Hanover, March 21, 2017 – Univention is presenting the brand-new edition of Univention Corporate Server (UCS) right in time for the CeBIT 2017. With version 4.2 of the established open source software, mixed IT infrastructures can be managed via a single web interface and more than 80 other enterprise applications can be deployed. The highlight of the release is the new, freely configurable online portal, which can be flexibly adapted to the needs of organizations and individual users. A lot has also happened under the hood: With UCS 4.2 the distribution base of UCS has been updated to Debian 8 (Jessie) and a large part of the Debian packages has been made available natively. Important security and product updates can be deployed faster than ever before. UCS 4.2 will be released in early April 2017 and will be shown for the first time a live demonstration at the CeBIT in Hall 3, booth D36-620.
“Univention promotes digital self-determination and transparency. Organizations can use UCS to determine where and how they want to run services and store their data using UCS, without sacrificing services such as Microsoft Office 365 or G Suite from Google”, says Peter Ganten, founder and managing director of Univention GmbH. “With our solution, we offer users freedom of choice and facilitate, above all, the management of their IT infrastructure as well as of the apps and cloud services they use. At the same time, we are building a bridge between the various applications and client systems, such as Windows, Linux and Mac, with our cross-platform identity management. The sovereignty over the data of the users remains in their own hands which is of enormous importance in public institutions like schools and authorities.”
Univention at the CeBIT
Univention shows the new features of UCS 4.2 for the first time during CeBIT 2017 in Hall 3 Stand D36-620 (Open Source Park) in a live demo environment.
The possibility to arrange a meeting with Univention is now available for companies and government representatives at Univention website. Founder and managing director Peter Ganten gladly invites journalists to contact him for interviews and expert talks.
New online portal for users and administrators
With the new UCS 4.2, the operating concept has been thoroughly developed and the user interface presents itself more tidily than ever before. A new, centralized online portal now also allows end users to quickly access available applications via a self-service while providing administrators with all the tools for professional IT management. The portal is freely configurable and can be adapted to individual needs of every organization, for example, for authorities, schools, and large companies. Users of earlier versions also benefit from improved usability, support for current hardware and higher security.
Technical Updates: Debian 8, Linux Kernel 4.9 LTS and Samba 4.6
So far Univention has been built on a specially adapted Linux, which is based on Debian 7. With UCS 4.2 Debian 8 (Jessie) forms the new technical base of UCS. With this migration, original Debian packages will be taken from now on for UCS and only certain packages with components that are changed or more up-to-date than those in Debian, such as Samba or OpenLDAP, will be created by Univention itself. Organizations benefit from even faster security updates as well as the higher performance through Linux Kernel 4.9 with Long Term Support (LTS). In addition, Univention is one of the first manufacturers to use the newly released version of Samba 4.6 in a productive environment which improves the performance of the Active Directory as well as the exchange of printer drivers with Windows 10 clients.
As a direct installation or Docker image: More than 80 business apps available
In the App Center of UCS 4.2, organizations can find more than 80 business apps from a wide range of vendors and can make them available across the enterprise with just a few mouse clicks. The portfolio ranges from various administration tools, collaboration solutions and cloud storages to customer relationship management and the integration of popular office solutions such as Microsoft Office 365 and G Suite from Google. App vendors can make their applications available as single Docker containers or deliver their software as packages for Debian. Univention then takes care of their “Dockerization.”
The advantages are obvious: Organizations profit from a continuously growing range of apps and can choose the right solution with a click of a mouse. For more information on UCS, visit www.univention.com/products/ucs.
Prices and availability
UCS 4.2 will be available in April 2017. Customers can opt for either the free UCS Core Edition or various subscription models with enterprise support and up to 7 years of maintenance guarantee. Prices start at 290 Euros per year (10 users, one domain). Details information at www.univention.com/products/prices-and-subscriptions
Further information and testing possibilities
Please find more details about the UCS 4.2 Release Candidate in our forum.
If you like, feel free to test the Release Candidate in form of an ISO image.
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