Another European Agency Shifts Off Big Tech, As Digital Sovereignty Movement Gains Steam

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Austria's Ministry of Economy has migrated to a Nextcloud platform.
• It's nan latest move successful a European inclination to displacement distant from Big Tech.
• European governments and agencies want to power delicate data.

Even earlier Azure had a world nonaccomplishment this week, Austria's Ministry of Economy had taken a decisive measurement toward integer sovereignty. The Ministry achieved this position by migrating 1,200 labor to a Nextcloud-based unreality and collaboration platform hosted connected Austrian-based infrastructure. 

This displacement distant from proprietary, foreign-owned unreality services, specified arsenic Microsoft 365, to an open-source, European-based unreality work aligns pinch a increasing inclination among European governments and agencies. They want power complete delicate information and to state their independency from US-based tech providers. 

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European companies are encouraging this trend. Many of them person joined forces successful nan recently created non-profit foundation, nan EuroStack Initiative. This foundation's extremity is " to shape action, not conscionable talk, astir nan pillars of nan initiative: Buy European, Sell European, Fund European." 

What's nan motive down these moves distant from proprietary tech? Well, successful Austria's case, Florian Zinnagl, CISO of nan Ministry of Economy, Energy, and Tourism (BMWET), explained, "We transportation work for a ample magnitude of delicate information -- from employees, companies, and citizens. As a nationalist institution, we return this work very seriously. That's why we position it critically to trust connected unreality solutions from non-European corporations for processing this information."

Austria's move and information echo akin efforts successful Germany, Denmark, and different EU states and agencies. The organizations see nan German authorities of Schleswig-Holstein, which abandoned Exchange and Outlook for open-source programs. Other agencies that person taken nan aforesaid way distant from Microsoft see nan Austrian military, Danish government organizations, and nan French metropolis of Lyon. 

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All of these organizations purpose to support information retention and processing wrong nationalist aliases European borders to heighten security, comply pinch privateness laws specified arsenic nan EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and mitigate risks from imaginable commercialized and overseas authorities surveillance. 

Open-source package is seen arsenic combining nan virtues of faster improvement and amended security, while providing companies and governments pinch much control, arsenic wide head Thierry Carrez of nan OpenInfra Foundation precocious suggested: "Open infrastructure allows nations and organizations to support power complete their applications, their data, and their destiny while benefiting from world collaboration."  

The US authorities is worried astir this trend. American diplomats person complained to French and German officials up of November's Summit connected European Digital Sovereignty about nan European push for integer sovereignty. This high-level arena will bring together EU institutions, personnel states, nationalist and backstage assemblage leaders, and different cardinal stakeholders to beforehand Europe's integer sovereignty agenda. 

While nan US whitethorn not for illustration it, pinch NextCloud's help, BMWET completed its migration successful conscionable 4 months. Although BMWET had already begun adopting Microsoft 365 and Teams before nan project's start, nan displacement was still considered a success. That's because alternatively of reversing its path, nan ministry implemented a hybrid architecture: Nextcloud handles soul collaboration and unafraid information management, while Teams remains disposable for outer meetings.

The task emphasized integration pinch existing workflows, including seamless integration pinch Outlook email and almanac via Sendent's Outlook app. This attack minimized disruption and ensured personification acceptance. However, not each migrations advancement truthful well. 

For example, successful Austria, nan Ministry of Justice decided to switch Office pinch LibreOffice. Yet nan modulation has tally into trouble. It appears that nan move of 20,000 desktops, which was prompted by a desire to trim spending connected Microsoft licenses, has been, arsenic 1 personification reported, an "unprofessional, rushed operation." Some offices are still connected Office, others connected LibreOffice, and they're moving into incompatible archive format problems and misfires successful email systems. 

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The civilized of nan communicative is that immoderate move from 1 package suite to different requires observant handling by nan IT section and helpdesk staff. Otherwise, you extremity up pinch unhappy users.

That said, BMWET's bold displacement to Nextcloud appears to person gone well. This inaugural demonstrates that adopting sovereign unreality solutions tin beryllium practical, user-friendly, and accelerated successful nan nationalist sector. However, arsenic Austria's Justice Ministry acquisition has shown, simply shifting to an open-source attack without observant readying tin get successful nan measurement of getting activity done.