BayernCloud School uses the digitally sovereign video conferencing solution Visavid for e-schooling
BayernCloud School and OVHcloud
High bandwidth for 100,000 parallel video conferences
99.5% availability of the public cloud infrastructure
1.7 million participants using scalable public cloud resources
Executive summary
To digitalise its e-learning courses, BayernCloud School (ByCS) uses the Auctores GmbH Visavid video conferencing solution, along with OVHcloud’s scalable and digitally sovereign public cloud services. Together, the partners offer a highly available and powerful solution tailored to the needs of schools, thanks to the digitally sovereign infrastructure of the cloud services. The Bavarian Ministry of Culture offers Visavid to all schools in Bavaria as an SaaS solution, which is seamlessly integrated into the ByCS platform under the name “ViKo” and is contracted to do so until 2038.
The challenge
The goal: Digitally sovereign cloud infrastructure with high availability for short-term peak loads
The Coronavirus pandemic has fundamentally changed the way learning content is delivered in schools. For the state of Bavaria, the question arose as to how they could quickly virtualise traditional classroom teaching and switch to modern digitisation concepts. With this in mind, the BayernCloud School (ByCS) platform was launched: it offers centrally provided software applications that can be used free of charge and in compliance with data protection regulations in all state schools in Bavaria, from primary school to secondary school. In order to offer virtual meetings (such as teacher conferences, parent-teacher days, or homework discussions) for students, teachers, and parents in a data protection-compliant manner, the Bavarian State Ministry of Education and Culture (Staatsministerium für Unterricht und Kultus, StMUK) was looking for a video conferencing solution that could protect the unauthorised access of particularly sensitive data relating to minors. The key requirement: The sensitive data must be exclusively hosted in European datacentres.
When the schools closed, the StMUK had to find a quick solution and initially opted for Microsoft Teams licenses. However, the question of digital sovereignty quickly arose, as Microsoft is a US provider and the data was not hosted in the European Union. In order to find a long-term secure and stable solution, it launched a public tender to seek out European SaaS providers who could ensure secure data processing in a digitally sovereign cloud infrastructure while complying with GDPR. High performance and service availability also had to be ensured, as during peak times more than 1.7 million students were being taught remotely through simultaneous video conferences.
The solution
The solution: A highly available cloud infrastructure, European sovereignty, and sustainability
The ViKo video conferencing solution from Auctores meets all the requirements of the ByCS platform and the school authority: the SaaS solution integrates seamlessly into the site design, is fully GDPR compliant, and runs exclusively on servers in European datacentres from OVHcloud.
The scalable public cloud infrastructure allows for the dynamic scaling of resources when needed. The cloud services run on shared, OpenStack-based infrastructures that offer high and immediate scalability.
The stable network enables high bandwidths and can cover 100,000 parallel conferences at peak times without interruptions or delays. In the future, a mesh system for dynamic load balancing will be used to ensure even better protection against system overload. A mesh network consists of multiple access points distributing signal strength across several nodes and providing even higher network coverage and connection stability.
“This renewed contract for our Visavid video conferencing solution for Bavarian schools is a strong signal for digital sovereignty from the Bavarian Ministry of Culture. Together with OVHcloud, we ensure not only a completely data protection-compliant and secure infrastructure, but also an availability of over 99.5 per cent with dynamically scalable resources that meet the high requirements of Bavarian schools.”
Daniel Hausner, Project Manager Visavid, Auctores GmbH
The result
With ViKo, students can easily and securely join a video conference from home and connect with the rest of the class. But the tool also means more flexibility for parents and teachers, as conferences or parent meetings can be held with significantly more participants, without logistical issues such as long journeys. ViKo supports a variety of features, such as screen sharing to share tasks with the class, as well as whiteboards, breakout rooms, and live chats to work together on tasks in groups or to open further communication channels. The seamless integration into the ByCS platform as a desktop app with end-to-end encryption makes using the SaaS solution user-friendly and secure.
“Our open-source public cloud solutions enable Auctores to provide a reliable and data-sovereign platform for millions of teachers, students, and parents. We are pleased to extend our trusted partnership with Auctores to the public sector with the successful contract for Bavarian schools, making the education sector more future-proof.”
Stefan Bodenburg, Account Director Cloud Technology, OVHcloud
