ABOUT ME
BEN ABT
Platform Architect · Engineer · Coach · Microsoft MVP
Hi, I'm Ben and I use code to solve your problems.
I'm a Principal Software Engineer at Medialesson GmbH, specialized in cloud and hybrid platforms on Azure and .NET, with a strong focus on performance, scalability and sustainability.
I have been a Microsoft MVP for .NET and Azure since 2015 and support the developer community through publications, talks, articles and open source projects, as well as through myCSharp.de - the largest and most active C# forum in the German-speaking world.
Let's Work Together
Looking for an experienced Platform Architect or Engineer for your next project? Whether it's cloud migration, platform modernization or building new solutions from scratch - I'm here to help you succeed.
New Platforms
Modernization
Training & Consulting
Microsoft MVP since 2015
Recognized for exceptional technical expertise and community engagement in the area of Developer Technologies (.NET, C# and ASP.NET Core) and Microsoft Azure.
.NET Experience
.NET, C#, ASP.NET Core, Aspire, EF Core, OpenAPI, REST, gRPC, Performance Optimization, Profiling, Diagnostics
Microsoft Azure Cloud Focus
Cloud Native, Serverless, PaaS, Microsoft Azure Container Apps, Microsoft Azure App Service, Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Microsoft Azure API Management
Software Architecture
Modular Monolith, Microservices, DDD, Event-Driven, Event Sourcing, CQRS, Multi-Tenancy, Multi-Region, AI & Agent-based Systems
Machine Learning and AI
Microsoft Azure AI Foundry, A2A+MCP, GitHub Copilot, Microsoft Copilot, OpenAI, Microsoft Azure Machine Learning, Custom AI Solutions
Professional experience
Medialesson GmbH
Principal Software Engineer
2022 - Present
- Cross-project accountability for technology and architecture decisions
- Strategic guidance and hands-on support for development teams
- Design and development of highly scalable, end-to-end cloud and AI-powered platforms based on Microsoft Azure, .NET, .NET Aspire and container technologies
- Definition and execution of key technical strategies
- Trusted advisor to C-level executives and technical stakeholders on cloud and AI initiatives
- Enablement of modern developer workflows leveraging GitHub Developer Platform and GitHub Copilot
- Development and delivery of professional training sessions and workshops covering cloud computing, Microsoft Azure, .NET, GitHub Copilot, cloud and developer security and AI technologies
CGI Deutschland
Director Expert for IoT and Industry 4.0
2021 - 2022
- Leadership in .NET, ASP.NET Core, Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Azure IoT, delivering internal and external consulting
- Conception and implementation of highly available IIoT and IoT platforms, both cloud-based and on-premises
- Solution delivery for manufacturing, agriculture and facility management sectors
- Presales activities across Southern Germany with focus on development, Microsoft Cloud, IIoT and IoT solutions
- Development advisory centered on .NET, ASP.NET, containers, Microsoft Azure and IoT
- Cloud advisory with emphasis on Microsoft Azure technologies
- Planning and delivery of comprehensive training sessions and workshops covering .NET, ASP.NET, Microsoft Azure Functions, Microsoft Azure Web Apps, Microsoft Azure DevOps, GitHub, CI/CD, Docker, Microsoft Azure IoT, modern API development and scalable cloud architectures
Devoteam GmbH
Principal Consultant - Cloud / IoT / Connected Factory / Industry 4.0
2018 - 2020
- Internal and external consulting for highly available IIoT and IoT-focused cloud and on-premises platforms
- Design and delivery of trainings, technical talks and deep-dive workshops on .NET, ASP.NET, Docker and Microsoft Azure
- .NET Guild Leader and Offer Owner for IIoT and IoT
- Strategic initiatives and presales activities across the DACH region
- Focus on development, Microsoft Cloud and industrial IoT solutions
- Active speaker at user groups, conferences and meetups
Alegri GmbH (acquired by Devoteam)
Lead Consultant - Cloud / IoT / Connected Factory/ Industry 4.0
2015 - 2018
- Internal and external consulting for highly available IIoT and IoT-focused platforms
- Design and implementation of solutions for manufacturing, agriculture and facility management industries
- Solution development using .NET, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure IoT, Microsoft Azure IoT Edge, AWS, AWS IoT and Rancher
- Implementation of Microsoft Azure DevOps-based workflows
- Planning and delivery of trainings and workshops covering .NET, ASP.NET, Docker, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure IoT, Microsoft Azure IoT Edge, DevOps, modern API development, cloud architecture and IoT architecture
- .NET Guild Leader and Offer Owner for IIoT and IoT
- Strategic initiatives and presales activities across the DACH region
- Active tech community contributor as speaker at user groups, conferences and meetups
TRUMPF GmbH + Co. KG
Architect + Engineer - C# / ASP.NET / Angular / Cloud + IoT
2008 - 2015
- Planning, development and support of distributed web applications based on ASP.NET MVC, WebAPI, WebSockets and MongoDB
- Automated generation of operating systems and software components for machine controls
- Design and maintenance of custom backup systems for Windows XPe and Windows Embedded-based machine controls
- Development of software modules for machine controls running on Windows 7 Embedded
