Decentralized messaging platform Matrix is no longer the upstart it once was. The organization is now a serious challenger to the status quo as concerns about sovereignty and independence reach new heights. At the organization’s recent Malmo event, which grew attendance 30 percent year-on-year, the mood shifted from "yes, this is important" to "yes, we’re rolling this out." Matrix is an open standard for communication. It’s a federated system, so there are no central hubs or overseas control to worry about, and it can be used for anything from messaging to voice over IP. Video is also supported. The system is an alternative to services such as Microsoft Teams. It has become popular in the public sector as governments grow increasingly wary of relying on US tech giants for services that the Trump administration could switch off at will . However, that increased interest and subsequent roll-outs have brought a level of scrutiny Matrix was not fully prepared for. A recent report regarding anonymous reaction to a roll-out of the technology by the European Commission took Element – the company that puts the lion share of the money into Matrix – by surprise. One attendee at the Malmo conference observed, "First they [competitors] ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you." Matrix remains an open standard, however, the open source foundation behind it would certainly welcome more paying members. "It’s true that we’re definitely getting more attention than we have had before," said Element CEO Matthew Hodgson. "We are seeing Matrix ending up on the critical path of digital sovereignty as almost the poster child of the whole thing. "I’m not sure that we necessarily do want to be the poster child," he added, "We didn’t sign up to end up being ambassadors for digital sovereignty, roaming from government to government, but empirically that’s where we’ve ended up, and yeah, that’s going to attract attention from people who would rather everyone just kept in their traditional big tech systems." This comes amid worries about the reliability of international partners, from early projects including France’s Tchap messenger for the public sector and Germany’s BundesMessenger through to more recent users, such as the Swedish public sector. Indeed, in one memorable demonstration during the Matrix event, messages were sent between French, Swedish, and NATO entities. "I cannot overstate the strangeness," Hodgson added, "of having various national militaries phoning up every couple of days, saying, ‘Look, we need to get on board Matrix too because we need to talk to this country and they’re using Matrix, and we need to talk to that country, and they’re using Matrix.’ "
"It could be for defense, could be national security, could just be healthcare or education, public sector. But that is real. That is why there is a feeding frenzy." Not that Element or Matrix is trying to build a better Teams than Teams…