ZenDiS awarded framework contract for openDesk Enterprise Edition and SaaS offering

Bochum/Berlin, August 27, 2024 - The Center for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration (ZenDiS) has awarded a framework contract for the provision of the Enterprise Edition of the Office & Collaboration Suite openDesk. For an initial period of two years, B1 Systems GmbH will coordinate further development and provide service and maintenance. The IT service provider specializing in open source services will work closely with StackIT, the Schwarz Group's cloud provider, from whose sovereign data centers openDesk will be offered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). openDesk is an open source-based Office & Collaboration Suite that enables public administration to free itself from critical dependencies on individual technology providers in the area of workplace software and at the same time lay the foundation for modern, collaborative working. The software integrates established open source components into a powerful overall solution. To date, openDesk has only been available as a community edition for in-house operation without service and support.

Professional operation and all-round carefree package

With the awarding of B1 Systems for the Enterprise Edition, this is now changing. As general contractor, B1 Systems is responsible for the integration of the individual openDesk components and coordinates their further development. Quality assurance and ongoing maintenance of the Enterprise Edition are also ensured by the IT service provider. Customers from the public sector thus have access to a professionally maintained software package, including regular updates, that meets the highest standards of scalability and security. The Enterprise Edition of openDesk will be available in two operating models: in addition to StackIT's SaaS offering, it will also be available as a self-hosted solution with service and support for operation in the company's own data center. Alexander Smolianitski, Head of Open Source Products at ZenDiS: "With the Enterprise Edition of openDesk and the matching SaaS package, we are addressing the needs of administrative organizations that want to use our superior office and collaboration suite easily and with professional service and support. We are delighted to have B1 Systems and StackIT as renowned partners at our side." in a best-of-breed approach, openDesk combines established open source components under a uniform interface: from word processing and spreadsheets to e-mail, contact and calendar functions to collaboration tools for working together on documents as well as for chats and video conferences. A project management application and a wiki are also included.

About ZenDiS

The Center for Digital Sovereignty in Public Administration (ZenDiS) was founded in 2022 by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and for Home Affairs (BMI). As a competence and service center, ZenDiS supports public administration at federal, state and municipal level in securing its ability to act in the digital space in the long term - above all by eliminating critical dependencies on individual technology providers. To this end, ZenDiS is concentrating on promoting the use of open source software in public administration in the first expansion phase. ZenDiS is a limited liability company and is currently wholly owned by the federal government. A participation of the federal states is in preparation. ZenDiS is based in Bochum.

About B1 Systems

B1 Systems GmbH is a global provider of Linux/Open Source services in the enterprise environment with more than 150 employees. Our offer includes consulting, training, development, managed service & support around Linux/Open Source. In addition to established solutions, experienced employees offer customized developments and support solutions for customers' system landscapes and data centers. Administrators and developers also support customer teams on site if required. B1 Systems GmbH is the first point of contact for topics such as virtualization, high availability, private cloud with OpenStack, Linux client management, automation, monitoring, system & configuration management.