The cloud is playing an increasingly important role in public administration. The German Public Administration Cloud Strategy (DVS) forms the backbone of this development. Open standards and interfaces are firmly embedded within it to ensure vendor independence. Container technologies, led by the open-source system Kubernetes, are driving this development. As a member of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), Materna is committed to open standards and to data and technology sovereignty. Building on these foundations, Materna is one of the first providers to be testing use cases from public authorities in sovereign cloud scenarios, for example for register applications.
Various cloud infrastructures, including Delos, Google, Oracle and IONOS, are currently competing for the favour of public administration – each in its own way. Some components are already operational, whilst others will only be implemented and become operational over the coming months or years.
First steps in a sovereign cloud – Materna tests a concept-based development environment for the Delos Cloud
Materna was the first IT service provider to gain in-depth experience of Arvato Systems’ Delos cloud-based development environment and is using the simulated Delos Cloud to test use cases and carry out proof-of-concepts. “Our public sector clients can use this environment as a demonstrator at Materna and test their containerised applications or even just components of an application. In this way, we and our clients gain valuable technological and organisational experience with the cloud environment – even before it is available – and take our first steps towards a fully-fledged cloud,” says Robert Knapp, responsible for cloud implementation in the Public Sector division at Materna. Furthermore, the concept-oriented development environment can also be used as an extended environment for software development projects, for example to test cloud-native development. Materna has already successfully tested e-file solutions, AI projects, internet and staff portals, as well as containerised registers in the cloud.
The German Public Administration Cloud
The German Public Administration Cloud aims to provide cloud services and software solutions across multiple locations and to make them mutually compatible. The German Public Administration Cloud strategy stipulates that the applications and business processes provided must, as a matter of principle, be capable of running on at least two cloud platforms in order to avoid so-called vendor lock-in. Accordingly, Materna will also implement projects and applications in the IONOS Cloud as the next step to demonstrate vendor independence. Open standards and interfaces, as well as a modular IT architecture, are technologically essential for this. This simultaneously reduces dependence on individual providers and strengthens the digital sovereignty of public administration’s IT.
Register applications in the sovereign cloud
Modern and networked registers play a key role in the digitalisation of public administration. The availability of a sovereign cloud will also influence the modernisation of registers. In a development environment closely aligned with the concept, Materna is already offering public authorities the opportunity to test the use of containerised register applications on a prototype basis in a sovereign cloud and to gain experience. In a proof of concept, for example, the scaling requirements and functional components can be evaluated by Materna and Arvato Systems. The solution is based on a modular software architecture utilising microservices, which enables Materna to build a flexible and modular overall system with great ease. With a view to the future multi-cloud deployment of register applications across various cloud platforms, Materna plans to develop its own software architecture, which will enable federal and state register-keeping authorities to provide cloud-enabled registers. With the help of this architecture, containerised register applications offering highly secure operation and register queries can then be deployed across various clouds.
Cloud-native development in public administration too
The development of new applications and specialist processes in the public sector is also increasingly taking a cloud-native approach and is based on container technologies. “We recommend that our public authorities develop new specialist procedures and applications exclusively as cloud-native solutions in line with the public sector cloud strategy. For Materna, supporting the public sector on its journey towards a sovereign cloud is a strategic priority,” says Robert Knapp. Through its membership of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), Materna is committed to open standards as well as data and technology sovereignty. As a Kubernetes Certified Service Provider (KCSP), Materna possesses extensive expertise and experience and provides comprehensive support to public sector organisations on their Journey2Cloud.
Full details of Materna’s Sovereign Cloud offering
