation. By modernizing its cloud system, MAREN is not only improving its own efficiency but also contributing to Malawi’s broader digital transformation agenda.