For the Federal State of Bremen and the harbour city of Bremerhaven, modern, innovative learning concepts are an everyday part of school life. According to an initiative by the Bremen Education Senate every classroom of Bremerhaven’s 40 schools has to provide at least one or two computer workstations. With the help of thin client manufacturer IGEL Technology, the Stadtbildstelle Bremerhaven has achieved this objective with minimum financial outlay.

Efficient IT infrastructure
At the end of 2002 the Stadtbildstelle Bremerhaven joined forces with T-Com and Bremen-based IT company CI-Gate Development and Consulting to develop a Server Based Computing concept. Workstations in the classrooms and computer suites access applications that run on terminal servers within the schools. The Stadtbildstelle Bremerhaven is responsible for the remote maintenance of the 60 terminal servers, for central software provision and for organising support for the 1,500 computer workstations within the network. According to project manager and Director of the Stadtbildstelle Günther Sancken, this centralised approach guarantees efficiency of the new educational network across the region: “Despite shortages in personnel capacity and financial resources, this model means we can offer advanced technologies to all schools in a very cost-effective way.”

The expansion of the network, which had already been started with a test phase using Citrix MetaFrame, lasted from 2003 to the end of 2005. Assisted by the project partners, the first task was to ensure Gigabit-enabled 100 MBit networking of the schools. Wireless LAN (W-LAN) networks were then set up, Internet access provided and the schools equipped with workstations. The new server-based computing system is purely Microsoft-based and uses Windows 2003 terminal servers.

The customer Stadtbildstelle Bremerhaven Responsible for maintaining the IT infrastructure within Bremerhaven schools

Combining fat and thin clients
The network comprises around 1,500 computer workstations, including 800 Fat Clients and 700 thin clients. “IT suites
are generally equipped with 12 to 15 fat clients. These fully functional workstation PCs offer high computing and graphics capabilities for teaching programming or specific IT or multimedia skills. The fat clients include 300 notebooks that are connected via W-LAN and that can be loaned to pupils and teachers for educational purposes”, explains Günther Sancken. “We equip each of the other classrooms with two used Pentium I or Pentium II computers.” The legacy PCs run on Windows 98 and are operated as thin clients without any local installations. In contrast to the fat clients which also have local software installed, once booted the PCs only access the centralised applications of the terminal servers (e.g. the Microsoft Encarta encyclopaedia or the web-based educational platform of the city of Bremerhaven: www.bildungsplattform-bremerhaven.de).

Highly effective genuine thin clients
“The project couldn’t have been implemented without operating the old hardware as thin clients”, explains Sancken. “Unfortunately, legacy PCs are extremely high-maintenance. We obtained more reliable computing devices in 2004 through a project with thin client manufacturer IGEL Technology. The Bremen-based company donated 60 IGEL-J genuine thin clients to replace some of our legacy PCs.” Frank Lampe, Marketing Manager of IGEL Technology and initiator of the project, explained the savings: “In contrast to running legacy PCs operated as thin clients, genuine thin clients have no sensitive mechanical components such as fans, hard disks or floppy disk drives. This significantly reduces the risk of breakdown and maintenance costs fall by up to 70%. Another bonus alongside greater reliability and a longer lifecycle is the fact that energy consumption can be reduced by up to 90%.
“There are also cost-related security benefits as the driveless thin clients can’t be attacked by viruses or suffer undesired installations.” According to Günther Sancken, genuine thin clients also offer indirect savings as they can’t function without their server connection: “As all pupils are aware of this we don’t have to take special measures to secure normal classrooms against theft.”

The challenge Development of computer workstations without additional costs or personnel expense Standardisation of workstations and a reduction in maintenance costs Prevention against damage and theft

Thin clients make their mark in areas previously dominated by PCs
Whether the Bildstelle Bremerhaven decides to use thin clients or Fat Clients depends on the individual applications and their computing, peripheral and graphics requirements. Fat clients can be replaced by lower maintenance thin clients where no special applications such as programming environments or multimedia applications are needed. Two typical IT suites have now been fully equipped with IGEL thin clients. According to Günther Sancken, there is a better working atmosphere within the suites because the terminals operate without fans, meaning noise levels are much lower and the air in the computer suite is more pleasant. The project manager is not fazed by the fact that the older Thin Client models don’t have USB interfaces. In that way the memory sticks so favoured by pupils are no security issue. “The files generated via thin clients can be saved on the school server or on the web-based educational platform, where they are then available to every user irrespective of location.”

The solution Server Based Computing using both fat and thin clients: PCs with local installations and second-hand legacy PCs operated as thin clients Gradual replacement of the legacy PCs with genuine thin clients donated by IGEL Technology

Thin clients on the advance
Today, Günther Sancken and his three-man team maintain the entire network virtually by themselves. Even the rollout didn’t require any additional manpower as all Günther Sancken had to do was arrange physical connection of the pre-configured thin clients. The IT specialist has been working in computers since the early 80’s and is convinced by the new system.
He shares his practical knowledge at conferences, congresses and at meetings of “Schulen ans Netz”, an association for networking within schools. “The longer lifecycle of six to seven years compared with five for PCs and the additional benefits such as lower energy consumption and increased security mean we will see a higher proportion of thin clients in future. In just five years, there could be more genuine thin clients than PCs within the Bremerhaven educational network. Current models already offer multimedia capabilities and an increasing range of applications together with highly efficient management solutions for further cost savings. Leading manufacturers such as IGEL offer this software free of charge as an essential component of the solution. In the long term,
it will only be possible to run efficient and economically viable computer environments with several hundred workstations using thin clients. Thanks to the support received from IGEL we have already taken an important step in this direction.”