Dataport has commissioned a consortium of partners, consisting of Univention, Bechtle, Fraunhofer and Capgemini with the creation of a web-based collaboration platform building on Open Source products by Univention. This platform is to enable the gradual shift of the software infrastructure used in public administration and education towards Open Source. The goal is to largely replace proprietary software by 2025 and bolster the digital sovereignty of public-sector organisations. The consortium’s partners will be supported by an extensive network of partners within the Open Source community, as well as the private and public sectors. Other established Open Source solutions will be integrated into the platform over the coming months.
Over the coming four years, Dataport—the IT service provider for the federal states of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Saxony-Anhalt, as well as for the tax administration of Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania—will build a scalable online collaboration platform. Dubbed “Phoenix”, the project aims to design and deploy a web-based workplace for employees working in public administration. The project partners will support Dataport with the provision of essential components, consulting services regarding the choice of open-source software, as well as software development. In addition, they will coordinate national and international collaboration with makers of open-source applications and the open-source community as a whole.
The contract further covers maintenance and support services to ensure undisrupted round-the-clock operation. Public administration, educational and cultural institutions, as well as other areas within the public sector, will receive a platform that features text, spreadsheet and presentation editors, and there are also plans to include tools for collaboration, file sharing, messaging, chat and video conferencing.
With Phoenix, Dataport wants to create an all-in-one solution that will be run in various secure data centres, including its own. As a technology leader, Univention will be responsible for building fundamental architecture, providing centralised management of user identities and permissions, as well as a portal to integrate the various applications. Univentiont will also offer consulting services to identify suitable Open Source software that can be integrated into the platform in the short and long term. The overall objective is to make essential components of Phoenix available to organisations as a product and continue to develop the solution into the future.
Further information about Phoenix can be found on the website phoenix-werkstatt.de
About Bechtle:
Bechtle AG is one of Europe’s leading IT providers, with 75 system houses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as 24 e-commerce subsidiaries in 14 European countries. Founded in 1983, the company is headquartered in the southern German town of Neckarsulm and currently employs over 12,000 people. Bechtle provides more than 70,000 customers from the industrial, trade, financial and public sectors with a comprehensive, vendor-neutral portfolio that covers all aspects of IT infrastructure and operation. Bechtle is listed on the MDAX and TecDAX indexes. In 2019, the company generated revenues of over 5.37 billion euros.
Read more at: bechtle.com
About Dataport:
Dataport is the digitalisation partner for the public sector in Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen and Saxony-Anhalt, as well as for the tax administration in Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. As an IT service provider, Dataport is a driving force behind the digital transformation of federal states and municipalities in Germany, with some 3,000 employees at eight sites. In 2019, the company generated revenues to the amount of 750 million euros.
Read more at: dataport.de
The official press release on the project can be found on the Bechtle website.