City of Paderborn

Sun Software Centralizes and Secures Access for Innovative Education Initiative

Located in northern central Germany, the 1200-year-old city of Paderborn is home to approximately 142,000 people. It is the site where the Holy Roman Empire was conceived and where its emperor, Charlemagne, resided. Today, Paderborn is an agricultural market and industrial center. The nearby University of Paderborn hosts the Heinz-Nixdorf Museum, the world’s largest computer museum.

Customer Challenges

Provide teachers and students with easy, centralized and secure access to the Internet and educational and productivity software
Ensure secure Web-based access from classrooms, offices and homes
Connect to mixed-platform applications without purchasing additional software that complicates system administration and increases costs

Solution

Sun Secure Global Desktop Software provides 21,000 students and staff with centralized, Web-based access to mixed platform applications. The schools use Sun Ray clients and existing PCs to connect to Sun Solaris-based applications running on Sun servers and Windows-based applications running on Windows Server Terminal Servers.

Business Results

Enhanced learning environment offers users easy access to all applications and the Internet using a consistent Web-based interface
Encryption and firewall technologies built into Sun software provide needed security
Centralized computing model using thin clients, existing desktops and Sun software simplifies system administration, lowers IT costs and leverages existing assets

Products and Services

Story Details

In 799 A.D., discussions between Charlemagne and Pope Leo III in Paderborn led to the creation of the Holy Roman Empire, which transformed disparate peoples and lands into a single entity and positioned Charlemagne as its first emperor. Nearly 1200 years later, the city's current leaders envisioned transforming the educational landscape of Paderborn’s 45 schools by providing its 21,000 students and staff with centralized access to the Internet, educational software and productivity tools such as e-mail and calendar programs. The trick was to simply and cost-effectively access existing Microsoft Windows and Sun Solaris applications—Paderborn has 45 Solaris servers and 61 Windows Server Terminal Servers—without having to buy multiple applications. The city wanted to avoid complicating systems administration and the higher costs associated with software proliferation.

After viewing a demonstration of Sun Ray thin-clients running applications via Sun Secure Global Desktop Software, city officials knew they had found the solution needed to unite the schools' UNIX and Microsoft Windows platforms. They considered solutions from Citrix and others, but were impressed with Sun's education focus, exemplified by the Sun@School program. Sun offered the winning combination of discount pricing, centralized platform access via a single product and a broad feature set that met the schools’ needs.

" Sun Secure Global Desktop Software lets us securely access the Internet, and introduce new methods of learning, using state-of-the-art educational applications and the vast amount of information available on the Web. We found the software to be being flexible, open and secure, and therefore a great fit in our present and future IT strategies. "

— Raimund Michaelis, Project Manager, Lernstatt Paderborn, City of Paderborn

The Lernstatt Paderborn initiative, a cooperative effort between the city of Paderborn and multiple vendors, including Sun, is delivering a state-of-the-art educational experience. Sun Secure Global Desktop Software provides easy-to-use, transparent, and consistent Web-based access to applications running on Microsoft Windows and Sun Solaris platforms, so students and staff don’t have to concern themselves with which servers or platforms they’re accessing.

Sun Secure Global Desktop Software delivers advanced encryption and firewall technology, providing users with highly secure access to educational applications, productivity tools and the Web from their offices and classrooms. Students and staff experience no performance hiccups thanks to the server load-balancing capability of Sun’s software. Centralized access has simplified administration and reduced IT expenditures for the city. One example is its ability to support 21,000-plus users with a staff of five data center technicians.

Lernstatt Paderborn will leverage the Sun solution to deliver further educational innovations. City leaders plan to develop an education portal that students and staff can securely and remotely access from their homes, providing greater flexibility and potentially eliminating physical classrooms.