Blog

Digital Sovereignty: Wire and Schwarz Group announce partnership

Written by Hauke Gierow | Apr 11, 2024 9:43:05 AM

Wire and the Schwarz Group today proclaim a strategic partnership to advance secure communication and data sovereignty in Germany and Europe. The partnership was announced at the Cybersecurity Conference by Schwarz in Heilbronn.

The strategic partnership has three key points:

  • Use of Wire as a secure communication solution in the Schwarz Group companies
  • The companies of the Schwarz Group are planning to invest in Wire
  • Joint product and technology development

Wire secures the digital communications of governments and companies in the areas of critical infrastructure, energy, and telecommunications worldwide. With STACKIT and XM Cyber, Schwarz Digits offers innovative IT services with the highest requirements for security and digital sovereignty, which protect the companies of the Schwarz Group and many other customers.

Wire and Schwarz Group promote digital sovereignty

“The Schwarz Group is an ideal customer and partner for us because they are uncompromisingly committed to the implementation of digital sovereignty in Germany and Europe. As a concrete building block for this, Wire and Schwarz will develop Wire on STACKIT as a new, attractive product that complements our existing portfolio,” says Benjamin Schilz, Group CEO at Wire.

Wire customers can already choose from different deployment options: Wire Cloud and Wire On-Premises. Both options offer always-activated end-to-end encryption and meet the highest data protection standards. With Wire on STACKIT, a new, attractive option will soon be added.

“A secure, reliable and user-friendly communication tool is essential for every company that wants to be successful in the long term,” emphasizes Christian Müller, Co-CEO at Schwarz Digits, the IT and digital division of the Schwarz Group. “We are therefore very happy to have found a partner in Wire who can demonstrate unique security standards without sacrificing functionality.”

Wire enables end-to-end encryption of all data directly on the users device and is based on the world's first open protocol for end-to-end encrypted real-time communication (“Messaging Layer Security”) which Wire co-developed.

“Wire is GDPR compliant and helps companies meet NIS2 requirements. Wire also has a clearance recommendation for the communication of 'classified information - for official use only' by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI),” adds Rolf Schumann, Co-CEO at Schwarz Digits. “The heart of economic value creation in Europe is innovative strength and technical know-how. We must not give up this advantage by allowing our communication to take place via insecure channels.”

As part of the partnership, the Schwarz Group companies will also become a customers of Wire's communications solution themselves.