Heinlein Support

What Heinlein Support does

Heinlein Support GmbH is the holding company of the Berlin-based Heinlein Group, a specialist provider of Linux-focused IT consulting, managed hosting, training, and open-source communication products founded in 1992 by Peer Heinlein. The group operates through wholly-owned subsidiaries: Heinlein Hosting GmbH (server hosting and mailbox.org digital workplace infrastructure), Heinlein Consulting GmbH (Linux consulting), OpenTalk GmbH (video conferencing), and OpenCloud GmbH (file management and collaboration). The company also runs the JPBerlin sub-brand for nonprofit and advocacy customers and the Heinlein Akademie (Linux Academy), which delivers over 100 professional training course dates annually covering mail servers, virtualization, monitoring, containers, databases, and security topics.

The company's core technology stack is built entirely on open-source Linux infrastructure — Postfix, Dovecot, Rspamd, Checkmk, Ceph, Proxmox, PowerDNS, Open-Xchange, Docker, Kubernetes, Ansible/OpenVox/Puppet, and Stalwart mail server — with proprietary integration, deployment, and operational layers built on top. Its flagship product is the mailbox digital workplace suite, integrating email, calendar, contacts, office tools, video conferencing (OpenTalk), and file management (OpenCloud), operated exclusively in German data centers and certified under the BSI C5 Type 1 cloud security attestation received in December 2025. The company also runs the annual Secure Linux Administration Conference (SLAC) in Berlin and maintains an active expert blog and German-language technical book library.

Heinlein monetizes through a mix of recurring subscriptions (server hosting, CompetenceCall and Server-Management SLA contracts, domain registrations, hosted spam filtering, JPBerlin services billed six months in advance), project-based consulting billed at hourly rates or via bundled quarterly blocks, fee-based training courses delivered in-person in Berlin and online plus in-house customer-site training, conference and sponsorship revenue from SLAC, mailing list and bulk email services for advocacy groups, and licensed reselling of third-party tools such as Spamhaus domain blocklists. Go-to-market is primarily direct enterprise field sales targeting universities, hospitals, government authorities, nonprofits, and privacy-focused organizations that require German-jurisdiction data sovereignty, augmented by community-led demand generation through the Linux blog, authored books, conference talks at FOSDEM and Chemnitzer Linux Tage, the Akademie's training funnel, and a Mastodon presence.

Name

Heinlein Support

Legal name

Heinlein Support GmbH

Website

https://heinlein-support.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Heinlein Support GmbH is the holding company of the Berlin-based Heinlein Group, providing Linux consulting, managed hosting, training, and open-source digital workplace products (mailbox, OpenTalk, OpenCloud) to enterprises, universities, hospitals, and nonprofits, operated exclusively from German data centers since 1992.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Linux Managed Services and Open-Source IT Infrastructure

NAICS

Computer Facilities Management Services (541513), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Collaboration & Productivity Platforms (M365/Google Workspace, Email, Chat/Meetings) (BPAEAIAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Workplace Service Desk & Onsite Support (Deskside/Field Services, VIP Support) (BPAEAIAJ), IT Support & End-User Computing (Helpdesk, Desktop, M365/Google Workspace) (EDABAFAN), AV/Collaboration & Unified Communications Support (VoIP, Video, UCaaS) (BPAAACAJ)

Keywords

• Linux consulting
• Linux training
• Managed hosting
• Mail server support
• Linux administration

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Linux Consulting & Professional Services: IT consulting engagements and hands-on technical consulting engagements billed at hourly rates. Includes project-based work for mail server, Ceph, Proxmox, Checkmk, and other Linux infrastructure implementations. Consulting hours also available as bundled quarterly blocks under SLA contracts.
2. Server-Hosting & Infrastructure Services: Monthly recurring revenue from server hosting (dedicated, virtual, shared), server housing, email accounts, domain registrations, and related infrastructure services. Server hosting billed monthly in advance; JPBerlin-brand services billed 6 months in advance. Data center location is Germany.
3. SLA & Support Contracts: CompetenceCall contracts (tariffs: Silber, Gold, Platin, Spezial) and Server-Management contracts billed annually in advance. CompetenceCall-by-Call and excess ticket hours billed post-consumption. Server-Management billed monthly in advance.
4. Linux Training & Education (Akademie): Fee-based professional training courses for IT professionals. Offers in-person (Berlin) and online training sessions. Covers topics such as Docker, Kubernetes, Checkmk, Proxmox, systemd, MySQL/MariaDB, Apache, LPIC-1 certification, DNS/PowerDNS, mail servers, digital forensics, and more. Also offers in-house training at customer sites.
5. Hosted Spamfilterservice: Monthly recurring revenue from hosted email filtering service. Billed monthly in advance.
6. Conference & Event Revenue: Revenue from the SLAC (Secure Linux Administration Conference) via conference tickets and sponsorship.
7. Mailinglisten & Bulk Mail Services: Mailing list hosting and bulk email delivery services, including for nonprofit organizations and advocacy groups.
8. Licenses & Subscriptions: Resale of Spamhaus domain blocklists and related software subscriptions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Heinlein Support provides Linux IT consulting, training, 24/7 technical support, and managed hosting for enterprises, universities, hospitals, government, and nonprofit organizations. The group operates the mailbox digital workplace suite, OpenTalk video conferencing, and OpenCloud file collaboration, all hosted exclusively in German data centers with BSI C5 Type 1 attestation.

