Element is a combined messenger and collaboration tool that provides end-to-end encrypted communication for education, universities, faculties and research.
Available in the cloud or on-premise.
Discover how one of Austria's largest universities uses Element and Matrix as a university-wide real time communications platform to support its vibrant learning culture.
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Based on the open Matrix network, Element gives staff and students the freedom to connect and communicate with millions of people across thousands of organisations.
It’s ideal for people to create, manage and discover interest-based communities, without any admin and IT support.
Bridging technology enables safeguarded interoperability with proprietary consumer-grade messenger services.
Learn more about the benefits of using Element and Matrix to make academia more accessible, open and inclusive.
Used for internal collaboration, with plans to connect with other universities on the Matrix network.
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Launched at the end of 2018, the university-wide deployment provides secure collaboration, messaging and calls.
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Element and Matrix is used by a cross-university council of computer science students across DACH.
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Introduced by the Physics department, its popularity has grown across multiple departments throughout the university.
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Element is designed to protect users and their privacy. A faculty, university or research department can host its own messaging and collaboration on-premise to retain full ownership and control. Alternatively, Element is available as a fully-managed hosted solution that provides the same level of data ownership.
End-to-end encryption by default keeps users’ conversations and files safe, while cross-signed device verification using QR codes or emoji comparisons guards against imposters and attackers.
For larger deployments, single sign-on (SSO), antivirus and audit bots bring an extra layer of security and help ensure compliance.
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Collaborate with your extended ecosystem
Individuals, for example a guest lecturer, can easily create their own free Element account using a public Matrix server. It is a completely cost-free way for a third party person to collaborate with a university, its staff and students.
Communities (large and small) and entire universities can opt for the fully managed Element Cloud solution. Fast, reliable performance with a custom branded domain and flexible interoperability. The advantages of self-hosting, but as a service.
Companies can easily adopt Element and Matrix to connect with universities. Likewise, Element-based universities can use bridges to interoperate with private sector partners using systems such as Slack or Microsoft Teams.
Regional or country-level deployments can be created, managed and hosted completely on-premise by an in-house team. Consultancy and support is available from Element. Hosted solutions are available from Element Matrix Services.
Matrix is an open network for secure, decentralised communication, connecting 42M+ users over 80K+ deployments.
Governed by The Matrix.org Foundation, the Matrix protocol is an open standard with open source implementations, supporting a vibrant developer ecosystem. Element was founded by the team behind Matrix as a way to bring it to the mainstream.
Element is incredibly proud to build in the open, sharing almost all of our own code with everyone.
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