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In this episode of SAP's "The Open Source Way," host Karsten Hohage is joined by SAP software engineers Max Stark and Armin Kramer to discuss Project Konfidence (with a K)—the open-source evolution of SAP's internal "Deploy with Konfidence" delivery platform.   The guests explain that Project Konfidence addresses the primary pain points of managing complex, microservice-based enterprise architectures across distributed teams. By treating a collection of microservices as a single atomic unit called a "vector," the platform automates deployments, reduces coordination friction, and improves DORA metrics. The conversation covers technical concepts like zero-downtime deployments, atomic activation, handling preview environments, and the project's alignment with the open-source NeoNephos Foundation (part of the Linux Foundation Europe) to foster European IT autonomy Guests: Max Stark: Max has worked at SAP for roughly five years. He started as a Java developer, transitioned into DevOps, and currently focuses on understanding and improving how teams deliver software.Armin Kramer: Armin has more than 10 years of experience. His responsibilities include shipping SAP cloud software safely and frequently, as well as designing the infrastructure required for reliable deployments across cloud landscapes.Show Notes: GitHub project: https://github.com/konfidence-projectWebsite: https://konfidence.cloud/Konfidence @ NeoNephos Community Call: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvNgFsPrYR0

In this episode, host Karsten Hohage sits down with colleague and Principal Software Architect Pavel Kornev to dive into the world of multi-agent AI ecosystems. They explore the Agent-2-Agent (A2A) Protocol—an open standard originally introduced by Google and governed under the Linux Foundation—and how SAP is actively contributing to its ecosystem. Pavel breaks down the newly open-sourced A2A Editor (hosted under Neonephos), explaining how it simplifies the creation, validation, and testing of Agent Cards. They also discuss a forward-looking trend: building extension tools—like a custom Claude Code extension—that allow AI agents themselves to use developer tools directly. Guest - Joining us today is Pavel Kornev, Principal Software Architect atSAP specializing in API Guidelines & Metadata Strategy. Outside of architecting enterprise systems, Pavel is an eager chess player and avid rollerblader.

How does SAP approach open source, and how is it perceived by the global open source community?  In this episode of The Open Source Way, host Karsten Hohage sits down with Sebastian Wolf, Head of SAP’s Open Source Program Office (OSPO), and Orlin Vasilev, Open Source and Cloud Native Technology Advocate at SAP, to discuss SAP’s evolving open source strategy and its growing role in the global open source ecosystem.  Topics covered include:  • SAP’s vision for open source and enterprise innovation  • The role of the Open Source Program Office (OSPO)  • Building stronger relationships with developer communities  • Cloud Native technologies, Kubernetes, Harbor, and K3s  • The NeoNephos Foundation and European open source collaboration  • Open source governance, compliance, and business strategy  • Open source AI and future technology investments  • How enterprises can contribute back to open source ecosystems  • Community building, foundations, and developer advocacy  Guests -   Sebastian Wolf  Sebastian Wolf is the Head of SAP’s Open Source Program Office (OSPO), where he leads the company’s open source strategy and community engagement efforts. Having joined SAP in 2003, he has held roles spanning software engineering, architecture, and developer ecosystems. Today, he focuses on strengthening SAP’s role as a contributor and leader in the global open source community.  Orlin Vasilev  Orlin Vasilev is an Open Source and Cloud Native Technology Advocate at SAP. A CNCF Ambassador and Kubernetes Community Days organizer, he brings years of experience from the cloud native ecosystem, including leadership roles at VMware and SUSE. Orlin is passionate about open source communities, developer advocacy, and helping organizations build meaningful engagement in the open source world.

What is SSL and how does secure internet communication work? In this episode, we explore SSL, encryption basics, and the story behind OpenSSL—from early web security to modern open-source cryptography. In this episode, we break down SSL, TLS, encryption, and secure communication in a simple, practical way, while exploring the history and impact of OpenSSL—one of the most widely used open-source security libraries. We go back to the early internet era of Netscape vs Internet Explorer, when encryption was restricted and controlled, and SSL was just emerging. Learn how OpenSSL was created, how export laws shaped cryptography, and why open source changed everything for web security. We also dive into: 🔐 How SSL/TLS encryption works 🌐 The evolution of internet security protocols 💥 The Heartbleed vulnerability and its global impact 🧠 Cryptography basics like randomness and elliptic curve algorithms 👥 How the OpenSSL open-source community operates 🏢 The structure of the OpenSSL Foundation and commercial support You’ll also hear a real journey into open source—from first contributions to becoming part of a core team—giving insight into how major security projects evolve behind the scenes. Guests: Matt Caswell - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-caswell-5a8b14/