- Design and implementation of performance-optimized low-level libraries based on .NET and Win32 API
- Implementation of software installation, distribution and production processes
- Supervision and technical support for system developers worldwide
- Planning and development of distributed, cloud-based web applications in Industry 4.0, IoT and Machine Learning contexts
- Silo Leader for Web Stack, responsible for architecture and implementation of web stack and single-page applications
- Technology stack including ASP.NET, OData, HTML5, AngularJS, TypeScript and Machine Learning components
- Transfer to newly founded subsidiary Axoom GmbH in Karlsruhe
Professional projects
Enterprise Reporting Platform Migration
Platform-Architect / -Engineer
Design and migration of an enterprise reporting platform from on-premises to Microsoft Fabric with Power BI reporting.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and implement integration with SAP and internal systems
- Design and build the Microsoft Fabric data platform
- Design and establish the DevOps strategy using GitHub Actions
- Plan and execute the migration from on-premises Microsoft SQL Server and Analysis Services to Microsoft Fabric and Power BI
Multi-Agent AI Utility Platform
Platform-Architect / -Engineer
Design and implement a multi-agent AI platform for AI-assisted analysis and interaction to improve grid stability and operational decision-making for an energy utility.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and implement the Azure-based platform
- Build an agent-to-agent (A2A) platform for orchestrating multiple cooperating agents
- Integrate external APIs and data sources (e.g., ENTSO-E, wind turbines, solar plants and data providers)
- Integrate the platform into existing systems of the energy utility
B2B Hybrid Customer Cloud-ERP-Platform
Platform-Architect / -Engineer / -Coach
Design and architect a cloud and hybrid customer platform for the gold and jewelry retail sector, providing strategic coaching to development teams.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and development of a highly scalable self-service platform
- Migration of existing standalone applications into a unified, modular platform architecture
- Provide consulting support for the technological implementation of on-premises and hybrid platforms using .NET, ASP.NET, Azure, Windows Server and Linux containers
AI Foundry Custom GPT Migration
Platform-Engineer / -Coach
Build and migrate an OpenAI Custom GPT-based platform to Azure AI Foundry.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design the Azure AI Foundry setup, including model selection and deployment strategy
- Migrate Custom GPTs to the target Azure AI Foundry architecture
- Implement a token-based billing system for B2B customers
Hospitality Booking Management Platform
Platform-Architect / -Engineer
Design and architect a B2B cloud platform to plan and manage table bookings for hotels and restaurants.
Key Responsibilities:
- Architect and develop the backend services for tenant and user management, reservations, notifications and reporting, ensuring high availability and fault tolerance
- Migrate to Microsoft Entra External Identities
Multi-Region IT Self-Service Platform
Platform-Architect / -Engineer
Design and architect a multi-region B2B self-service platform for a leading global IT system and consulting company of Microsoft. Multi-tenant setup, license self-service automation, connection of third-party IT systems for the security evaluation of IT systems and Azure tenant environments.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and development of a highly scalable self-service platform
- Migration of existing standalone applications into a unified, modular platform architecture
- Modular monolith design with full container readiness
- Cloud-native deployment leveraging Azure services
- CI/CD with Azure, Azure DevOps, SonarQube and GitHub Advanced Security
Global Kitchen Planning Platform
Platform-Architect / -Engineer
Design and architect a multi-region B2B self-service platform for a worldwide (incl. China) leading system for the planning of kitchen and kitchen systems.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and development of a highly scalable platform for kitchen planning tailored to studios across Europe, North America and China
- Development and migration of a microservices platform using Azure Web Apps, Azure Container Apps and integration with legacy systems
- Refactoring and migration of legacy code to C# 10 and C# 11 (.NET 6+)
- Migration of monolithic applications to ASP.NET-based microservices
- Consolidation of local identity systems into a unified SSO platform using Azure B2B (employees) and Azure B2C (customers)
- CI/CD pipelines using Azure and Azure DevOps
Shared Mobility Rental Platform
Platform-Architect / -Engineer
Design and architect a multi-region rental platform for cargo bikes, including Partner connectivity and integration of connected cargo bikes for B2C and B2B rental.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and implementation of a Java-Spring-based IoT platform on Azure
- Integration of connected cargo bikes for B2C and B2B rental
- Setting up the CI/CD workflow with containers and Azure DevOps
Real Estate Quarters Management Platform
Platform-Architect / -Engineer
