Open source video conferencing solution OpenTalk now available as a cloud service

• Secure video conferencing from Germany
• DSGVO-compliant alternative to Zoom, Teams and Webex

Berlin, June 28, 2023 - OpenTalk, the Berlin-based provider of secure video conferencing, is now making its video conferencing solution of the same name available as "Software as a Service" (SaaS). The provider operates the conferences in a GDPR-compliant manner in its own German data centers and also meets the highest data protection requirements, for example for professional confidentiality holders such as lawyers or according to church data protection law.

This means that there is now an immediately usable secure alternative for Europe to US-based providers such as Zoom, MS Teams or WebEx. The SaaS offering is therefore of particular interest to public authorities and companies that attach importance to data protection, data security and digital sovereignty and have only limited IT capacities of their own.
 

The video conferencing solution for digital sovereignty

OpenTalk is an open-source solution for confidential videoconferencing, designed and developed from the ground up, which recently had its source code exposed on OpenCoDE.de, the federal government's open source platform. OpenTalk thus offers an essential building block for achieving digital sovereignty. The solution places a special focus on meeting the highest security and data protection requirements, even for classified information.

With its modern container-based IT architecture and strict data separation, OpenTalk is particularly suitable for use in politics and administration, universities and schools, and companies. Thanks to high scalability and performance, conferences with several hundred participants are also possible.

A modern friendly design and simple operation also picks up non-tech-savvy users and is designed for barrier-free use.
 

Varied conferences and effective planning in the dashboard

A wide range of innovative functions and moderation tools enable effective and varied video conferences. These include lobby and access control functions, whiteboard, roll call and also anonymous audit-proof voting, special breakout rooms or a coffee break function for longer meetings. This makes entertaining conferences or varied lessons possible.

OpenTalk is also suitable for larger teams and supports administration and conference planning through a dashboard with integrated address book and invitation function.
 

OpenTalk is the alternative from and for Europe

"Although data protectionists all over the world emphasize that sensitive communication data is not legally or technically secure with US cloud-based providers, many companies and public authorities still rely on US providers such as Zoom, MS Teams or Webex due to a lack of alternatives. Now there are no more excuses: OpenTalk is the alternative from Europe! It finally closes the gap between free tools like Jitsi or Big Blue Button (BBB) and the quality of the big commercial providers," says Peer Heinlein, founder and CEO of OpenTalk.

"With full browser usage and rich and innovative group and scheduling features, OpenTalk is suitable for both team and guest collaboration. If it is legally or regulatory required for schools, universities, government agencies or in a medical environment to run the solution locally themselves, that is also possible with OpenTalk," said Heinlein.
 

Prices and functions

OpenTalk is available in different plans:

• Starter: The free "Starter" plan with up to 30 minutes of conference duration and up to five participants also includes functions for professional moderation. These include polls and a whiteboard.

• Standard: The "Standard" plan for 7.50 euros per month (net) enables conferences with a duration of up to four hours and up to 50 participants, whereby an unlimited number of conference rooms can be created. From this tariff onwards, breakout rooms, GDPR-compliant recordings (from July 2023) and sub-accounts with joint administration and billing are also possible.

• Premium: The "Premium" plan for 12.50 per month (net) includes an unlimited number of conference rooms and unlimited conferences with up to 200 participants. Additional features in this tariff include roll call and anonymous voting, an Outlook plug-in for conference planning, dial-in by phone, and GDPR-compliant AV contracts also for professional confidentiality holders.

Two free months each are granted for annual payment in the Standard and Premium tariffs. Logins of companies and larger teams can be managed and billed together.

For more information on the features included and the various packages of OpenTalk, visit https://opentalk.eu.

OpenTalk is backed by the Linux specialists at Heinlein Support. The company is also the operator of the secure e-mail provider "mailbox.org", multiple test winner of Stiftung Warentest. With a team of around 20 developers, OpenTalk has been completely redeveloped from scratch over the past three years and has thus been able to achieve a new, modern IT architecture from the outset. Among other things, OpenTalk is written in the programming language Rust, which is considered to be particularly secure.