Cloud Foundry after Kubernetes: How a lighter community process, growing contributions, and a new path to Kubernetes are shaping the platform’s next chapter. In this episode of the Open Source Way podcast, Karsten speaks with Beyhan Veli about the current evolution of Cloud Foundry and the community behind it. They discuss how the project reorganized its contributor processes to make onboarding easier and more transparent, leading to a significant increase in community participation and RFC-driven innovation. Beyhan also shares updates on recent platform features, including cloud-native buildpacks, improved health checks, configurable routing algorithms, and IPv6 support. The conversation explores how Cloud Foundry and Kubernetes are increasingly seen as complementary technologies rather than competitors, culminating in a new initiative to enable Cloud Foundry deployments directly on Kubernetes. Together, they reflect on the renewed momentum in the ecosystem and what the future may hold for developers and contributors. Guests: ⁠Beyhan Veli  (LinkedIn)

In this episode, we delve into the intricacies of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) within the SAP ecosystem, a pivotal component designed to offer domain expertise to LLMs. Join our host alongside Tim Back and Florian Vogt as we unpack the role and significance of MCP in the SAP ecosystem in the world of AI. Guests: Florian Vogt (LinkedIn) and on GitHubTim BackShow Notes: UI5 MCP Server Blogpost UI5 MCP server on GitHub

In this episode of The Open Source Way, Karsten Hohage chats with Sonja Lienard, Senior Vice President and Head of ABAP Platform at SAP SE. They delve into Sonja’s professional journey, her contributions to ABAP development, and the significant role open source technologies play at SAP. The discussion covers Sonja’s involvement with various programming languages, the integration of Eclipse IDE and Rust into ABAP development, and the importance of bottom-up innovation. Sonja emphasizes the value of swarm intelligence and the necessity for senior management to grant developers the freedom to explore open source projects. Tune in for an engaging conversation on how open source drives both external collaboration and internal development at SAP – from a senior manager’s perspective! Guests: Sonja Liénard Sonja Liénard is Senior Vice President and Head of ABAP Platform at SAP SE. In her role, she leads a global engineering organization and defines the long-term vision, strategy, and roadmap of the ABAP platform in multiple areas such as Generative Artificial Intelligence, ABAP Cloud, ABAP Platform Infrastructure, and Custom Code Transformation for SAP’s Clean Core strategy. Follow Sonja on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonjalienard/ Show Notes: SAP Help Portal | ABAP Development Tools for EclipseSAP Learning | Learn the Basics of ABAP Programming on SAP BTPThe Open Source Way | License Compliance – From risks to developer friendly processesThe Open Source Way | Rust – A Language on the RiseThe Open Source Way | Eclipse Dirigible – An Open-Source Platform for End-To-End Rapid Development of Business Applications SAP Open Source Program OfficeInnovation at SAP | SAP Open SourceSAP Community | SAP Open SourceSAP Open Source Twitter (@sapopensource)Email us: [email protected] DownloadsDownload the transcript as PDF fileTry out an open-source podcast player – find a list here (list not maintained by SAP)Host: Karsten Hohage – Product Expert in Technology and Innovation (T&I) Follow Karsten on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karsten-hohage-0180312/

