BundesMessenger for Germany’s public administration
A data sovereign, open source messenger built on Matrix
The BundesMessenger initiative is the world’s largest-scale public sector messaging strategy.
Led by BWI, one of Germany’s biggest IT companies, BundesMessenger gives Germany’s public administration (öffentliche Verwaltung ÖV) a purpose-built Matrix-based messaging client.
The BundesMessenger client is available - free of charge - in Google Play and the App Store, so applicable end-users can get the client in just the same way as any other app.
How to host BundesMessenger
The BundesMessenger front-end client must of course be connected to a backend, a matrix home server. BundesMessenger uses Synapse, the open source home server from Element.
Taking advantage of the Matrix protocol, each authority has the freedom to create and maintain its own Matrix homeserver, ensuring not just data sovereignty but complete control of their entire BundesMessenger deployment.
The BundesMessenger client connects exclusively to the BundesMessenger backend via whitelisting, even if theoretically any Matrix server could be used, as BundesMessenger adheres to the Matrix standard and is ultimately derived from the Element App.
The backend, also known as BundesMessenger Core, in turn only federates with other BundesMessenger Core home servers. What means an increased level of trust for some organizations can be a limiting factor for others if a public sector organization wants to communicate with another organization that uses a different Matrix-based product, such as OpenDesk, which is based on a standard Element.
A BundesMessenger backend as a service
Organizations that prefer a fully managed hosting service can use a German hosting partner such as T-Systems. It is the same BundesMessenger-specific basic backend, but hosted on behalf of the end-user organization.
Data sovereignty is still ensured as Matrix is end-to-end encrypted - so not even the hosting provider can access conversations within BundesMessenger, as is the case with every Matrix server, including the Element Server Suite, for example. However, BundesMessenger is not currently offered with support by any hosting provider or BWI.
How to use the BundesMessenger in a network
Administrators running an independent BundesMessenger deployment for their organization can decide if they want their deployment to be ‘internal-only’ or to connect with other BundesMessenger deployments; known as a federation.
BundesMessenger is deliberately restricted to federating with only other BundesMessenger deployments. While it provides far easier - and cheaper - connections between organizations they all have to be using BundesMessenger.
As an open standard, Matrix can support federation between different Matrix-based federations should an end-user organizations want to connect with other organisations. If required, these broader federations can be managed by Element’s Secure Border Gateway.
