Regensburg University Filr Delivers Improved Collaboration Through Seamless File Access and Sharing from Any Device Or Location

Case Study Information Management and Governance

Regensburg University Filr delivers improved collaboration through seamless file access and sharing from any device or location.

Overview research initiatives. Overall, some 55,000 users Regensburg University, founded in 1962 as the use the university network. fourth Bavarian regional university, is a modern campus university. Originally designed as a To support this highly collaborative academic regional university, it has developed into a re- environment, file sharing was widely used, as nowned international center of teaching and Edmund Weber, Head of Collaboration and research. With 11 faculties, over 22,000 stu- Mobile Solutions at Regensburg University, dents are enrolled at the university. explains: “To support their work or study, our users would regularly use different file sharing At a Glance Challenge options, such as Dropbox, or OneDrive. While ■ The Computer Center at Regensburg University we recognize the value of file sharing, none of ■ Industry supports a diverse user base. There is the aca- these options complied with our security poli- Education demic side, consisting of students and teach- cies and it became clear that we needed to put a ■ ing staff; the medical side with the university’s framework in place to help our users share files ■ Location medical faculty affiliated to local teaching hos- securely and effectively. Lots of our users want Germany pitals; and the research side, as the university mobile file access, from their smartphones and ■ ■ Challenge is very well set up for a dialog between science tablets with the same experience as they would and industry through several ground-breaking Provide an effective and secure file sharing on their laptop or desktop. We couldn’t easily solution for 55,000 users with varying provide file access from all these devices and requirements. Regensburg University wanted looked for a solution to which we could apply to replace ad-hoc file sharing with a more “As the product has matured and our our security policy and standards. This is es- structured and secure solution. pecially important as the university has close ■ Filr deployment has grown to one of ■ Products and Services links to healthcare providers which makes us the largest globally, user acceptance Micro Focus Filr required by law to meet strict compliance rules has really increased. People are now ■ around data sharing, so storing information in a ■ Results actively asking for it and suggesting public cloud is not an option for us.” ++ Secure file sharing for 55,000 users new use cases for Filr.” ++ Improved collaboration Solution ++ Dynamic access to over 75 million files from EDMUND WEBER any device When market research showed that Micro Head of Collaboration and Mobile Solutions ++ High user acceptance of Filr Regensburg University Focus Filr could provide seamless file access from any location or device a decision “We recently introduced a new Filr version which has given us some performance enhancements, support for new clients, and improved indexing. We can see that the product is important to Micro Focus and in constant development which is great news for our continued use of it.” Contact us at: www.microfocus.com EDMUND WEBER Like what you read? Share it. Head of Collaboration and Mobile Solutions Regensburg University

was soon made. Filr has been designed with was hoping to leverage use of Filr as well. enterprise-wide use in mind, resulting in re- Regensburg University’s Filr system needed duced administration, improved security, and full access to Amberg-Weiden’s eDirectory and more productive users. Filr now serves as the file server resources. This was done through connection between the university file servers creating a VPN tunnel so that secure file shar- and any endpoint device. ing between the universities was enabled.

Over 75 million files are held within 50 Net The university’s research staff regularly col- Folder servers and file access is easy, both laborates with other research bodies around on and off the network. When on the network, the world. Shibboleth is used as a federated users can download a file which they can then identity solution and, within the Shibboleth fed- access and edit off-line. As soon as the device eration framework, Filr can be used to securely connects back onto the network, the file will file share which enables effective research be synced with its source. Weber comments: collaboration. “Filr is very easy to use, both from an IT ad- ministrative and a user perspective. We need Results to make sure users understand the difference Filr is easy to manage as it works with the between a sync & share solution such as Filr University’s existing security policies and de- and a shared drive solution. Our user base is of livers secure file access over encrypted con- course very fluid, so within our university, use of nections. On the few occasions when Weber Filr is included in the induction course so a new has needed support from Micro Focus, he has user coming into the university is clear on the been pleased with the response: “Filr really just Filr use straight away. As the product has ma- runs itself but if I need help Micro Focus is right tured and our Filr deployment has grown to one there with great support.” of the largest globally, user acceptance has really increased. People are now actively asking He concludes: “We recently introduced a new for it and suggesting new use cases for Filr.” Filr version which has given us some performance enhancements, support for new cli- The benefits of using Filr became extra clear ents, and improved indexing. We can see that when Regensburg University announced a the product is important to Micro Focus and in partnership with a local technical university, the constant development which is great news for University of Amberg-Weiden. Much smaller our continued use of it.” than Regensburg University, Amberg-Weiden

168-000252-002 | M | 04/20 | © 2020 Micro Focus or one of its affiliates. Micro Focus and the Micro Focus logo, among others, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Micro Focus or its subsidiaries or affiliated companies in the United Kingdom, United States and other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.