Open source provider Nextcloud is now making its GDPR-compliant cloud services available to Webex users.
For the first time, Webex users can work collaboratively with Nextcloud documents. With a dedicated app in the Webex hub, you should be able to view, edit and share files stored on Nextcloud. Nextcloud primarily relies on the security of its documents – companies can weave sensitive data directly into the workflow.
The cloud provider is thus expanding the area of application of its services by a significant part, because this integration is particularly relevant for companies that already rely on Nextcloud. The wide range of linked services that Cisco’s Webex provides opens up for them. However, with the help of Nextcloud’s GDPR-compliant cloud, companies remain within the guidelines when using Webex. With this cooperation, Webex itself is adding a new cloud structure to its portfolio, which is specially designed for data protection-compliant file storage. In contrast, Webex’s in-house cloud primarily supported online meetings – a focus on linked third-party software also made compliance with security standards more difficult. Both companies want to combine their core competencies here.
Security thanks to open source – Nextcloud as a federal solution
The freely available Nextcloud, which was created as a fork of ownCloud, is characterized by open source code and an active community that is constantly developing the file sharing software. Due to the special focus on data protection and transparency, the company became the cloud service used by the German federal government in 2018.
Nextcloud won the contract to build the “Bundescloud” precisely because of its open source code and the possibility of building the infrastructure as a private cloud – with servers located in Germany. Experts – including the Federal Association for Digital Sovereignty – therefore strongly condemned a move by the federal government to bring Microsoft on board as a cloud service provider. Meanwhile, other EU countries, including France and Sweden, have also opted to use Nextcloud in their government agencies. Most recently, the open source project management software OpenProject had integrated Nextcloud’s file management.
