Bechtle and Nextcloud offer digitally sovereign collaboration services for the public sector

Berlin, 6. March 2024 – Bechtle, Germany’s largest IT system house, and Nextcloud, leading provider of sovereign open source collaboration solutions, are launching a digitally sovereign collaboration platform. This means that federal authorities can now obtain all functions of the open source collaboration platform Nextcloud Hub as a managed cloud service, easily and without tendering. The scope of services includes setup, operation, hotline support and live system monitoring.

The digitally sovereign collaboration solution from Bechtle and Nextcloud can be hosted either in a German data center owned by Bechtle, the ITZ Bund or another cloud provider. The functionality can be adapted to individual needs and ranges from file synchronization and data sharing to the use of chat, video conferences, office applications, email, calendar and contacts to innovative AI functions and support for smartphones and tablets. With a high degree of flexibility and scalability from 50 to millions of users, the digitally sovereign collaboration platform is suitable for both public institutions and companies of all sizes.

Nextcloud’s solutions are already being used successfully by many customers in the public sector. The joint offer guarantees the highest standards of security and data protection based on open source technology,

says Manuel Liesenfeld, Head of Public Sector Division, Bechtle AG.

The underlying Nextcloud software is completely open source. This means complete transparency in data protection and also the highest level of security for all components of the collaboration service. Through existing framework agreements, all federal authorities, numerous state administrations and many other public institutions can obtain the digitally sovereign collaboration platform as an immediately usable SaaS service or as an on premise service.

Seamless migrations from existing systems to the digitally sovereign collaboration platform are possible. Nextcloud also supports the Open Collaboration Services Standard (OCS), which specialist process manufacturers can use to integrate into the service. Important certifications such as BITV for accessibility are also available.

I am pleased that there is finally a German-European solution that is easy to use and obtain, but is 100 percent digitally sovereign and based on locally operated open source software.

says Frank Karlitschek, Managing Director of Nextcloud GmbH.

Authorities in France and Sweden as well as the European Commission already use Nextcloud communication and collaboration solutions. In Germany, the federal government and numerous state administrations are among the users. Bechtle and Nextcloud are already working together successfully on German administration projects, such as the federal government’s social intranet and the Bundeswehr’s information technology school.

About Nextcloud

Nextcloud Hub is the leading open source, on premise content collaboration platform with a strong focus on data protection. It is deployed by tens of thousands of organizations to stay in control of their sensitive content in compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and HIPAA.

Nextcloud presents a unified, comprehensive platform addressing collaboration needs through document sharing, real time editing, video conferencing, calendaring, mail and other capabilities. This singular approach across mobile, web and desktop interfaces provides a superior user experience and increases productivity. This singular approach across mobile, web and desktop interfaces provides a superior user experience and increases productivity.

It is designed with an open, modular architecture that enables organizations to optimize their content collaboration both within and outside their organization. More information on nextcloud.com.

About Bechtle

Bechtle is close to customers with over 100 local IT system houses and is one of the leading IT companies in Europe with IT e-commerce companies in 14 countries. Bechtle also has a global network of partners that meets the requirements of global customers.

Founded in 1983, the Bechtle Group, headquartered in Neckarsulm, currently employs over 15,000 people. We support more than 70,000 customers from industry and commerce, the public sector and the financial market in their digital transformation and offer a comprehensive range of IT infrastructure and IT operations across all manufacturers. Bechtle is listed in the MDAX and TecDAX. According to preliminary figures, sales in 2023 were around €6.4 billion. More at: bechtle.com