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with our guests Juergen Walter, Pallavi Priyadarshini and Karsten Schnitter about OpenSearch. OpenSearch is an open-source search, analytics and observability suite which has been enhanced with significant AI capabilities.  This episode showcases SAP’s current use of OpenSearch for observability on their Business Technology Platform and the project’s evolution from Elasticsearch, community-driven development, and AI advancements. Key contributions like FIPS compliance and OpenTelemetry integration are also covered.  Learn how OpenSearch is shaping the future by combining advanced full-text search, observability, and analytics capabilities—all community-driven and completely open source.  Guests: Pallavi Priyadarshini As Director of Search, Pallavi Priyadarshini leads Search at the OpenSearch Project and Amazon’s OpenSearch Service, including its managed and serverless offerings. She also serves on the Technical Steering Committee of the OpenSearch Project, helping guide the open-source platform’s technical direction. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pallavipr/  Juergen Walter Jürgen Walter is an observability expert in SAP BTP observability driving ingestion and usage, certifications, and stability topics for SAP Cloud Logging and other services. He is a member of the newly formed OpenSearch Observability TAG and contributed improvements for OpenSearch ingest. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juergen-walter/ Karsten Schnitter Karsten Schnitter is a software architect working in the observability area of the SAP Business Technology Platform. He is responsible for SAP Cloud Logging and other logging services for SAP BTP. Karsten is also a member of the technical steering committee at the OpenSearch Project. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karsten-schnitter-7b85b174/ Show Notes: SAP Cloud Logging at Discovery Center: https://discovery-center.cloud.sap/serviceCatalog/cloud-loggingOpenSearch Main Page: https://opensearch.org/Github Project: https://github.com/opensearch-projectCase Study: OpenSearch@SAP: https://opensearch.org/blog/case-study-sap-unifies-observability-at-scale-with-opensearch-and-opentelemetry/OpenSearchCon North America 2025 | YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzgr9zSpws14nCUmupVPypGXq87rcFp5YCloud Foundry: https://podcast.opensap.info/open-source-way/2022/09/28/cloud-foundry-a-one-size-fits-all-solution-for-application-development/Kyma: https://podcast.opensap.info/open-source-way/2020/12/23/project-kyma-an-easy-way-to-extend-enterprise-applications/SAP Open Source Program OfficeInnovation at SAP | SAP Open Source: https://www.sap.com/about/company/innovation/open-source.htmlSAP Community | SAP Open Source: https://community.sap.com/topics/open-sourceSAP Open Source Twitter (@sapopensource)Email us: [email protected] DownloadsDownload the transcript as PDF fileTry out an open-source podcast player – find a list here (list not maintained by SAP) Host: Karsten Hohage – Product Expert in Technology and Innovation (T&I) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karsten-hohage-0180312/

In this episode Karsten Hohage, Johannes Ott and Maximilian Techritz talk about Open Managed Control Planes – an open source project that allows you to orchestrate any aspect of a cloud landscape using one declarative API. Johannes Ott and Maximilian Techritz, who are both software engineers at SAP, talk about Open Managed Control Planes – an open source project that allows you to orchestrate any aspect of a cloud landscape using one declarative API. This is made possible by harmonizing different open source tools in the Kubernetes ecosystem. Johannes and Maximilian will show why this project solves reoccurring challenges in enterprises, how it works and what organizations need to get started. Guests: Maximilian Techritz Maximilian Techritz is a Software Engineer and Developer Advocate at SAP. He is one of the contributors to Open Managed Control Planes and shares excitement around tools in the Kubernetes ecosystem to a growing community within SAP and externally. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maximilian-techritz  Johannes Ott Johannes Ott is a Software Engineer and Developer Advocate at SAP and one of the contributors to Open Managed Control Planes. He actively shares best practices around Infrastructure as Data and promotes tools around the Kubernetes ecosystem within SAP and the open source community. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannes-ott-00a74949/ Show Notes: https://github.com/openmcp-projecthttps://neonephos.org/https://apeirora.eu/https://www.bundeswirtschaftsministerium.de/Redaktion/EN/Artikel/Industry/ipcei-cis.htmlSAP Open Source Program OfficeSAP Open Source at SAP CommunitySAP Open Source Twitter (@sapopensource)Email us: [email protected] DownloadsDownload the transcript as PDF fileTry out an open-source podcast player – find a list here (list not maintained by SAP) Host: Karsten Hohage – Product Expert in Technology and Innovation (T&I) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karsten-hohage-0180312/

In this episode, Karsten Hohage talks about QEMU with Helge Deller from SAP and Alex Bennée from Linaro. QEMU, short for “Quick Emulator”, is a virtualization software that can be used to emulate various types of hardware. They discuss the open source aspects of QEMU, how it is used in various aspects of the software development lifecycle, and how it helps the software ecosystem. Guests: Helge Deller Helge is head of SAP’s Linux lab, which is responsible for the development, certification and support of SAP products on Linux. And in his spare time, he is a maintainer of the RISC and PA-RISC Linux port and various areas of the Linux kernel. And he contributes to QEMU.   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helge-deller Alex Bennée Alex is a senior tech lead for virtualization and emulation at Linaro. Over his career, he has worked on devices from one-armed bandits to microwave communication systems. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexbennee/ Show Notes: QEMU ProjectProject homepage: http://www.qemu.orgCode repo: https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemuIssues: https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/issuesDocumentation: https://qemu.readthedocs.ioSAP Open Source Program OfficeSAP Open Source at SAP CommunitySAP Open Source Twitter (@sapopensource)Email us: [email protected] DownloadsDownload the transcript as PDF fileQEMU: https://www.qemu.org/Linaro: https://www.linaro.org/KVM: https://linux-kvm.org/PA-RISC: https://parisc.docs.kernel.org/Alex on GitHub: https://github.com/stsquadHelge on GitHub: https://github.com/hdellerTry out an open-source podcast player – find a list here (list not maintained by SAP) Host: Karsten Hohage – Product Expert in Technology and Innovation (T&I) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karsten-hohage-0180312/