Design and architect a quarters platform for the management of properties and real estate, including contract management, resident management, complaint management, IoT connection of devices for building monitoring.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and implementation of a district platform to manage real estate, rental contracts, facility services and property administration
- Development of a modular monolith with microservice readiness using ASP.NET Core, .NET and existing container-based services
- Implementation of an enterprise-grade identity system using Auth0
- Cloud-native development leveraging Azure services
- CI/CD using Azure and Azure DevOps
Agricultural Live Analytics Platform
Platform-Architect / -Engineer
Design and architect a smart live analytics platform for agricultural seed breeding
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and implementation of a cloud platform to live-analyse seeds via various sensors
- Development of a modular monolith with microservice readiness using ASP.NET Core, .NET and existing container-based services
- Cloud-native development leveraging Azure services
- CI/CD using Azure and Azure DevOps
Hybrid Shop-Floor Integration Platform
Platform-Architect / -Engineer
Design and architect a hybrid and shop-floor-only platform for the world's leading gear-technology manufacturer.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and implement a hybrid shop-floor platform to integrate production machinery and precision measurement systems for gears and bevel gears
- Architect and deploy a K3s-based microservices ecosystem
- Build a scalable, customer-facing platform on Microsoft Azure
- Establish an Azure DevOps–driven container deployment pipeline for on-premises maintenance and service applications
- Engineer robust ASP.NET Core API services to support platform operations
Industrial Customer Cloud Platform
Platform-Architect / -Engineer
Design and architect a cloud-based customer platform for clients of large-scale industrial systems, enabling planning and production of rubber compound products such as tires.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and development of a cloud-based customer platform
- Development of various microservices (contracts, master data, machine integration and legacy systems)
- IoT architecture for isolated production machines in the tire manufacturing industry
- Design and implementation of ASP.NET Core-based backend systems
Connected Tools IoT Platform
IoT-Platform-Architect / -Engineer
Design and architect a global, hybrid B2B platform for managing connected tools (drills, milling machines, saws, etc.)
Key Responsibilities:
- Architect and develop a multi-region, Azure-based cloud solution
- Design and implement an event-driven .NET solution
- Build and deploy various backend systems and establish CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps
Global B2B Partner Management Platform
Platform-Architect / -Engineer
Design and architect a global B2B platform for managing customers and partners.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and develop a .NET based cloud-platform incl. connectivity to existing on-premises systems
- Design and implementation of the event-based messaging system
Smart Appliance Hybrid Platform
IoT-Platform-Architect / -Engineer
Design and architect a global, hybrid B2B/B2C platform for smart refrigerators for a leading German appliance manufacturer
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and develop a hybrid/on-premises B2B/B2C platform for smart refrigerators
- Design and implementation of the event-based messaging system
- Development of the end-customer platform using ASP.NET Core and Azure Service Fabric
Healthcare Hygiene Tracking Platform
Platform-Architect / -Engineer
Design and architect a highly available platform for tracking cleaning equipment for a leading German industrial cleaning group to monitor legal hygiene regulations in hospitals.
Key Responsibilities:
- Architect and develop an on-premises platform for tracking cleaning equipment in hospitals
- Design and implement a highly available ASP.NET-based solution
- Evaluation and implementation of hardware (RFID) for tracking cleaning utensils
Smart Factory IoT Analytics Platform
Platform-Architect / Backend- and Frontend-Engineer
Design and architect a cloud-based IoT platform enabling vendor-agnostic machine connectivity and real-time data analytics for smart factory solutions.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design modular microservices for device connectivity, data ingestion and analytics
- Integrate OPC UA, MQTT and RESTful APIs to enable seamless communication between machines, sensors and applications
- Develop rich, responsive frontend components and dashboards using AngularJS
- Implement CI/CD pipelines for automated build, test and deployment workflows
- Ensure secure, role-based access control aligned with industrial data security standards
Machine OS Build and Deployment Platform
Platform-Architect / Backend- and Frontend-Engineer
Design and architect an internal platform to support the development, deployment and production of machine operating systems and components.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and implement the .NET-based platform
- Integrate Kerberos-based authentication and authorization for secure access control
- Migrate legacy AccessDB applications to a modern, scalable platform
- Design and develop custom build processes for automated creation of operating systems and components for machine controllers
- Implement CI/CD pipelines to automate build, test and deployment workflows