Wibu-Systems’ new Karlsruhe campus: Engineered for security

Straddling the historic Rhine valley rail line, one of Germany’s main economic arteries, the new Wibu-Systems campus adds an exciting chapter to the story of industrial and technological prowess in Karlsruhe. The site combines the new head offices, R&D and production facilities for the leading protection, licensing, and IT security experts with the unique House of IT Security, a technology hub and IT Security Club co-working space dedicated to the pursuit of innovation in all the nuances of cybersecurity.

Both buildings were created with the joint expertise of the structural engineers of Haag Ingenieure from Ettlingen, Germany and the CAD specialists of Glaser Programmsysteme from Wennigsen, Germany. Their work and the vision of Wibu-Systems’ CEO Oliver Winzenried have come together to make not only an attractive place to work and a hothouse for the city’s IT talent, but also a physical statement of Wibu-Systems’ belief in future growth and innovation and its commitment to its local roots and traditions.

The engineers at Haag’s turned to Glaser for their specialized construction engineering software, ISBCAD. Purpose-built for its job, ISBCAD deliberately narrows down the functional spectrum of regular, unspecific CAD applications to concentrate specifically on creating perfect architectural and structural engineering plans, with particularly powerful functions for reinforcement, cladding, and formwork calculations. The resulting data can be easily exported with a range of file formats and interfaces at the user’s disposal. This includes the ability to produce the data for enveloping surface calculations, a must-have for designing buildings to comply with Germany’s strict energy efficiency standards.

This latter question also figured prominently in the design of Wibu-Systems’ Karlsruhe campus, where the hulls and materials of the buildings were chosen carefully to make both the new company headquarters and the House of IT Security as energy efficient and environmentally friendly as possible.

To protect the invaluable IP invested into their sophisticated CAD solution, the engineers at Glaser decided to seize the moment when the company moved its software to the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 to rethink their licensing and protection systems. Long before their technology would eventually be used for the architecture of Wibu-Systems’ new home, Glaser already chose to go with CodeMeter, the versatile and comprehensive protection, licensing, and security technology. This not only gave them access to CodeMeter’s extensive configuration options, with their potential for establishing new sales channels and business models, but also allowed them to replace their previous licensing system’s dongles with Wibu-Systems’ stylish and high-tech CmStick hardware, a visible token of quality for the thousands of users of ISBCAD.

Glaser’s CEO, Matthias Glaser, sees serendipity at work, with his company's ISBCAD software now contributing to a new home for his software protection partner: “Our software and mixed reality solutions help developers bring even challenging projects to life. For the Wibu-Systems Campus, the team at Haag Ingenieure did an excellent job at expressing the values and ideals of their client in architectural form. And with our own commitment to always provide reliable and innovative products and services for practitioners and our belief in maintaining lasting and sustainable relationships with our clients and partners, we are proud that our company was part of this venture."

Christoph Haag, owner of Haag Ingenieure, added: “It was great to be able to be in charge of the structural engineering for the new Wibu-Systems’ Campus. It was a demanding project, in which we managed to reconcile a structurally sound, fit-for-purpose design with the wish for an economical and aesthetically pleasing building. One of the unique challenges for us structural engineers was spanning the Zimmerstrasse, a public thoroughfare, with the Wibu-Systems building. Our solution was integrating two reinforced concrete trusses and deep beams in the facade planes, so that we now have a five-floor, 55-foot wing freely bridging the road without any need for additional support columns. Our structural concept beyond the building's core areas uses point-supported flat slabs instead of fixed load-bearing walls and bearer beams to give us top flexibility for both building services and the space layout itself”.

Their sentiments are echoed by Oliver Winzenried, CEO and Co-Founder at Wibu-Systems: “The engineers at Haag Ingenieure helped us put a new landmark on the map of Karlsruhe’s unique IT ecosystem. With them using the CAD software of Glaser, and Glaser in turn relying on our CodeMeter technology to keep their intellectual property protected, we have come full-circle – we all benefit from each other’s strengths, and our city and its vibrant IT community benefit just as much from the spirit and energy we can add.”