ownCloud and Auctores, manufacturer of the Visavid video conferencing system, have just announced a strategic cooperation. By integrating the two systems, schools and other educational institutes will benefit from an easy-to-use end-to-end solution without losing control of their data to foreign providers.
The challenge faced by educational institutes in distance learning
The public sector is inadvertently at risk when practicing distance learning. Many schools rely on video conferencing solutions from American providers such as Microsoft, Zoom and Google and also use their storage in the cloud. As these providers cannot prohibit data transfer to the USA government, the use of these tools violates applicable European data protection law. In addition, a so-called lock-in effect quickly arises. If, for example, data is to be migrated from one cloud to another, the move is very expensive. Educational institutes are more or less trapped in the system and lose control over their data.
The solution offered by ownCloud and Auctores
Schools, therefore, need a solution that keeps them on the safe side in terms of digital sovereignty, while being intuitive to use and easy to scale. As part of their strategic cooperation, the Germany-based companies ownCloud and Auctores offer such a solution. The open-source file-sharing platform ownCloud can be seamlessly integrated into the video conferencing solution Visavid.
Secure and efficient virtual communication with Visavid
Visavid has been officially recommended by the Bavarian Ministry of Education since April 2021 for digital teaching at approximately 6,200 schools in Bavaria and is also used by associations and organizations in imparting education and training. Teachers and students can thus quickly access, share and work on files together during a video conference without the need to switch applications.
Face-to-face calls can be made via ownCloud’s web front end, regardless of location or device type. All data, documents and video recordings are stored centrally in ownCloud, so there are no superfluous data silos. Operation takes place exclusively in European data centers in a protected private cloud, and as German companies, neither partner can be forced by US authorities to disclose personal data. This makes the solution fully DSGVO-compliant.
Tobias Gerlinger, CEO ownCloud
“Solutions that are compliant with data protection law have often not been convincing in terms of operation and integration until now.
This is also the reason why, despite all the security concerns, so many educational institutes still use the clouds of large American manufacturers, first and foremost Microsoft.
Visavid and ownCloud now offer a real alternative; the solution is intuitive to use and guarantees smooth interaction even with tens of thousands of users. This way, schools protect the data of their teachers and students and secure their digital sovereignty.”
— Tobias Gerlinger, CEO at ownCloud
Karl Weigl, CEO of Auctores
