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Why Digital Sovereignty Matters for Government

Public institutions handle the most sensitive data a society produces: citizen records, health information, tax filings, law enforcement data. When that data resides on infrastructure controlled by US corporations, it is subject to the US CLOUD Act — regardless of the server location.

The European Court of Justice has repeatedly ruled that transfers of personal data to the United States lack adequate protection. For public administrations bound by GDPR, this creates a legal liability that grows with every audit cycle.

Beyond compliance, there is a strategic dimension. Governments that depend on a single vendor for email, documents, identity management and cloud storage have surrendered negotiating power, pricing control, and the ability to shape their own digital future. Open source restores that agency.

Purpose-Built Solutions for Government IT

Collaboration & Documents

Nextcloud with Collabora Online replaces Microsoft 365 for file sharing, real-time document editing, calendars and task management. Hosted in European data centers under your full administrative control.

PlatformNextcloud Hub
Office SuiteCollabora Online

Secure Communication

End-to-end encrypted messaging and video conferencing via Element (Matrix protocol). Already used by the German Bundeswehr, French government and NATO for classified communication.

Chat & VideoElement / Matrix
EmailMailcow / Mailbox.org

European Cloud Infrastructure

Compute, storage and Kubernetes on ISO 27001-certified infrastructure in Austria and Germany. No US parent company, no CLOUD Act exposure. Full data residency guarantees.

IaaSHetzner / IONOS
Managed K8sIONOS / Scaleway

Identity & Access Management

Replace Active Directory and Azure AD with Keycloak for single sign-on, multi-factor authentication and federation. Full SAML, OpenID Connect and LDAP support without vendor lock-in.

SSO & MFAKeycloak
DirectoryFreeIPA / OpenLDAP

European Reference Projects

Governments across Europe are already running open source at scale. These are not experiments — they are production deployments serving millions of users.

Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

The entire state government is migrating 25,000 workstations from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice and from Windows to Linux. The largest public-sector open source migration currently underway in Europe.

25,000 workstations · LibreOffice, Linux, Nextcloud, Open Xchange

French Gendarmerie

Since 2008, France's national military police force has operated on Ubuntu Linux across all 72,000 workstations. The migration reduced operating costs by 40% and eliminated license dependency entirely.

72,000 workstations · Ubuntu Linux · 40% cost reduction

Italian Ministry of Defence

The Italian military migrated 150,000 desktops to LibreOffice, saving an estimated 29 million euros in license fees. The project demonstrated that large-scale office suite migration is achievable even in hierarchical organizations.

150,000 desktops · LibreOffice · €29M savings

City of Munich (LiMux)

Munich's pioneering LiMux project proved that municipal IT can run on Linux and LibreOffice. While the city partially reversed course under political pressure, the technical lessons learned continue to inform public-sector migrations across Europe.

15,000 workstations · Key lessons for municipal IT strategy

Compliance & Procurement

We understand the regulatory and procurement frameworks that govern public-sector IT decisions in the DACH region.

GDPR / DSGVO

All solutions we deploy store and process data exclusively within the European Union. No US parent company, no transatlantic data transfers, no CLOUD Act exposure. Full compliance with Art. 28 processor requirements.

NIS2 Directive

The NIS2 directive requires public administrations to implement robust cybersecurity measures by October 2024. Our solutions include hardened configurations, audit logging, encryption at rest and in transit, and documented incident response procedures.

Austrian eGovernment

Alignment with Austrian eGovernment standards including the IT strategy of the Federal Chancellery, the Digital Austria initiative, and recommendations from the Austrian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT.at).

Procurement-Friendly Licensing

Open source software eliminates per-seat license fees and vendor lock-in. All solutions use OSI-approved open source licenses. No proprietary dependencies, no escalating renewal costs, no surprise audits. Compatible with public procurement procedures under Austrian federal and state law.

Schedule a Consultation for Your Agency

We analyze your current IT landscape, identify migration opportunities and deliver a concrete roadmap — tailored to public-sector requirements, procurement rules and your timeline.

Request free analysis