Observed Signal · Oct 28, 2025 · Partnership · Source: Trending Topics · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Austrian Ministry Replaces Microsoft with Nextcloud for Data Sovereignty
The Austrian Federal Ministry for Economy, Energy and Tourism (BMWET) migrated 1,200 employees from Microsoft cloud services to Nextcloud, a privacy-focused German collaboration platform, citing data sovereignty and GDPR/NIS2 compliance concerns. The project went from proof of concept to full implementation in four months, supported by Atos Austria. The ministry adopted a hybrid setup: Nextcloud manages internal collaboration, while Microsoft Teams remains for external meetings. Nextcloud partner Sendent enabled Outlook integration to preserve existing email and calendar workflows. The decision followed a risk analysis that found foreign cloud services didn't meet the ministry's data protection requirements. Nextcloud had previously sued Microsoft in 2021 over OneDrive bundling, but the lawsuit was withdrawn in October 2025 due to EU procedural delays.
High-profile European public-sector migration from US cloud to open-source collaboration platform underscores digital sovereignty and privacy trends relevant to AdTech data protection.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Austrian BMWET migrated 1,200 employees to Nextcloud from Microsoft cloud services.
- The migration took four months from proof of concept to full implementation.
- Implementation was done in collaboration with Atos Austria.
- Nextcloud handles internal collaboration; Microsoft Teams remains for external meetings in a hybrid setup.
- The move was driven by GDPR and upcoming NIS2 directive compliance and data sovereignty concerns.
Connected Companies & Entities
1 Entity mapped“Nextcloud hatte in der Vergangenheit übrigens bereits rechtliche Streitigkeiten mit Microsoft....”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
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