Microsoft alternative: openDesk suitable for emergencies

The German Pension Insurance and the Federal Employment Agency have tested the Microsoft alternative openDesk as an emergency workplace in a joint project and found it suitable. The project “Cloud-based communication for critical infrastructures,” launched in January and abbreviated CKKI, aimed to establish a fully functional emergency workplace that exists independently of the primary IT infrastructure. The IT service providers Bitmarck and BG-Phoenics were also on board.

For the crisis exercise, the four participating organizations each installed their own openDesk instances on different cloud infrastructures. They tested how well these systems can communicate with each other in various scenarios. One of the questions was whether interoperability would be maintained even if different cloud providers, such as project partners Ionos, Stackit, or T-Systems, served as the basis.

“Viable Option”

In business continuity management (BCM) test scenarios under real conditions, the openDesk modules for files, chat, email, and video conferencing were tested for their crisis suitability by test users, with positive results. The migration of instances between two different cloud platforms was also successful. Matthias Flügge, Director of the German Pension Insurance Federation, emphasized: “As one of the largest social security institutions in Europe, we bear a special responsibility to ensure that sensitive data and critical communication channels remain secure, protected, and usable even in crisis situations. The successful completion of the CKKI project has shown that powerful open-source solutions represent a viable option for public administration.”

The project results will now be incorporated into the 8ra initiative of the European Union. The initiative aims to create a secure and sovereign cloud and edge infrastructure in Europe where different providers can work together seamlessly. A public consultation process for public administration stakeholders is scheduled to start at the end of August. Among other things, consideration will be given to how openDesk can be scaled up as an emergency workplace.

Still little used in federal administration

openDesk is developed by the Center for Digital Sovereignty (ZenDiS), which belongs to the federal government. The software suite is intended to provide a browser-based open-source alternative to the Microsoft 365 office package. The individual components for office software, email, calendar, project management, and video communication are assembled from established open-source projects.

According to ZenDiS, over 100,000 administrative workstations are currently equipped with the collaboration suite. It was recently announced that cybersecurity experts from the Swiss military will prefer openDesk over M365 starting in October.

In the German federal administration, the use of openDesk still appears to have considerable room for improvement, even though ZenDiS is federally owned. According to the federal government's response to a parliamentary inquiry in April, federal authorities collectively use only 8,756 licenses here. The Robert Koch Institute accounts for 7,904 licenses for its Agora project in the context of public health services, and the remaining licenses are used by, among others, the Digital Ministry, the Federal Foreign Office, and the BSI.

(axk)