Following the example of more than 100 universities from five different states in Germany, the University of Birmingham, in the UK, is now placing its trust in the Sync & Share solution PowerFolder that originates from Meerbusch, near Dusseldorf, Germany. After a nine-month evaluation and a lengthy test phase, the file Sync & Share service “BEAR DataShare”, which is based on PowerFolder, has gone online.

Meerbusch, Germany/ Birmingham, UK. Based in England’s second city, the University of Birmingham has just launched its new “BEAR DataShare” service, which is based on the file Sync & Share system from the worldwide-proven PowerFolder solution from dal33t/PowerFolder GmbH in Meerbusch, near Dusseldorf, Germany. After a lengthy and thorough evaluation phase, followed by extensive tests, the university’s own on-site offering, that uses PowerFolder, is now fully operational. BEAR DataShare is hosted on servers located on the University campus. Students and researchers, as well as external partners can access it via a web browser and mobile devices. Each will receive 25 GB of storage and there are no data volume limits on files being shared.

Tailor-made and competitive

From the beginning Aslam Ghumra – Research Data Manager at the University of Birmingham- implemented the solution.  He also took care that the requirements of the university were met and even influenced with his feedback the future development of PowerFolder:

“The University of Birmingham is a large, research-intensive institution. Secure, easy to use and flexible collaboration between not only researchers from the University, but also their national and international counterparts, and the exchange of related highly sensitive data is therefore of immense importance. We have opted for PowerFolder because it guarantees us a tailor-made, competitive solution that can be easily integrated with our own system.”

Dr John Owen -Head of IT Research Support at the University- then took it into his hands to make the new solution available to selected researchers within the UOB:

“Collaboration is at the heart of many of our research projects and fundamental to their success. BEAR DataShare has been enthusiastically adopted by our research community across all disciplines and is already making a real difference.”

But the new service has also found application possibilities beyond the borders of the UOB. David Deighton – Head of Architecture, Security and Innovation, IT Services – successfully introduced the solution to research partners and auditors:

“BEAR DataShare provides a unique service: a secure file sharing platform that is under our control and hosted in the University’s data centres. We have successfully used it to securely share confidential files with auditors from PWC and HSCIC, industrial partners and colleagues at other institutions including Nottingham, Oxford, Edinburgh and Berkeley.”

Such high praise always goes down well in Meerbusch. dal33t/PowerFolder GmbH CEO Christian Sprajc said, “We are obviously delighted that, just as most German universities already have done, one of the major universities in England has now opted for PowerFolder. We are confident that we will continue to win even more international partners in the education field in the future.”

About the University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham was founded in 1900 by Queen Victoria and, with a total of 27,000 students, is now one of the largest universities in England. It is a member of the Russell Group, which represents the interests of the UK’s top universities and is a founding member of the global university network Universitas 21. In addition, it is a partner of the Goethe University Frankfurt. Its best-known alumni include actor Tim Curry, the musicians Spencer Davis and Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran), the zoologist and behavioural scientist Desmond Morris and several Nobel laureates (Francis William Ashton – Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1922, John Vane – Nobel Prize for Medicine 1982, Paul Nurse – Nobel Prize for Medicine 2001).

About PowerFolder

The German company dal33t GmbH, based in Meerbusch, near Dusseldorf, has been successfully developing and offering file Sync & Share solutions under the brand name PowerFolder since 2007. Its range of products includes both public, as well as integrated private cloud solutions (EFSS) as individualised on-site services. Over two million users worldwide, most of Germany’s universities and thousands of companies use PowerFolder. PowerFolder users can access their files from anywhere and edit and share them together – also on mobile devices, via the PowerFolder app. Security is the absolute top priority: data is always encrypted and stored according to German data protection regulations on servers located in Germany. PowerFolder is supported by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and has gained the official “IT Security Made in Germany” seal of approval.