openDesk update: Open-source momentum in the public sector

Victims of own own success in a wave of demand for openDesk

The response to openDesk so far has exceeded our expectations. Since launching in October last year, we've received thousands of enquiries and are honestly thrilled by your keen interest in digital sovereignty for the public sector.

At the same time, we want to be transparent: as a small team, we were unprepared for this volume of requests and haven't been able to respond to every demo enquiry as quickly as we’d hoped. We're sorry for the delays. To manage demand more effectively, we’re currently prioritising organisations with more than 500 employees. If your organisation meets this criterion, rest assured we’ll be in touch with you directly.

Your strong level of interest is sending a clear signal: open-source adoption in the public sector is gaining momentum and openDesk is increasingly being seen as a credible alternative to proprietary systems.

Milestone achieved: BWI chooses openDesk for digital sovereignty

A major milestone in the public sector’s open-source migration: ZenDiS and BWI GmbH, the IT systems house of the German armed forces, signed a landmark framework agreement in Q2. With an initial term of seven years, the agreement covers both the openDesk office and collaboration suite as a sovereign workplace solution, and openCode as the infrastructure for a secure software supply chain.

BWI is pursuing a clear strategy to enhance the digital sovereignty of Germany’s military. With openDesk, users will gain access to a full suite of collaboration tools ranging from word processing and spreadsheets to email, calendars, secure cloud storage, messaging and video conferencing.

This partnership is a strong vote of confidence in our approach and demonstrates that openDesk meets even the most rigorous security standards.

From release 1.4 to 1.5: security meets usability

We’re continuing to develop openDesk at pace. Release 1.4 delivered several key improvements, including BSI-compliant security upgrades to identity and access management for IT administrators, better mobile usability through an optimised tablet calendar view, and enhanced document editing stability.

Just a few days ago, we rolled out Release 1.5 with further refinements. You can find full details in the latest openDesk release notes here on our blog.

With each version, openDesk is becoming more powerful, more user-friendly, and designed to meet the needs of everyone from IT leads and administrators to end users and senior decision-makers.

Off-screen, real-life conversations

Digital autonomy thrives on personal exchange. At the Public IT Security (PITS) convention in Berlin, we were able to catch up directly with cybersecurity experts. One particular highlight was the side event Open Source in IT Security hosted by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), which showed how open-source software enables independent, automated security checks and forms the backbone of a sovereign software supply chain.

At the Hack Days in Paris, we witnessed cross-border collaboration in action: our openDesk partner OpenProject took second place with an innovative integration of the collaborative note-taking tool Docs in its project management system. Docs is a joint project between ZenDiS and the French digital ministry DINUM, and is already available as a beta version in our own office and collaboration suite. Partnerships like this show how sovereign digital solutions can emerge through cooperation, and how they can strengthen Europe as a whole.

Try openDesk for yourself

If your organisation is exploring open-source migration in the public sector, we invite you to test openDesk free of charge. Get in touch with us to arrange access!

Have questions or want to share how you’re using openDesk in practice? Drop us a line at opendesk@zendis.de.

Thank you for joining us on the path to digital sovereignty.