A local AI server for higher education where nothing leaves the building
Language model, search and audit log run on one machine in your own network. Air-gap capable, without a request to any external provider, and therefore without the transfer that would otherwise have to be assessed.
When your own server is worth it
Not as a matter of principle against the cloud, but whenever a requirement, a body of data or an arithmetic argues for it.
Particularly sensitive data
Examination files, personnel matters, expert reports, research data under embargo. Everything that must not leave the building and would still benefit from AI.
Requirements that rule out a cloud
Where data protection, the works council or a funding condition excludes processing outside the house, local operation is the only answer that holds.
The basis for the other modules
HiWi+ Chat, Exam Manager and Social Campus run on the same server. Local AI is not an isolated solution but the operating layer beneath them.
Working without an outside connection
The server is air-gap capable. In a sealed environment it keeps working without a single request leaving the network.
Keep costs predictable
Instead of billing per request there is one fixed quantity: the machine and the electricity. At high usage the arithmetic tips in favour of your own server.
Use existing hardware
If a suitable server already sits in your data centre, we integrate it rather than selling you new hardware.
Choose your own model
Which language model runs is your decision. Open models can be swapped without rebuilding the application around them.
Evidence for third parties
For data protection officers and committees, local operation is the simplest argument: there is no transfer that would have to be assessed.
From the question to a running machine
Four steps, and procurement stays with you, so tendering and asset records stay clean.
Clarify the requirement
How many people work simultaneously, which modules should run, what response time is acceptable. That determines the size of the machine.
Define the hardware
We issue a concrete specification. Procurement runs through your own channels, so tendering and asset records stay with you.
Set up and hand over
We configure the machine, set up models, sign-in and modules, and hand it over to your IT with documentation.
Operation and maintenance
Updates run over a connection you have approved and can switch off at any time. Without access to your content.
What data sovereignty concretely means here
The term is used often and evidenced rarely. These are the four points where it can be verified.
What the delivery includes
Hardware
Specification to your requirement, procurement by the institution. Entry level is around 12,000 euros for a machine that carries one faculty.
Models
Open language models, selected by language, task and available memory. Swappable without touching the application.
Sign-in and roles
Connected to your identity management, so access and roles are managed where they are maintained anyway.
Maintenance
Updates and security updates over a secured connection approved by you. Switchable off without operation stopping.
What a local server does not do
Your own server solves the data protection question, not every other one. We name these four points before procurement.
Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences
HiWi+ is in use at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences and was developed together with the departments there, along real workflows rather than at a desk.
“Our main goal was to reduce administrative processes and workload within the faculty while at the same time offering students a better service, for example with the faculty chatbot they can ask questions about their studies around the clock. The HiWi+ modules were developed for our specific needs at the faculty, but they are certainly just as usable for many other educational institutions.”
What institutions ask before rolling it out
Hardware starts at around 12,000 euros for a machine that carries one faculty, and is procured by the institution itself. On top of that come setup and handover as well as ongoing maintenance. How much machine is needed follows from the number of concurrent users and the modules meant to run on it.
At high and sustained usage yes, because the per-request costs disappear. At low usage the route we operate is more economical. We work out both in advance and say so if your own server does not pay off for you.
For general text tasks yes, that is the honest position. For answering from your own documents the difference barely matters, because the answer comes from your sources anyway and the model mainly does the phrasing. We show the difference on your own questions instead of debating it.
If the hardware fits, yes. What matters is graphics memory and connectivity. We check that before any procurement, because an existing machine is the cheapest solution.
We do, over a secured connection that you approve and can switch off at any time. That connection serves maintenance and gives no access to your content. On request your IT takes over maintenance entirely, in which case we deliver updates as a package.
Yes. No outside connection is needed for operation. Without a connection only remote maintenance and loading new models fall away, operation itself continues.
HiWi+ Chat runs entirely locally. Exam Manager and Social Campus can also be operated locally, although for generating images, audio and video the local capability is more clearly limited than for text.
Do the arithmetic first, then procure
We assess your requirement, compare your own server with operation in Germany and show the answer quality on your own questions. Only after that does a specification come up.