In this episode, Karsten Hohage and Siegfried Kiermayer, a cloud architect at SAP Commerce, discuss governance issues and solutions in open source projects.   The host Karsten Hohage, and guest Siegfried Kiermayer, cloud architect at SAP Commerce, talk about governance issues and solutions in open source projects, using projects like Catena-X and Tractus-X as an example. Starting with the basis of what these projects are, they will go into detail on how the projects are managed with time throughout the episode.  Guests: Siegfried Kiermayer  For seven years running, Siegfried Kiermayer serves as a Cloud Architect at SAP, where he is currently responsible for the Build Environment of SAP Commerce. He held an integral, founding role with Catena-X for two years and Eclipse Foundation Tractus-X Project Lead.  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siegfried-kiermayer-006199110 Show Notes: Catena-X: https://catena-x.net/Tractus-X: https://eclipse-tractusx.github.io/SAP Open Source Program OfficeSAP Open Source at SAP CommunitySAP Open Source Twitter (@sapopensource)Email us: [email protected] out an open-source podcast player – find a list here (list not maintained by SAP)Additional Downloads Host: Karsten Hohage – Product Expert in Technology and Innovation (T&I) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karsten-hohage-0180312/

In this episode Karsten Hohage and Thiago Weber Martins, the product manager for AAS Digital Twins at SAP, take a deep dive into the Asset Administration Shell. The host Karsten Hohage converses with Thiago Weber Martins, the product manager for AAS Digital Twins at SAP, about the Asset Administration Shell (AAS). Thiago takes us on a journey about what the AAS is, what the standards are, and where AAS and digital twins are used. Together they also talk about the original idea and goals of digital twins and how these developed over time. Guests: Thiago Weber Martins Thiago is a Product Manager for AAS Digital Twins at SAP. His mission is to further develop digital twins based on standards within business applications and processes to ensure interoperability in industrial ecosystems.   He is therefore involved in the Industrial Digital Twin Association (IDTA) to drive the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) as the standard for digital twins. Thiago is also a project lead for the Eclipse AAS Model for Java and member of the Project Management Committee of the Eclipse Digital Twin Top-Level Project. He holds a PhD in mechanical engineering from TU Darmstadt, where he focused on AI approaches to automate product development processes.  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-thiago-weber-martins/ Show Notes: SAP Open Source Program OfficeSAP Open Source at SAP CommunitySAP Open Source Twitter (@sapopensource)Email us: [email protected] out an open-source podcast player – find a list here (list not maintained by SAP)Additional Downloads Host: Karsten Hohage – Product Expert in Technology and Innovation (T&I) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karsten-hohage-0180312/

A dive into the basics of InnerSource Commmons, the worlds largest community of InnerSource advocates. In this episode, host Karsten Hohage speaks with Danese Cooper, Guilherme Dellagustin (SAP), and Russ Rutledge about InnerSource Commons. Founded in 2015, InnerSource Commons is the worlds largest community of InnerSource advocates. InnerSource Commons provides knowledge, best pratices, challenges, and solutions related to InnerSource for organizations and individuals. Guests: Danese Cooper Danese Cooper is a well-known advocate for open source. She is also the founder of the InnerSource Commons Foundation. During her career in tech, she has focused on manifesting better software engineering outcomes by fostering healthy community practices and implementing transparent processes. She says that she abhors silos.  GitHub: https://github.com/danese Russ Rutledge Russ Rutledge is the Executive Director of the InnerSource Commons. He also serves as Senior Director of InnerSource and collaboration at WellSky, the health technology company leading the charge to make healthcare better for everyone. And Russ’s drive and passion is to enable all software engineers worldwide to achieve incredible results via streamlined collaborative InnerSource processes. GitHub: https://github.com/rrrutledge Guilherme Dellagustin I am a software developer who acts as InnerSource Officer at SAP. I’m also a member of the InnerSource Commons foundation. As InnerSource officer, I co-lead the InnerSource program at SAP, helping spread the practice in the company, and as member of foundation, I do the same, but to spread the practice in the whole industry. I was also the producer of this very podcast in 2023. In my free time, I talk about retrogaming (in portuguese) at the podcast “Fliperama de Boteco”. GitHub: https://github.com/dellagustin-sap Show Notes: Download the transcript as PDF fileInnerSource Commons: https://innersourcecommons.org/SAP Open Source Program OfficeSAP Open Source at SAP CommunitySAP Open Source on X (Twitter)Email us: [email protected] out an open-source podcast player – find a list here (list not maintained by SAP)Host: Karsten Hohage – Product Expert in Technology and Innovation (T&I) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karsten-hohage-0180312/

