How Open Source opened the doors to Germany – The Opinsys story.pdf

How Open Source opened the doors to Germany – The Opinsys story.pdf

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  How Open Sourceopened the doors to Germany – The Opinsys story Juha Lahti System Architect, Opinsys Oy Mindtrek 2025 Tampere 1
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  Juha Lahti ● Linuxuser since 1994. ● Developer and System Administrator at Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä, Peda.net School Network 1997-2022. ● Bachelor of Engineering 2001. ● System Architect/Specialist at Opinsys Oy since 2022. ● Technical and pedagogical training to clients in Finland and abroad. 2 25.12.1985
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  Opinsys – Responsibleand Pedagogical Technology for Learning ● Opinsys is a privately owned Finnish company specializing in IT solutions for the education sector, based on open source software. ● Founded in 1993. ● 20+ employees. ● Our goal is to provide pedagogically sound, easy-to-use, and sustainable technology solutions that support learning and protect the environment. ● Opinsys operates in Germany through its subsidiary, Puavo GmbH. 3
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  Opinsys - CoreServices ● Comprehensive IT Service for Schools: Includes devices, maintenance, support, and network solutions – all from a single source. ● Refurbished Devices: Offers schools an ecological and cost-effective way to acquire durable laptops. ● Expert Services and Support: Provides ICT support personnel and open source software development. ● Training and Pedagogy: Organizes training for teachers and engaging "technology adventures" for children. 4
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  Puavo Ecosystem ● Puavois a combination of web software (Puavo Web) and a specially configured system (Puavo OS) using Debian GNU/Linux operating system as its base. ● Puavo Web is built for managing user accounts and devices. ● Puavo OS is a Debian based Linux OS designed for large-scale deployment in primary and secondary schools. ● The source code for both is free software under GPLv2+ license. ○ https://puavo.org/ ○ https://github.com/puavo-org/ 5
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  Other software andservices 6 ● We also host and support a range of other open source solutions and also few closed ones. ● Integrations between different school it-systems. ● Email and phone support in Finnish and in German. ● Hardware and management services for Finnish Matriculation Examinations Abitti exam system.
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  Our hosting partner ●All services hosted at our partner TNNet's data center in Jyväskylä. ○ Datavault Kanavuori ○ High-security data center built inside a former military bunker. ● Full transparency on data location and processing to our customers. ○ This is really important to our German customers. ● https://tnnet.fi/ 7
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  How did weenter the German market? ● We weren't actively seeking clients or marketing abroad. ● A Swiss ed-tech professional independently discovered and tested our Puavo.org project. ● In 2014, he contacted us for official support, establishing our first customer relationship in Switzerland. ● A delegation from Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, saw our system in Switzerland and subsequently visited Finland in 2018 to meet us and see our solutions in action. ● After a successful testing and pilot phase in Germany, we signed our first contracts in 2020. ● Puavo GmbH was established in Berlin in 2024 to simplify navigating German bureaucracy. 8
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  Our German clientstoday ● Saxony-Anhalt ○ Harz district ■ 43 schools using Puavo. ■ 47 local servers. ■ 12000 users. ○ City of Magdeburg ■ Piloting and testing phase. ■ 13 local servers. 9
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  Open source andOpinsys in Finland ● Without open source components, our early projects in Finland and core services (Puavo) would have been far more difficult and expensive. ● Open source enables us to offer a much broader range of services than proprietary or in-house software would allow. ● Open source is an excellent fit for collaboration and student projects, for example with the University of Jyväskylä. ● In Finland, we focus on selling the benefits of our solutions, as the 'open source' label itself offers little marketing advantage and can carry negative perceptions. 10
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  Open source andOpinsys in Germany ● In Germany, open source solutions are a highly sought-after alternative to proprietary systems. ● Clients prioritize data sovereignty, leading to active avoidance of U.S. services and a demand for transparency in data handling. ● Even if clients don't customize the software themselves, they recognize the critical importance of avoiding vendor lock-in. 11
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  Without our open sourcesystem, entering the German market would have been highly unlikely. 12
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  The current geopolitical climate, includingtrade wars and tariffs, is raising global awareness of issues like data sovereignty and vendor lock-in. 13
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  Thank you 14 Questions?