Second milestone of Univention Corporate Server 4.0 available to download

Completely redesigned management console for added user-friendliness in IT administration

Bremen, 7th October 2014 +++ Univention GmbH, a leading European provider of Open Source products for the cost-effective operation and efficient administration of IT infrastructures (www.univention.de), has released the second milestone release of its enterprise server operating system Univention Corporate Server 4.0 (UCS 4.0). The most striking change compared with the current version, UCS 3.2., is the fundamentally revised and optimised user guidance in the UCS management system. It offers a completely new, modern and easy-to-learn user guidance and adapts its display dynamically to the various client devices.

In UCS 4.0, which is due for release in mid-November, the design of the user interface of the web-based UCS management system has been completely revised. The new, orderly structure not only makes it easy to familiarise yourself with the new home page, but also makes further navigation considerably more intuitive too. The identity and infrastructure management modules have been grouped into seven, colour-coded categories. These colour accents recur throughout the corresponding modules, so that users know where they are at all times. In addition, the display of the management interface has been changed over to responsive web design, so that the management console can be conveniently operated from any end device. As a result, UCS users always benefit from optimal usability irrespective of their output device.

Version 4.0 also includes considerable technical updates for UCS: The basis is the latest Debian 7 “Wheezy” and the Linux kernel 3.16. Consequently, there are now more than 16,500 up-to-date package sources adapted to UCS available to UCS users. The milestone release also includes an advanced version of Samba 4.2 for the administration of Active Directory domains. For improved LDAP performance, the backend has been changed over to MDB and, in addition, UCS 4.0 has a new graphic installer based on the Debian installer.

The advanced version is primarily intended for partners and interested parties who wish to take a look at the updates and contribute to improving the final release with their feedback. Interested parties are welcome to try out the new milestone release, which is not yet recommended for productive use, free of charge at: http://wiki.univention.de/index.php?title=UCS_4.0_Development#Testing

Feedback is welcome at: https://www.univention.com/feedback

About Univention
Univention is a leading supplier of Open Source products for the operation and management of IT infrastructures. The core product is Univention Corporate Server (UCS), an easy-to-use, cost-efficient and popular successor to server solutions from Microsoft. UCS contains comprehensive Active Directory functions and an App Center via which enterprise applications can be integrated and operated.

UCS allows web-based IT management and can be employed in organisations of all shapes and sizes. The product can be used as a classic server solution, on the cloud or for hybrid IT environments. It can be operated as a component for existing Microsoft infrastructures and supports the simple replacement of Microsoft Windows domains.

Based on UCS, Univention also offers Univention Corporate Client (UCC), a management solution for Ubuntu, and UCS@school, a complete system for the operation and management of IT in schools. Univention has a global partner network and subsidiaries across Europe and North America.