Element - creators of Matrix

Deutscher Bundestag - Verwaltung President Julia Klöckner is in the spotlight as Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) warns of a 'likely state-sponsored' phishing attack via Signal. Susanne Ehneß at eGovernment (Vogel IT-Medien GmbH) quotes Patrick Alberts, Managing Director Element GmbH: “It is a great irony that Germany has taken a pioneering role in sovereignty with Zentrum Digitale Souveränität (ZenDiS)’ openDesk, BwMessenger for the Bundeswehr (BWI GmbH), BundesMessenger, and gematik GmbH's TI-Messenger for the healthcare sector.” It is time “for high-ranking officials to stop cutting corners by using consumer apps and instead use the professional tools our democracy deserves.” And he points out that Signal is a “complete contradiction to the goal of digital sovereignty declared by Germany and the EU.” https://lnkd.in/dWRXq_GY

(NB: Reposting after our comment on the original post has 'mysteriously disappeared' 😆) The most fascinating thing about this article is that every single government implementation it highlights is based on the Matrix open standard and software from Element. European governments are adopting Matrix because it provides genuine digital sovereignty. It protects governments by ensuring they can mix and match vendors from a healthy, competitive and INTEROPERABLE ecosystem. Digital sovereignty is not about choosing a European software company. It’s about ensuring you have a choice of vendors. See European governments' adoption of Matrix, and the Matrix ecosystem, in this map: https://lnkd.in/dKqyKKUs

🇪🇺 Digitally sovereign communications need an open standard to enable vendor-neutral federation and prevent lock-in. 🗺️ We’ve mapped out major public sector deployments in Europe that support Matrix open standard federation. All of these sovereign communications solutions - whether built in-house or from a variety of vendors - can federate with each other if they wish. That’s sovereign and secure communications between separate organisations, and cross-border, without any reliance on a specific vendor. The key differences when communications are built on an open standard: 💪 No vendor lock-in, and easy to switch vendor or take in-house 🌍 The ability to federate securely across borders 🔐 Sovereignty without isolation/fragmentation 🔗 Interoperability across independent systems https://lnkd.in/dKqyKKUs Know a deployment we’ve missed? Add it in the comments! Sovereign communications solutions supporting The Matrix.org Foundation federation: AOK PLUS, BARMER, BEAM (Belgian Secure Communications (BSC)), BundesMessenger, BwMessenger (BWI GmbH), ByCS-Messenger, Delta, ePost (Swiss Post), European Commission, Famedly GmbH, FITKO (Föderale IT-Kooperation), GRNET - Greek Research & Technology Network, IKK classic, Knappschaft Kliniken Westfalen GmbH, KKH Kaufmännische Krankenkasse, LaSuite (Direction interministérielle du numérique (DINUM), Logineo NRW, Luxchat, Luxchat4gov, Meedio, Merkury (Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej), MijnBureau (NL Digital Government, NI²CE (NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT)), neoboard (Nordeck IT + Consulting GmbH), openDesk (Zentrum Digitale Souveränität (ZenDiS)), Rocket.Chat, SAFOS (Försäkringskassan), Schulchat RLP, Techniker Krankenkasse, Tchap (Direction interministérielle du numérique (DINUM), TI-Messenger (gematik GmbH), UNICC. CNLL, Digital Public Goods Alliance, eSamverkansprogrammet - eSam, EU Digital & Tech, European Digital Infrastructure Consortium #EDIC, European Open Source Academy (EOSA), Heinlein Group, Open Rights Group, Open Source Business Alliance - Bundesverband für digitale Souveränität e.V. (OSBA), Open Source Initiative (OSI).

Thanks to Open Rights Group for including us and the Matrix ecosystem in the report “The case for digital sovereignty & the digital commons.” 📄 The report highlights the growing adoption of open source solutions - including platforms like Direction interministérielle du numérique (DINUM)'s Tchap, Zentrum Digitale Souveränität (ZenDiS)’s openDesk, and deployments within NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and European governments using Element and The Matrix.org Foundation protocol. 💡 It reinforces a key point: Collaboration software is core infrastructure for digital sovereignty. Strategic investment in open source is essential to avoid vendor lock-in. 👉 Read the report: https://lnkd.in/dB_frRcx

Great analysis article from Sam Clark at POLITICO Europe, picking up on European governments providing sovereign alternatives to WhatsApp and Signal. The article highlights Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Poland all adopting Matrix-based communications - as well as the European Commission and NATO. https://lnkd.in/eZtf4HxV

Good work from Robert Peston, on ITV News, exposing the normality of European leaders simply chit chatting away on WhatsApp – a consumer-grade messaging app run by one of the world’s largest datamining firms. WhatsApp is not fit for use within government. Learn more about digitally sovereign messaging for government use: https://lnkd.in/dJS2ywms https://lnkd.in/eb3WsPZw

🚨 The use of consumer messaging apps within government is now commonplace, causing a lack of transparent decision-making, security leaks and compliance breaches such as accurate record-keeping. 
 ➡️ Scroll, and download our new whitepaper, to see why consumer apps fall short, what a sovereign alternative for government looks like and how NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT) is innovating to bring end-to-end encrypted communications under its own control. https://lnkd.in/dMXKXCHj

❌ Manual maintenance is a liability for legacy Matrix deployments. For those still running "pre-ESS era" deployments, the barrier to upgrading has always been the data: “How do I migrate into ESS without starting from scratch?” 🚀 Today, we are officially releasing the ESS Migration Tool to bridge the gap between legacy environments and a modern, manageable Element Server Suite (ESS) deployment. Why migrate to ESS? 🔹 Simplified lifecycle: Keep your system up-to-date and secure just by running a simple command. 🔹 Modern architecture: A robust, Kubernetes-based stack designed to be packed with the latest Element features. 🔹 An easy way to upgrade your stack to next-gen authentication with MAS 🔹 Reliable infrastructure: The stability of a curated distribution with the flexibility of a self-hosted stack 👉 Read the migration guide and see what’s coming next on the roadmap: https://lnkd.in/dvAU6Ppq

🚀 Spaces has landed on Element X! Spaces bring a faster, cleaner and more intuitive way to organise conversations. Gone are the long room lists as you can now navigate discussions by department, project or interest with a single tap. What’s new in Element X: ✨ Smarter, filtered chat lists for a cleaner view 🗂️ Dedicated Spaces tab for discovery, management and creation 🧩 Flexible room creation tied to specific Spaces 👥 Space previews with context, member count and invitation details Admins using Element Server Suite Pro can mirror org structure, manage memberships automatically and enforce granular access control. 👉 Download Element X and explore Spaces today! https://lnkd.in/diJCfNKX

An excellent analysis article from Paul S. at Resilience Media who looks at Belgium’s BEAM communications solution, created by Belgian Secure Communications (BSC) by building on Element’s community software. Paul picks up on: 1.      European governments’ move to digital sovereignty, and the tension between organisations building on shared code and the need to financially support the underlying open source project 2.      That governments struggle to figure out how to create the budget when replacing shadow IT tools that were never formally budgeted for in the first place 3.      How the interoperability inherent in the Matrix open standard enables governments to run their own deployments while still connecting to others 4.      The aim for Matrix to create the “expectation that interoperability is the norm, not the exception” https://lnkd.in/eiWefg-7