There are a number of valid reasons for stopping operations, which are explained in more detail below.
Originally, the service was introduced to enable facilities of the RWTH to load large data packages in adequate time despite the low bandwidth of the Internet. The WSUS in the IT Centre enabled updates to be distributed via the fast internal network. The problem of a slow internet has not existed for a long time.
This service also provides updates for all products in the Microsoft range. Due to the large number of updates and in particular the different and complex client environments on site, the updates provided via the WSUS cannot be checked in advance by the IT Centre. Therefore, these updates cannot be evaluated by the IT Centre - especially not with regard to the locally used software and its dependence on the supported patch level.
In addition, the WSUS in a network offers its respective administrator an overview of the software up-to-dateness of the connected systems. This means that currently only the IT centre has this overview. Therefore, it makes sense for every RWTH institution using Microsoft products to use its own WSUS server in order to obtain an overview of the status of its own devices and applications.
If you are currently using this service of the IT Centre, you must therefore establish another solution for receiving updates by 15.01.2021. This could be your own WSUS server, for example. You can find instructions on the documentation pages of Microsoft.
The colleagues at the IT-ServiceDesk will be happy to answer any questions you may have in connection with the discontinuation.