The general GWDG offer for videoconferencing is the DFNconf service. It is operated by the DFN-Verein, of which the GWDG, MPG, and the University of Göttingen are members.
Currently, however, there are performance bottlenecks due to the strongly increased usage, so that the DFNconf service is not available in the usual stable manner. More information, also regarding the utilization of the service due to the current COVID-19 situation, can be found on web pages of the the DFN-Verein: https://www.conf.dfn.de.
The GWDG has therefore decided to include alternative offers in its portfolio in order to bridge this phase for customers and provide suitable solutions. These are commercial, payed cloud offers where the information leaves our own jurisdiction. We can therefore not guarantee data protection and these services are not permitted for sensitive and/or personal data. We ask you to take this into account when using them.
Attention the trial license for WebEx has expired. Therefore please use one of the other solutions we offer.
For the commercial platforms, please note that these are not operated by the GWDG in Göttingen and are therefore problematic in terms of data protection. According to the current state of the art, they are not suitable for particularly sensitive and personal data. The solutions are not free of charge, even though there are currently free offers for a transitional period. However, the GWDG offers access to these solutions and can provide licenses in some cases.
Currently, the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs has decided, that the summer semester 2020 will take place. The summer semester started on April 20 with virtual, digital teaching. It is clear that many teachers are looking for suitable tools and need support. The GWDG provides technical options and services for this. The selection and recommendation for teaching at the Georg-August-University will be made elsewhere. There is support and advice for teaching, especially at the University's Department of Studies and Teaching. Student and Academic Services.
The GWDG works closely with the Department of Studies and Teaching and the Digital Learning and Teaching TeamTeam Digital Learning and Teaching . We regularly coordinate with each other on current developments.
Nevertheless, we would like to give an overview of our current evaluation of the services in order to provide as much transparency as possible in the current situation. The above mentioned solutions all offer support for video conferencing. However, the performance varies in detail and the services are suitable for lectures to varying degrees:
Overall, the videoconferencing services present a picture with various potential solutions. The expectation is high that with BigBlueButton we now have a functioning web conferencing solution on campus that is also suitable for teaching. However, it will probably only be usable for group sizes of up to 80-120 people. The GWDG upgraded its hardware for April 20, so that about 2000 parallel participants* are possible. However, there is no empirical data on how many participants there will be at the same time during the summer semester. A further expansion of capacities by the GWDG is possible.
The stability of BigBlueButton cannot yet be finally evaluated. The system was introduced at short notice in March and will be migrated to a larger hardware infrastructure in April. The GWDG is making every effort to ensure secure operation, but there is no longer any experience or history of this. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that unexpected restrictions may occur during the summer semester.
BigBlueButton is therefore currently the preferred and recommended solution for the Göttingen Campus with a maximum of 80-120 participants* (currently without telephone support).
In the current situation, it seems sensible to continue to have a commercial platform in the portfolio in addition to the preferred in-house solution BigBlueButton, in order to be prepared for any eventualities and to be able to react on short notice. According to the current status, this alternative platform can only be a commercial platform from the set of evaluated offers. A further, alternative Open Source solution in own operation is not realizable in the time available and currently no suitable product is known. There are also few indications that alternative commercial solutions such as WebToGo, BlueJeans etc. would offer further advantages.
Based on the positive experiences, Zoom seems to be a reasonable choice as a supplement to BigBlueButton.
Alternatively, Microsoft teams is also being considered and discussions are underway to implement it. WebEx has not proven itself internationally for lectures. This impression is also strengthened by the fact that a majority of universities in Germany and internationally seem to be using Zoom. Also the DFN-Verein had announced that due to the lack of perspectives they would like to negotiate a zoom contract with their own offer DFNConf to offer this. However, this goal has been shattered, as Zoom does not want to conclude such national contracts at the moment and is instead looking for individual contracts with universities.The GWDG has therefore negotiated a campus agreement for Zoom for the University and Medical Centre Göttingen. Zoom also offers the option to run so-called Meeting Connectors on GWDG servers. The GWDG has created an environment for the GWDG (gwdg.zoom.us) and for the University of Göttingen (uni-goettingen.zoom.us). These two environments are currently in test operation. If you would like to participate in this test, please send an email to support@gwdg.de, so that we can activate your account. The company Zoom is currently in negotiations with many universities and cannot fulfill individual requirements.
In principle, Zoom also offers the option that the servers used are in Germany or are operated on-premise at the customer's premises. These options are naturally preferred and pursued by the GWDG. However,these options could not be realised in the short term for the summer semester 2020. The Zoom company is currently in negotiations with many universities and cannot meet individual requirements.
The preference when using a commercial solution is with Zoom. However, it is not clear how the contract negotiations and the costs called for will develop. It therefore makes sense to continue to pursue alternatives for scenarios that BigBlueButtom cannot meet.
The GWDG has therefore created the technical basis for Microsoft teams to be used. Here, too, most of the statements made for Zoom are correct. It is an external cloud platform from Microsoft outside our direct control. In terms of data protection law, the use of Microsoft's offerings is problematic (e.g. evaluated by several state data protection officers). On the one hand, the conformity to the DSGVO of the corresponding offers is questioned. In addition, Microsoft is known for unilateral changes to the contractual and usage conditions of its services, which can change the basis of use of the cloud services in a very short time without coordination with the customers. The follow-up and examination of these changes by the locally responsible data protection officer is a challenge and can hardly be afforded in a timely manner.
It should be noted that the following questions and problems remain open and need to be clarified:
These points can hardly be conclusively clarified for the summer semester. Nevertheless, they are essential for the use of such a service if it is mandatory. At some universities, Zoom is already being used or its use is planned under the current pressure to act. Prior to deployment, the foundations must be laid or temporary special regulations must be discussed and, if necessary, decisions made.
Furthermore, it should be noted that various points of criticism or problems have arisen from the Internet or from the press on the subject of data protection by Zoom. Furthermore, the GWDG is of the opinion that Zoom's data protection conditions are in principle better suited than those of Cisco WebEx and Microsoft. Nevertheless, the reports should be taken seriously and the assessments should be reviewed. We will continue to inform our users on the respective websites.
The media server of the GWDG is suitable for delivering recorded videos and has been in use for many years. However, it is not clear whether the GWDG's media server is sufficiently dimensioned for increased use. We are currently analysing whether it can be extended or whether an alternative service should be introduced at short notice.