A little time jump into the past when Christoph Roland and Harald Kuck ported SAP software stack to Linux. In this episode, host Karsten Hohage speaks with Christoph Roland (former SAP) and Harald Kuck (SAP) about the past – when they both ported SAP software stack to Linux back in the 90s. Today Linux provides an open-source-based operating system infrastructure for SAP solutions. In the podcast Christoph and Harald share anecdotes and insides from the very beginning of Open Source and SAP. Guests: Christoph Rohland Chrstoph Rohland discovered Linux at university in early 1993 and was convinced that Linux it had a great future. He joined SAP in 1994 where he started in the support organization, but soon joined Harald’s development team. Christoph took care of SAP’s network library – and ported the SAP stack to Linux. He then founded the SAP LinuxLab. Later he took on several management roles. He left SAP in 2008 to pursue other opportunities. GitHub: https://github.com/hcrohland Harald Kuck Harald Kuck led SAP’s ABAP Platform unit until March 2024 and is now retiring. He started his career at Siemens and Karlsruhe University, before joining SAP in 1989, where he was part of the team implementing the R/3 kernel in C. Since then, Harald has founded several SAP technology development teams, including the SAP JVM team in the Java space or the Steampunk team in the ABAP space. One of the highlights of his 38-year career was initiating SAP’s move to Linux and open source, together with Christoph, in 1999. Show Notes: SAP Open Source Program OfficeSAP Open Source at SAP CommunitySAP Open Source on X (Twitter)Email us: [email protected] out an open-source podcast player – find a list here (list not maintained by SAP)Additional DownloadsDownload the transcript as PDF file Host: Karsten Hohage – Product Expert in Technology and Innovation (T&I) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karsten-hohage-0180312/

What is CAP Operator, what are its main features, and how does it function? In this episode, host Karsten Hohage speaks with Sathyajith Krishnan (SAP) and Pavan Nayak (SAP) about CAP Operator – which deploys and manages the lifecycle of multi-tenant SAP Cloud Application Programming Model applications and related components, based on SAP BTP golden path, within a Kubernetes cluster. Sathyajith and Pavan explain the main features of CAP Operator and share an overview of the major automation steps handled by CAP Operator during the deployment of the application. The conversation also covers the operator’s evolution from an internal solution to an open-source resource, the foundational knowledge needed for users, and future enhancements planned for better integration and community engagement. Guests: Sathyajith Krishnan is a Development Architect focused on building platform components which enable ease of consumption as well as access to the latest technologies for developers building business applications. For the past 16 years he has worked as part of product development teams as well as Customer specific implementation projects at SAP which has helped him gain unique perspectives on how to develop platform capabilities for both internal development teams as well as the external ecosystem. GitHub: https://github.com/skrishnan-sap/ Pavan Nayak is an architect in the Cloud ERP area with 17 years of experience across different projects at SAP. Perhaps this may be of interest to Open Source Way listeners: Pavan was also part of UI5 within SAP and has interest in several Open Source projects in his private life outside SAP, most prominently the custom ROM scene with AOSP (esp. LineageOS). GitHub: https://github.com/Pavan-SAP Show Notes: LinksSAP Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP): https://cap.cloud.sap CAP Operator GitHub: https://github.com/SAP/cap-operator CAP SAP Community page: https://pages.community.sap.com/topics/cloud-application-programming SAP Open Source Program OfficeSAP Open Source at SAP CommunitySAP Open Source TwitterEmail us: [email protected] DownloadsDownload transcript as PDF fileHost: Karsten Hohage – Product Expert in Technology and Innovation (T&I) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karsten-hohage-0180312/