Insights

Flex partnered with T-Systems to migrate ECU data exchange to Catena-X, enabling secure, multiregional, real-time validation across global production sites. Using T-Systems’ Connect & Integrate solution, Flex achieved end-to-end integration, API and Cofinity-X interface testing, and a fully validated production setup. This scalable dataspace foundation now supports future use cases including Product Carbon Footprint, Certificate Management, Battery Pass, and global traceability, while maintaining full data sovereignty.

Sovereign connectivity in dataspaces requires automating network access to ensure security, compliance, and operational scale. In the Data Intelligence Hub, we replace manual firewall updates with a declarative, Kubernetes-native model using Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs). Customers define their allowed IP ranges through a self-service portal, which generates an IpAccessPolicy object representing the desired state. A controller then reconciles this state with the underlying infrastructure, automatically updating Kubernetes Ingress configurations and preventing drift. This architecture ensures auditability, validates inputs before enforcement, and keeps network access aligned with the principles of data sovereignty across multi-tenant environments.

Flex leverages Catena-X to build a reusable, standards-based automotive data ecosystem. By starting small and scaling through economies of scope, Flex delivers multiregional data solutions for ECU management, certificate compliance, and supply-chain traceability, enabling sovereign data sharing, faster innovation, and cost-efficient reuse across multiple OEMs and use cases.

Sovereign observability is now essential as organizations operate Kubernetes across fragmented multi-cloud environments. Traditional monitoring approaches fail when logs and metrics cannot leave their originating region due to compliance and data-residency constraints. This architecture solves the challenge by decoupling storage from querying: each cloud environment writes logs and metrics to its own sovereign object storage while a central observer cluster queries them on demand. Leveraging Prometheus, Thanos, Loki, and Promtail, the system provides global visibility, secure mTLS communication, isolated buckets, and a unified Grafana experience — all without violating sovereignty rules.

In December 2025, T-Systems advanced Catena-X adoption in Asia through two key events: the Catena-X Supplier Onboarding Day in Tokyo and the Global Data Spaces Roundtable in Beijing. From practical supplier onboarding to large-scale automotive pilots in China, discussions focused on regulatory pressure, data sovereignty, and secure cross-company data exchange. Together with partners such as Siemens, BMW Group, BASF, and Flex, T-Systems demonstrated how trusted dataspaces enable scalable, compliant collaboration across global automotive value chains.

T-Systems has launched Connect & Integrate “Developer edition”, a streamlined environment designed to accelerate Catena-X application development. By removing barriers such as connector setup, compliance alignment, and semantic validation, the platform provides out-of-the-box connectivity with Catena-X–compliant APIs, guided workflows, and built-in compliance tools. Developers gain immediate access to secure, standardized data exchange without managing complex infrastructure, enabling them to focus on building innovative solutions across key use cases like traceability, carbon footprint, and demand management. Positioned as an innovation catalyst, the “Developer edition” empowers startups, integrators, and enterprises to rapidly deliver production-ready applications and drive Catena-X adoption across the automotive value chain.

The Catena-X taskforce, together with CAAM, launched the “China Automotive Industry Trusted Data Space” pilot at IAA Munich, enabling secure, compliant, and scalable local data exchange for Chinese OEMs and suppliers, starting with Certificate Management. Early results show faster, traceable, and machine-readable certificate transactions, laying the foundation for future quality, sustainability, and PCF use cases.

T-Systems’ Connect & Integrate solution is now fully compatible for the latest Catena-X “Saturn” release, effective November 25, 2025. This milestone enhances secure, cross-company data exchange in the automotive industry by introducing updated standards, stronger interoperability, and robust policy management. Saturn certification enables participants to confidently adopt Catena-X use cases ranging from certificate management to advanced traceability and carbon footprint tracking. With backward compatibility, cloud-agnostic design, and vendor independence, Connect & Integrate ensures scalability for SMEs and global enterprises alike. T-Systems provides expert guidance to support smooth migration from the previous “Jupiter” version, empowering organizations to unlock the full potential of Catena-X Saturn.

Visitor Analytics PRO by T-Systems turns anonymized motion data into actionable insights, helping businesses understand visitor flows, dwell times, and demographics with precision down to 150 m². Fully GDPR-compliant and automated, it delivers fast, reliable intelligence to optimize performance, plan strategically, and unlock measurable business success.