Germany's Digital Overhaul: The Blueprint for a Greener, Sovereign Future

DÜSSELDORF, Germany – September 07, 2026 – In a move that signals a significant shift in the architecture of enterprise connectivity, German telecommunications provider 1&1 Versatel has selected European technology firm Ekinops to overhaul its business-to-business managed services. While the announcement centers on the rollout of a new, unified connectivity portfolio, its implications extend far beyond a simple hardware upgrade. This partnership offers a compelling blueprint for how modern enterprises can navigate the converging pressures of digital transformation, stringent cybersecurity mandates, and ambitious sustainability goals.

At the heart of the collaboration is the deployment of modern Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) from Ekinops—versatile routers designed to act as a central nervous system for a company's digital operations. For years, enterprise IT closets have been a tangled web of disparate devices for internet, voice, security, and private networking. This partnership aims to collapse that complexity, charting a course toward a more streamlined, secure, and surprisingly sustainable digital foundation for German businesses.

Unifying the Complex Edge for a Digital Germany

The German B2B telecommunications market, projected to swell as the nation’s famed Mittelstand and large corporations deepen their digital transformation, is ripe for disruption. The challenge for providers like 1&1 Versatel is no longer just about delivering bandwidth; it's about managing the ever-growing complexity at the customer's edge. This new collaboration directly confronts this issue.

Ekinops' solution consolidates multiple functions—from high-speed internet and secure voice services to Ethernet connections and virtual private networks (VPNs)—into a single, centrally managed device. For 1&1 Versatel's customers, this translates into immediate practical benefits: fewer devices on-site, reduced operational overhead, and a dramatically simplified path to integrating new services. The new platform supports connections up to a blistering 10 Gbit/s, ensuring it can handle the data-intensive demands of modern enterprise applications.

Martin Fischer, CTO of 1&1 Versatel, underscored the strategic nature of this simplification. "Thanks to Ekinops' CPE solutions tailored to our requirements, we are systematically developing our service offering while at the same time achieving sustainable cost savings," he stated in the announcement. "Reducing the number of CPE models we use gives us additional flexibility, simplifies management across the entire device lifecycle and improves the customer experience."

This move aligns perfectly with the broader market shift from basic connectivity contracts to fully managed enterprise network platforms. As businesses increasingly rely on cloud communication and private 5G to power their operations, the ability to rapidly deploy and manage services through a unified software layer becomes a critical competitive advantage.

The Sovereignty Mandate: Securing Europe's Digital Supply Chain

Perhaps the most telling aspect of this partnership is 1&1 Versatel's choice of a European manufacturer. In an era of heightened geopolitical tensions and a sharpened focus on supply chain integrity, the origin of technology hardware is no longer a trivial detail—it's a strategic imperative. Ekinops, headquartered in Paris, provides a crucial layer of assurance for a provider of critical national infrastructure.

This decision is heavily influenced by Europe's robust regulatory landscape. The NIS2 Directive, which comes into full effect across the EU in late 2024, imposes strict cybersecurity and supply chain risk management obligations on telecommunications operators. By partnering with a European vendor, 1&1 Versatel can more easily ensure compliance and mitigate risks associated with hardware from non-EU jurisdictions. This concept of "digital sovereignty"—the ability to control one's own digital destiny, from data to hardware—has become a cornerstone of European enterprise and government strategy.

For 1&1 Versatel's corporate clients, this translates into tangible security benefits. With data protection and data sovereignty guaranteed under EU law, sensitive corporate information is reliably protected by modern, high-performance encryption standards without the ambiguity of foreign legal jurisdictions. It's a powerful selling point in a market where cybersecurity is a top-line driver for technology investment.

The Green Network: A Quiet Revolution in Energy Efficiency

While security and simplification are major drivers, the partnership's most profound long-term impact may be environmental. The new Ekinops CPE models consume approximately 35 percent less energy than the solutions 1&1 Versatel previously used. This isn't just a minor tweak; it's a significant leap forward in sustainable networking.

Research shows that customer premises equipment can be the single largest consumer of electricity in a fixed telecommunications network, accounting for as much as 70% of total energy use. While the power draw of a single router is small, the cumulative effect of millions of "always-on" devices is enormous. A 35% reduction per device, scaled across a nationwide B2B customer base, represents a substantial decrease in operational carbon footprint.

This initiative directly supports the sustainability goals of both 1&1 Versatel and its enterprise customers, who are increasingly under pressure to report on and reduce their own Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions. The energy savings deliver a dual benefit: they lower operating costs in an era of volatile energy prices and provide a verifiable contribution to corporate ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) targets. It marks a pivotal step in the industry's journey toward Net Zero, proving that network modernization and environmental responsibility can—and must—go hand in hand.

Building a Resilient, Future-Proof Foundation

Underpinning the entire strategy is a commitment to flexibility and future-readiness. Germany's Gigabit Strategy aims for near-universal fiber coverage by 2030, but the reality on the ground is a mixed landscape. Ekinops' platform addresses this by offering maximum flexibility in connectivity, seamlessly supporting not only high-speed fiber but also legacy DSL and next-generation mobile connections, including 5G.

This multi-connectivity approach ensures that all businesses, regardless of their immediate access to fiber, can benefit from modernized services. It also builds in resilience, allowing for mobile backup to ensure business continuity if a primary fixed line fails. By relying on a single vendor for these varied requirements, 1&1 Versatel can accelerate service rollout and create a scalable foundation for whatever comes next.

As Frank Dedobbeleer, a Chief Revenue Officer at Ekinops, noted, the ambition is to address a complete transformation. "By relying on one vendor for Layer 2 and Layer 3 requirements, with multiple functions delivered through a single device and unified software, 1&1 Versatel can accelerate service rollout, reduce complexity and create a scalable foundation for fiber-, DSL- and 5G-enabled enterprise connectivity."