Deutsche Bergbau-Museum Bochum’s IT Team Effectively Maintains its 180 Multimedia Players for Digital Exhibits and Activities

Progress WhatsUp Gold Greatly Assists in an Organization-Wide Digitization Effort for Attendees and Employees

The Deutsche Bergbau-Museum Bochum (DBM), or the German Mining Museum, is one of the premier locations to show those interested in the history of mining. Over its 100+ years of operation, the DBM has evolved its exhibits to use multimedia players and other digital devices connected to its network. However, the museum’s three-person IT staff faced a series of problems, including a lack of insight into where network outages occurred and no alert notifications. After working alongside P&W Netzwerk, DBM deployed Progress WhatsUp Gold to manage the broad network environment cost-effectively.

Challenge

The long-established Deutsche Bergbau-Museum Bochum (DBM) has meanwhile completed the transformation into a modern digital institution. On more than 8,000 square meters of exhibition space, numerous interactive multimedia applications ensure a fulfilling exhibition experience even for the generation of digital natives. It is IT department head René Schauf’s responsibility to ensure that visitors do not find any defective monitors or crashed applications. As part of a team of three, he is responsible for the 180 multimedia players in the exhibition area, 30 servers and 200 clients for the museum employees. Due to the partly archaeological research work, these are also located at remote locations worldwide. Various IP-enabled devices are also connected to the network, including, for example, intelligent display cases for highly sensitive exhibits. In order to be able to claim insurance cover in the event of damage or rule out personal negligence in the case of items on loan, it must be proven that they were stored under the required conditions, such as certain temperature or humidity values. Since the numerous devices in the network generated their own alarms via their user interfaces, Schauf faced a multitude of alarm messages that required investigation of the cause of the problem.

"Hardly possible given the number of staff we have," explains Schauf. “Although we knew that a player had failed in an exhibition hall, we didn't know why. application crashed? Network connection problems? Or is there just a lack of electricity? So far, the only thing that has helped is to go and see. This kind of reactive ‘sneaker administration’ is not sustainable in the long run. It was clear to us that we had to automate network management as much as possible and at a reasonable cost.”

Solution

Working with its IT services company, P&W Netzwerk, DBM selected WhatsUp Gold. The solution provides an overview of all devices in the network and aggregates the alarm messages from the individual devices into events that are classified according to relevance and urgency. P&W Netzwerk individually configured which events are to be assigned to which category in coordination with Schauf and his team. WhatsUp Gold visualizes the utilization of the network and its availability in a way that is easy to understand for all connected endpoints. A great relief for the visitor service, which checks on a control screen shortly before the museum opens every day whether the network is accessible for all multimedia applications. If a potential failure is indicated for one or more devices, the museum's technical service will be notified to resolve the issue, who may contact the IT team if necessary.

Maintaining ongoing operations is no longer the sole responsibility of the three-person IT team. WhatsUp Gold enables the DBM to act proactively instead of reactively. For example, a monitor failure cannot be remedied for the time being, the visitor service can skip the exhibit and adapt the exhibition tour. Network utilization is also decisive for working from home, for conference calls and via live streams from various research institutes worldwide.

Schauf also uses the automation capabilities of WhatsUp Gold to monitor sensitive exhibits: the DBM regularly receives items on loan from other museums. Precisely defined storage requirements apply to exhibits of historical value, for example about lighting conditions, humidity and temperature. Insurance cover can only be claimed in the event of damage if this has been demonstrably guaranteed without any gaps. Sensitive exhibits are stored in the DBM in IP-enabled display cases from the time they are taken over. Sensors connected to the network monitor all factors relevant to storage. With just a few clicks, the DBM can generate a legally-compliant and detailed report of storage conditions throughout the retention period and retain it for documentation. If damage occurs to the exhibit after it has been returned - sometimes even years later - the DBM can prove those items and/or exhibits were appropriately stored and thus demonstrate that there are no liability claims against it.

Results

WhatsUp Gold plays a key role for the DBM as a modern museum and research facility. The considerable number of multimedia applications, which continues to grow steadily, could no longer be reliably monitored and operated by the IT team alone.