Product overview

Heinlein Support operates as a group of companies (Heinlein Support GmbH, Heinlein Hosting GmbH, Heinlein Consulting GmbH, OpenTalk GmbH, OpenCloud GmbH) offering a comprehensive portfolio of Linux-focused IT services. The core product offering centers on mailbox - a digital workplace suite that integrates email, calendar, contacts, office tools, video conferencing (via OpenTalk), and file management (via OpenCloud). Supporting services include professional Linux training through the Heinlein Akademie, IT consulting specializing in mail servers, monitoring and virtualization, and managed hosting with 99.5% availability. The group organizes the annual SLAC (Secure Linux Administration Conference).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• mailbox: Digital workplace solution for secure communication including email, calendar, contacts, office, video conferencing, and drive - operated exclusively in German data centers
• OpenTalk
• OpenCloud
• Heinlein Akademie
• Heinlein Consulting
• SLAC

Products and services

• mailbox

Quantifiable outcome

• 99.5% average server availability SLA
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• mailboxcoreTechnology or Integrationmailbox is a separate legal entity (mailbox.org) that uses Heinlein Hosting as its data center infrastructure provider. Heinlein provides complete data center infrastructure including servers, storage, and networking for mailbox's digital workplace suite. The two companies work very closely together on infrastructure development and operation.
• OpenTalk GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOpenTalk GmbH is a group company offering OpenTalk video conferencing solution. Heinlein Group includes Heinlein Support GmbH (holding), Heinlein Hosting GmbH, Heinlein Consulting GmbH, OpenTalk GmbH, and OpenCloud GmbH. All operate under the Heinlein Group umbrella and share expertise.
• OpenCloud GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOpenCloud GmbH is a group company offering file management and collaboration solutions. Part of the Heinlein Group alongside Heinlein Support, Heinlein Hosting, Heinlein Consulting, and OpenTalk. Heinlein participates at conferences (FOSDEM, CLT) presenting OpenCloud solutions.
• Heinlein Hosting GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHeinlein Hosting GmbH is a subsidiary providing hosting services. Heinlein Support GmbH acts as the holding company operating the website www.heinlein-support.de and presenting the services of its subsidiaries Heinlein Consulting GmbH and Heinlein Hosting GmbH. The AGB explicitly covers both entities.
• Heinlein Consulting GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHeinlein Consulting GmbH is a subsidiary providing consulting services. Heinlein Support GmbH acts as the holding company, presenting consulting services alongside hosting. The AGB explicitly covers both entities.
• JPBerlinminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorJPBerlin is a brand used by Heinlein Hosting for services targeting nonprofits and advocacy organizations. Services include mailing lists, bulk email, and hosting with a 6-month advance billing model. Attac has been served under this brand since 2003.
• SpamhausminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorHeinlein offers Spamhaus domain blocklist subscriptions as a licensed reseller, providing customers with access to Spamhaus anti-spam domain blocklists.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Thomas-Krenn.AG: Germany-based Linux server vendor and hosting provider with managed-service offerings and focus on Ceph, Proxmox, and dedicated server solutions. Direct overlap with Heinlein's hosting, Ceph/Proxmox consulting, and Linux server expertise.
• B1 Systems GmbH: Germany-based provider of open-source consulting, training, and managed services across Linux, virtualization, and storage. Comparable in their combined consulting + Schulungen (training) + support model and German enterprise customer base.
• NETWAYS GmbH: German open-source and monitoring specialist (Nagios, Icinga, Grafana, Kubernetes) running managed services, training, and events such as Open Source Data Center Conference. Comparable Linux/monitoring consulting + Schulungen + managed-services stack.
• credativ GmbH: German open-source consulting and managed-services firm specialising in Debian/Linux, PostgreSQL, and Ceph. Closest comparable as a Linux-only German consulting and support house targeting enterprise and public-sector customers.
• ATIX AG: German consultancy focused on Linux, containers, and Kubernetes/Puppet/Ansible automation. Direct peer given overlapping engineering focus on infrastructure-as-code, open-source stacks, and DACH enterprise customers.

Broad incumbents

• Hetzner Online GmbH: Larger German hosting and cloud provider offering dedicated servers, virtual servers, and managed cloud. Overlaps with Heinlein's hosting business and German-data-center positioning, but operates at materially greater scale and with a broader portfolio.
• IONOS SE: One of Europe's largest web-hosting and cloud providers with servers in Germany. Competes on hosting/managed-services for SMB and enterprise but offers a much wider portfolio beyond Linux-only specialisation.
• ConSol Consulting & Solutions Software GmbH: German IT consultancy and the company behind the Checkmk monitoring platform. Comparable in offering Checkmk consulting (a key part of Heinlein's portfolio) and DACH enterprise IT services, but operates at broader portfolio scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/heinleinsupport

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Heinlein Support