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Europe

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101
Another European agency shifts off Big Tech, as digital sovereignty movement gains steam (www.zdnet.com)
submitted 3 months ago by randomname@scribe.disroot.org to c/europe@feddit.org
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  • Austria's Ministry of Economy has migrated to a Nextcloud platform
  • It's the latest move in a European trend to shift away from Big Tech
  • Other agencies that have taken the same path away from Microsoft include the Austrian military, Danish government organizations, and the French city of Lyon

...

Even before Azure had a global failure this week, Austria's Ministry of Economy had taken a decisive step toward digital sovereignty. The Ministry achieved this status by migrating 1,200 employees to a Nextcloud-based cloud and collaboration platform hosted on Austrian-based infrastructure.

This shift away from proprietary, foreign-owned cloud services, such as Microsoft 365, to an open-source, European-based cloud service aligns with a growing trend among European governments and agencies. They want control over sensitive data and to declare their independence from US-based tech providers.

Also: Europe's plan to ditch US tech giants is built on open source - and it's gaining steam

European companies are encouraging this trend. Many of them have joined forces in the newly created non-profit foundation, the EuroStack Initiative. This foundation's goal is " to organize action, not just talk, around the pillars of the initiative: Buy European, Sell European, Fund European."

What's the motive behind these moves away from proprietary tech? Well, in Austria's case, Florian Zinnagl, CISO of the Ministry of Economy, Energy, and Tourism (BMWET), explained, "We carry responsibility for a large amount of sensitive data -- from employees, companies, and citizens. As a public institution, we take this responsibility very seriously. That's why we view it critically to rely on cloud solutions from non-European corporations for processing this information."

Austria's move and motivation echo similar efforts in Germany, Denmark, and other EU states and agencies. The organizations include the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, which abandoned Exchange and Outlook for open-source programs. Other agencies that have taken the same path away from Microsoft include the Austrian military, Danish government organizations, and the French city of Lyon.

...

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[โ€“] huppakee@piefed.social 15 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I feel Germany and Austria are leading the momentum now. Scandinavian and Baltic countries are pushing as well, so is France. Hope EU will help the rest pick up pace too.

[โ€“] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Germany and France are also heavily utilizing matrix for government, military and healthcare communications. I predict that in ~5 years basically all of the EUs governments will be using matrix. Most Universities in germany use it already so its also being used by normal young people.

[โ€“] victorz@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

Love to see it. I hope so!