Public-sector office suite openDesk: provider cannot keep up with demand
Germany's Centre for Digital Sovereignty has sold licences for 200,000 workplaces but had to turn down many requests. IT service providers are now to take over sales.
Graphic: TERRA WORLD NEWS (own graphic based on the sources listed)
Demand for openDesk, the open-source office software of Germany's public administration, is outstripping what its provider can handle. The Centre for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration (ZenDiS) has sold licences for 200,000 workplaces, according to a Golem report citing the business daily Handelsblatt. Last year, however, it had to turn down most requests. 'With our previous set-up we could not meet the enormous demand,' said co-managing director Leonhard Kugler.
Until now ZenDiS has sold openDesk itself, which would now require too many staff. IT service providers will therefore sell the software through a partner programme. B1 Systems, Dachs IT and Schwarz Digits are named, with Deutsche Telekom, Ionos and Bechtle expected to follow. Microsoft and SAP also rely on such service-provider models.
According to the report, demand rose partly after an international judicial body could no longer use Microsoft Office because of US sanctions and switched to openDesk. 'Sovereignty is increasingly becoming a procurement criterion,' said Thilo Zelt of Capgemini Invent.