The Open Source Way

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 GitHub
• Tim Back

Show 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 Eclipse
• SAP Learning | Learn the Basics of ABAP Programming on SAP BTP
• The Open Source Way | License Compliance – From risks to developer friendly processes
• The Open Source Way | Rust – A Language on the Rise
• The Open Source Way | Eclipse Dirigible – An Open-Source Platform for End-To-End Rapid Development of Business Applications

• SAP Open Source Program Office
  • Innovation at SAP | SAP Open Source
  • SAP Community | SAP Open Source
  • SAP Open Source Twitter (@sapopensource)
  • Email us: [email protected]
    
• Additional Downloads
  • Download the transcript as PDF file
    
• Try 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-logging
• OpenSearch Main Page: https://opensearch.org/
• Github Project: https://github.com/opensearch-project
• Case 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=PLzgr9zSpws14nCUmupVPypGXq87rcFp5Y
• Cloud 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 Office
  • Innovation at SAP | SAP Open Source: https://www.sap.com/about/company/innovation/open-source.html
  • SAP Community | SAP Open Source: https://community.sap.com/topics/open-source
  • SAP Open Source Twitter (@sapopensource)
  • Email us: [email protected]
    
• Additional Downloads
  • Download the transcript as PDF file
    
• Try 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, 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 the current use of OpenSearch within SAP. It also discusses the project history, community development, and the project’s future. OpenSearch is shaping the future by combining advanced full-text search, observability, and analytics capabilities—all community-driven and completely open source.

Juergen Walter

Juergen 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/

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/

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/

Karsten Hohage – Product Expert in Technology and Innovation (T&I)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karsten-hohage-0180312/

The post OpenSearch first appeared on The Open Source Way.

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-project
• https://neonephos.org/
• https://apeirora.eu/
• https://www.bundeswirtschaftsministerium.de/Redaktion/EN/Artikel/Industry/ipcei-cis.html
  
• SAP Open Source Program Office
  • SAP Open Source at SAP Community
  • SAP Open Source Twitter (@sapopensource)
  • Email us: [email protected]
    
• Additional Downloads
  • Download the transcript as PDF file
    
• Try 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 Project
  • Project homepage: http://www.qemu.org
  • Code repo: https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu
  • Issues: https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/issues
  • Documentation: https://qemu.readthedocs.io
    
• SAP Open Source Program Office
  • SAP Open Source at SAP Community
  • SAP Open Source Twitter (@sapopensource)
  • Email us: [email protected]
    
• Additional Downloads
  • Download the transcript as PDF file
  • QEMU: 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/stsquad
  • Helge on GitHub: https://github.com/hdeller
    
• Try 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 Office
  • SAP Open Source at SAP Community
  • SAP Open Source Twitter (@sapopensource)
  • Email us: [email protected]
    
• Try 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/