Blog & Articles

Article

Managing Geopolitical Risks with Enterprise Architecture

IT leaders in Europe increasingly face questions about whether geopolitical developments – such as data protection disputes or trade conflicts between the EU and the US – threaten the viability of US cloud services. The risks range from price increases and legal uncertainties to potential usage restrictions. CIOs must not only ensure functional IT operations but also proactively assess external risks. This article demonstrates how enterprise architecture methods can help identify risks early and develop viable alternatives.

Blog Post

Modern Legacy (dank KI)

Die Diskussion über Softwaremodernisierung wird derzeit stark von Lösungen rund um künstliche Intelligenz (KI) in der Softwareentwicklung geprägt. KI gestützte Code-Vervollständigung, Agentic Software Engineering und weitere Werkzeuge versprechen, Entwicklungsprozesse massiv zu beschleunigen. Der Gedanke liegt nahe, diese Werkzeuge direkt am bestehenden Code einzusetzen: Refactorings, Redokumentation oder sogar generierter Code für neue Funktionen in vorhandenen Legacy Systemen. Technisch ist hier bereits viel möglich und auch die Buzzword-Industrie ist hier wieder massiv unterwegs. Doch diese Code-nahen, KI-getriebenen Ansätze können für Unternehmen, die sich mit einem Dschungel aus Legacy Systemen auseinandersetzen, zu kurzsichtig sein. Eine Modernisierung, die von Anfang an nur auf Code zielt, führt schnell zu Modern Legacy: Systeme, die dank KI-Unterstützung technisch hochmodern und vorbildlich dokumentiert wirken, deren eigentlicher Zweck aber längst fragwürdig ist.

Blog Post

Modern Legacy (thanks to AI)

Why Focusing on Code Alone Falls Short in the Age of AI

Article

A Governance Framework for Digital Sovereignty

In an increasingly connected world where digital infrastructure forms the backbone of our economy and society, the topic of digital sovereignty is gaining more and more attention. For decision-makers in German-speaking countries, this goes far beyond merely selecting a cloud provider. It’s about strategic agency, resilience, and the ability to actively shape one’s digital future. This article explores how a robust governance methodology can help organizations not only understand digital sovereignty but also put it into practice—without sacrificing convenience or innovation.

Article

The Path to Heterogeneous Cloud Platforms

Digital transformation brings both challenges and opportunities for businesses. To create future-proof and flexible IT infrastructures, more and more companies are adopting multi-cloud or hybrid cloud strategies. This isn’t just about cost reduction, but also about aligning innovative services from different providers with regulatory requirements - particularly in the area of data protection. This article shows how targeted integration strategies can help you leverage the benefits of multi-cloud to optimize your existing infrastructure, reduce technical dependencies, and ensure long-term business success.

Article

Digital Sovereignty: Why Architecture Matters and How to Make Your Company Resilient
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Data Inventories in the EU Data Act: The Democratization of IoT Devices

Starting in September 2025, the EU Data Act (Regulation (EU) 2023/2854) will require companies that collect or process data from connected devices to maintain comprehensive data inventories.

Article

EU Data Act: The Beginning of the End for Cloud Monoculture?

What has the EU ever done for us? …well, aside from free movement, no roaming charges, consumer protection, the single market, Erasmus, and more. But also: excessive bureaucracy, slow decisions, overregulation down to the much-mocked bottle cap – a favorite symbol for anyone blaming Europe for every innovation shortfall.

Article

Think Locally: On-Premise LLMs as Drivers of Competitive Advantage
Article

Digital Sovereignty as Self-Understanding

How implementation teams can escape the we-are-not-Google trap and collectively take responsibility for European solutions to European problems.

Blog Post

Software Analytics going crAIzy!

I’ve long been an advocate of treating software like data and analyzing it accordingly with tools like Python, pandas, Jupyter Notebook, Neo4j, and jQAssistant. In the era of AI and code transformation tools, seeing software as data gets more and more important when you want to improve your software system at a large scale. This blog post is a short interim report from me about my efforts taking software analysis to the next level.

Article

Digitale Souveränität: Warum die Architektur zählt und wie Sie Ihr Unternehmen resilient machen
Article

Digitale Souveränität – Ein Definitionsversuch

Der Begriff Digitale Souveränität trägt die Wolkenwende. Beim Versuch einer Definition ist es unvermeidlich, verschiedene Perspektiven einzunehmen. Weniger, was das Digitale angeht – hier stehen ganz klar Informationstechnologie und Software im Fokus. Souveränität allerdings ist als Begriff eine andere Größenordnung.

Article

The Sovereignty Trap: Between Tiananmen and Trump

We talk a big game about values and privacy, yet depend on AI that either denies historical atrocities or could cut us off tomorrow. Is this what Europe gets for dropping the ball on high tech infrastructure?

Blog Post

Mobile Portale mit HATEOAS und Self-Contained Systems
Blog Post

Updating OWASP’s Microservice Security Cheat Sheet: Practical Considerations & Recommendations

Turning principles and patterns into practice — just as promised.

Article

From Data Graveyards to Knowledge Landscapes

Europe is sitting on a wealth of public data—but much of its potential remains untapped. The challenges are well known: fragmented portals, incompatible interfaces, and growing reliance on non-European platforms that slow innovation. While new industrial data spaces are emerging—enabling secure and sovereign exchange of sensitive information—public and industrial data ecosystems remain largely siloed. This article explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Model Context Protocol (MCP) can help bridge that gap and accelerate Europe’s shift from Open Data to Open Knowledge—supporting digital sovereignty and delivering greater value to society.

Blog Post

Updating OWASP’s Microservice Security Cheat Sheet: Decision Dimensions for Authorization Patterns
Article

Pragmatische Architekturdokumentation für Entwicklungsteams

Eine gut gepflegte Architekturdokumentation ist nützlich, gerade auch für die Entwickler:innen eines Softwaresystems. Sie hilft nicht nur beim Verständnis, sondern sorgt auch dafür, dass sich wichtige Sachverhalte reflektiert diskutieren und klären lassen.

Blog Post

Updating OWASP’s Microservice Security Cheat Sheet: Authorization Patterns

Authorization patterns explain how distributed systems organize their access control — where and how decisions happen, where policies live — and influence, in turn, how identities and related attributes travel between components.

Blog Post

Updating OWASP’s Microservice Security Cheat Sheet: Identity Propagation Patterns
Blog Post

AI — Behind the Buzzword Garbage

Tired of AI hype? Me too. But beneath the buzzwords lies real value for developers. Tools like Claude Code save me hours on routine tasks, freeing me to focus on what matters: understanding problems and building the right solutions. It’s not magic—it’s practical support that makes development faster without replacing our core skills.

Blog Post

Updating OWASP’s Microservice Security Cheat Sheet: Authentication Patterns

Without knowing who the subject is, without verifying its identity, there is only a limited way to perform meaningful access decisions.

Blog Post

Business Model Canvas: Geschäftsmodelle sichtbar machen

Ein pragmatisches Werkzeug für Architektur, Strategie und Transformation

Blog Post

Updating OWASP’s Microservice Security Cheat Sheet: Core Concepts

In part two of my series, I begin the journey to rethink the OWASP Microservice Security Cheat Sheet. This post focuses on core concepts, laying the groundwork for practical, real-world microservice security.