COVID-19 News

(Updated 25.09.2020)

Attention the trial license for WebEx has expired. Therefore please use one of the other solutions we offer.

A productive, scalable BigBlueButton system is now available for video conferences and e-learning at https://meet.gwdg.de. There is also a regularly updated FAQ.

The current COVID-19 crisis affects science and teaching to a large extent. Many employees and students have to work from home. The usual procedures can only be followed to a limited extent.

The GWDG works hard to provide you with a stable IT supply even in this situation. In the following we will keep you informed about the current status and developments:

  • The GWDG now also carries out most of its work from home and operates only with every limited staff on-site.
  • The usual opening hours are suspended until further notice. Access to our premises is no longer possible.
  • For questions and problems you can still reach us through our support web site, by E-Mail, by phone +49 551 201-1523, or via Rocket.Chat. Support requests will be processed normally.
  • Receipt of mail and delivery of goods are still guaranteed.
  • We understandably see an increased demand for VPN access. For this purpose, our capacities of the central vpn.gwdg.de service have been increased. In parallel, additional services were put into operation with vpn-b.gwdg.de and vpn-c.gwdg.de in order to be able to offer higher capacities. Further information is available here.
  • Due to home office and mobile working there is a drastic increase in demand for videoconferencing tools. Our standard offer DFNconf is currently partly overloaded and only usable with limitations. We therefore offer a solution for our customers based on the BigBlueButton system, which is available at https://meet.gwdg.de. In addition, we have purchased licenses for commercial cloud offers such as Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex and Zoom and make them available for you. Further information can be found here. Note: VPN is not required to use the videoconferencing systems. The systems are directly accessible worldwide.
  • Of course, we continue to provide cloud solutions for data exchange with GWDG ownCloud and the Academic Cloud, so that you can also access data offline. This reduces the need for VPN connections and makes you more independent.
  • With email, Rocket.Chat, CodiMD pads and other services we support collaborative work. Further information is available here.
  • You can find further information about mobile work on this page.
  • We are currently experiencing problems with the availability of laptops, PCs, servers, and other hardware due to the difficult supply situation from China. Please consider this for your own purchase planning.

We are aware that these are particularly challenging times. For many of our users new challenges and problems arise. We will continue to help you in the beste possible manner. Please do not hesitate to contact us by e-mail, Rocket.Chat or by phone. We will do our best to continue to help you.

Please understand that there are many issues that need to be addressed. Therefore we may not be able to answer at short notice as usual.

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