Product
  • The Element App
  • Element Server Suite
  • The Matrix Standard
  • Hosting
Solutions
  • Build
  • Partners
  • Sectors
  • Use cases
  • Customers
  • Matrix in Germany
Resources
  • User guide
  • Help
  • Labs
  • Contact Sales
  • Matrix Conf videos
Blog
Pricing
Download
Sign In
  • Open Element web
  • Admin dashboard
Get started
Product
  • The Element App
  • Element Server Suite
  • The Matrix Standard
  • Hosting
Solutions
  • Build
  • Partners
  • Sectors
  • Use cases
  • Customers
  • Matrix in Germany
Resources
  • User guide
  • Help
  • Labs
  • Contact Sales
  • Matrix Conf videos
Sign In
  • Open Element web
  • Admin dashboard
Blog Pricing Download
Get started
  • Matrix in Germany
  • Projects
  • Partner
  • Origins
  • Install
  • Resources
  • English
    Deutsch
openDesk

A digital sovereign workplace for the public sector 

A suite of digitally sovereign office applications built on open source 

A new era of computing 

The Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) and the governmental Center for Digital Sovereignty (ZenDiS) are driving the initiative for an alternative digital sovereign workplace, based on open source software. This directly plays into the German Administration Cloud Strategy (DVS) led by the Federal CIO of the government.

It will give German public sector organizations a comprehensive product suite for a complete workplace platform, including productivity, collaboration and communication.

Called openDesk, the new platform delivers digital sovereignty - the ability to self-host, own and manage data.

Working in a Purple Submarine: Matrix in openDesk.

Alexander Smolianitski
Head of Open Source Products – openDesk
Watch More

Independence delivered by open source

An open source digital sovereign workplace gives Germany’s public sector organizations technological independence - not just independence from traditional Big Tech firms, but freedom from relying on any vendor. Open standards, too, help protect against vendor lock-in.

Open source software also ensures competition and innovation from a vibrant tech ecosystem and improved security as a result of transparent code. It also ensures competitive pricing, and that organizations are always able to bring their entire IT infrastructure in-house.

Germany’s embrace of open source software aligns with the European Commission’s Open Source Software Strategy, and the EU member states signing of the Berlin Declaration on the Digital Society which favors common standards, modular architectures and the use of open source technologies in the development of digital solutions.

A complete workplace

openDesk provides all the common productivity and collaboration tools needed by the German public sector.
‍
The software package is made up of leading solutions from open source companies, with Element serving the communication and video conferencing components. Other partners from the open source ecosystem are Nextcloud, OpenXchange, Univention, Collabora, OpenProject, XWiki and Nordeck.

Matrix brings data sovereignty to real time communication

Matrix-based Element is the secure communications and collaboration platform (providing messaging, voice and video) within openDesk.
‍
The decentralized Matrix protocol means that Element can be self-hosted, or hosted by an approved German service provider.
‍
The Matrix open standard also ensures that Element is interoperable with any other Matrix-based system and offers the protection of end-to-end encryption.

Get the most out of Matrix

Flexible enterprise-grade communication, in real time.

Get in touch
Element logo

Product

The Element App Element Server Suite The Matrix Standard Features Integrations Support and SLAs Hosting Pricing

Solutions

Sectors Use cases Customers Communities Personal Partners Matrix in Deutschland

Resources

Blog Help About User guide Open source Careers Labs Contact us Service status Security disclosure policy Security Hall of Fame

Get Started

Open Element Web Download Contact Sales Admin Dashboard
Cyber Essentials Plus ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification

Copyright © 2016–2024 Element • Legal • Privacy

All Rights Reserved. The Element name, logo and device are registered trade marks of New Vector Ltd

Linkedin Github Youtube Mastodon Bluesky