Univention Summit 2025 - A Status Update on Open Source Workplace Tech
In the shadow of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, there is a vibrant and active community of companies, government agencies and schools who use OX App Suite, Nextcloud, Opentalk, Samba and even Linux Desktops, to name just a few. Univention’s own UCS (Univention Corporate Server) also serves as the core of the internet IT setup for many organizations who don’t want to run a Microsoft Active Directory, or it complements it with additional functionality.
One of the big news items that everybody talked about was of course the foundation of Opencloud, a spin-off based on Owncloud, by Peer Heinlein. I can only hope that this will ensure the continued success of Open Source file sharing and collaboration solutions.
Let me share some personal highlights:
Nextcloud Assistant
AI comes to Nextcloud, with a host of impressive features that Frank Karlitschek from Nextcloud showcased in his keynote about “Digitalisation in the public sector: Better services for citizens”. A bold claim indeed, and exactly what we need to push for. Frank then went on to show how the Nextcloud Flow can be used for workflow automation with a graphical editor. The hope is that government agencies will use it to further digitize internal processes and approvals.
But even more interesting was his demonstration of upcoming AI features in Nextcloud called Nextcloud Assistant. It supports many of modern day workplace tech AI use cases like helping with email, summarizing and creating documents, translations, image generation etc. Impressively, it also supports advanced use cases like taking notes and summarizing video calls or managing calendar invites with other users and juggling calendar availability.
I think that it is really important to provide modern workplace tools and helpers also within the framework of Open Source solutions, as users want more help from their computers and organizations hope to increase their productivity.
Enterprise-grade File Management
File and document storing and sharing is still at the core of our work-related communication and collaboration needs. However, OX App Suite, Nextcloud and Owncloud so far only support user-owned files. That means that files can quickly be lost or rendered inaccessible if the files are not transferred before a person leaves and their account gets deleted.
Both Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and of course traditional file servers support company-owned files, e.g. Shared Drives on Google Workspace. That makes it easy to ensure the continuity of files within the company regardless of people joining or leaving. It also ensures a consistent file system hierarchy and organization of files to be shared and collaborated on.
Finally, Opencloud comes to the rescue. Peer Heinlein shared the plans for Opencloud in his keynote titled “A community has to do, what a community has to do”, where he shared his reluctance to start his own fork of Owncloud. However, forking an Open Source product is a community thing and at the core of Open Source, and I for my part am happy to see more market players competing for customers and pushing each other to deliver the best product.
My personal highlight is the roadmap of Opencloud. It puts the focus on enterprise features, integrations, seamless migration from other products and - best of all - company-owned file spaces and full-text search with OCR. Finally there is an Open Source alternative to Google Drive that has a chance to deliver a similar usability and cater to company requirements.
Managed Linux Clients
For a long time I’ve been telling my customers that managing Linux desktops and laptops in an enterprise environment is expensive and challenging, and typically not economically viable for small and medium companies.
I made this experience myself when I decided to create a managed Linux desktop for ImmobilienScout24, which worked well but took a lot of effort to build and fine-tune. I’ve also built a Linux desktop for a government agency and even one for our school, each with a different degree of centralized control and freedom for the users.
The B1 Linux Client Management (LCM) solution that Enrico Saul and Stefan Bogner showcased in their technical deep dive session impressed me with the well designed architecture and their support of secure remote installations over the public Internet. As a fact, they actually wiped and reinstalled a B1 laptop with the standard B1 system over the conference wifi to showcase their solution.
With a starting price tag of about 10,000€ (depending on the specific requirements of course) it significantly lowers the entrance hurdle to enterprise-grade Linux client management and offers companies to support Linux clients for example for their developers without compromising core company requirements: Centrally managed security policies, hard disk encryption, software and configuration management and even vulnerability management are all covered by LCM as a managed service offering.
I’m truly happy to see that I can now change my recommendation from “you should forbid Linux clients” to “yes, of course - you can easily support Linux clients for a fair price”. What a success for Open Source!
Tech Made in Germany
A lot of the vendors were new to me, a special shout out to Frank Menne from OctoGate (wifi access points, VPN, switches and routers with “Security made in Germany”) and Lars Dietrichkeit from Innovaphone (telephony, unified communications and business applications with own custom hardware and phones). Both their solutions are worth checking out if you want to support local businesses and benefit from personal support and an interest to understand your problems.
Big thanks to Univention and their team for hosting this event. And to all the sponsors who covered the cost of the event, which was very affordably priced at 65€. I’m looking forward to coming again next year. The combination of learning new things, meeting old friends, and the interesting hallway track made this a good time for me.
Interested in how you can make use of Open Source in your company? Would you like to explore Open Source alternatives to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace? Are you wondering what to do with your Lotus Notes or custom solution currently in use? Please reach out to us, Tektit Consulting and I are happy to support you in developing your own IT strategy that enables your company and creates a great employee experience.
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