References
"With the baramundi Management Suite, we have a tool that completely fulfills our requirements."
Berufsschule 1 Bebo-Wager-Schule
Reference
The Bebo-Wager Commercial-Vocational School #1 (Gewerbliche Berufsschule 1 Bebo-Wager-Schule) in the Bavarian city of Augsburg has been training generations of aspiring tradespeople since the 1960s. Known for its programs in metalworking-related fields, it has more than 60 faculty and staff members teaching nearly 2,000 students in mechatronics, machining, automotive and aeronautical engineering, as well as drafting, plumbing, and HVAC technologies.
Led by Principal Robert Karlinger and Deputy Principal Gudrun Ungar, the school places heavy demands on its network infrastructure and its IT team. In fact, the two-person IT team of head teachers Manfred Buchhard and Andreas Geiger are allotted a total of 8 hours per week to maintain 600 network-enabled devices including about 450 local clients and about 50 mobile notebook terminals, plus projectors, interactive whiteboards, robots or PLC controllers.
"The educational network is operated by us via a domain with three terminal servers,” explains Mr. Buchhard, who is also on the school’s management team. “All employees and students have their own user account to access a computer or a terminal server with the required software. Client and user rights are controlled via an Active Directory server and group policies." "Since we are a school, we naturally have to regulate access to the Internet, filter content and fend off malware. That's why we also operate a proxy server with a filter configured for this purpose,” adds Mr. Geiger.
“Communication takes place via Microsoft 365 and Teams. Here, too, all users have an account managed by the school." In addition, the breadth of the school’s technical training programs requires the use of a variety of specialized software. "We have to maintain a very broad portfolio here due to the diversity of our training professions,” says Mr. Geiger. “For example, a networked production environment (i.e., Industry 4.0 or Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT/)) has to be simulated for teaching purposes, including all of the software used in it," Mr. Geiger says.
A complete solution instead of a multitude of tools
The vocational school was faced with the challenge of distributing software updates and upgrades to a variety of endpoints in rapid succession. The previous method of cloning the computers and then using a hard disk sheriff to secure them against modification was becoming increasingly time-consuming. To complicate the process, applications often required separate handling and installation. Specialized software such as Autodesk Inventor and AutoCAD, MTS, Stakis, Yenka, digital twin, BoschEsitronic and the use of multiple training platforms pushed the process to its limits. "Our desire here was to shorten IT response times.
In addition, we were considering doing away with terminal servers because of the performance-hungry software in use. That ultimately tipped the scales in favor of looking for a better solution," says Mr. Buchard. "We tried using our existing solutions such as Microsoft Intune but unfortunately they didn’t adequately overcome the challenges. Also, meeting our various requirements with multiple different solutions would have been cumbersome. Accordingly, we solicited various offers. With baramundi and BAGHUS, its systems integration partner in Munich, we found solutions partners who excelled with rapid response times and solutions for our specific problems,” he says.
Expectations fully met
"With the baramundi Management Suite, we have a tool that completely fulfills our requirements in terms of administration, inventory and modern endpoint management. After training tailored to our needs and deployment in February 2021, we have been continuously modernizing and expanding our network operations."
Overcoming challenges
"Our biggest challenge was to find a reliable and flexible solution that can be adapted to our needs and plans. We’re using the bMS to manage about 70 percent of network endpoints. That includes automated inventory of endpoint software and hardware and all other areas of lifecycle management such as monitoring the contract status of our leased devices,” says Mr. Geiger.
“The benefits in terms of productivity are unmistakable. We use the bMS to manage and automate software and operating system distribution and updates. That enables us to accomplish many more tasks with fewer steps and in less time. It’s also been a great help in clearing the existing IT innovation backlog at our school,” he says.
Overall, the ability to automate more and more IT management tasks gives us the opportunity to plan new projects that previously seemed impossible.
Andreas Geiger, Head Teacher at Berufsschule 1 Bebo-Wager-Schule
Next steps
"With such diverse endpoint hardware and software, tasks such as roll-outs or updates come up almost daily. Now with the baramundi system we can distribute user software so quickly that it is no longer a problem to install processor-intensive applications back onto the local clients. In the near term, that means we can reduce or stop the use of terminal servers.”
Mr. Buchard also praised baramundi’s well-known and outstanding customer service. “We always receive friendly, competent and also extremely prompt support from baramundi and BAGHUS. All of our contacts have impressed us with their expertise and understanding and have helped us overcome the challenges of our complex system. Overall, we are very happy to have chosen the baramundi Management System.”
