Architect of the edge & compute platform behind otto.de
· Founder of FluentOrbit
Sovereign, private AI platforms on Kubernetes — for teams that can't hand their data to someone else's cloud.
📍 Hamburg, Germany · 🔐 Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS) · ⚙️ Go · Rust · Python · C
Website · LinkedIn · FluentOrbit · ORCID · mail@r-kara.de
I build and operate the layer between the internet and production: high-scale edge (Varnish, WebAssembly), production Kubernetes platforms, and the reliability and security practices that keep them trustworthy. At OTTO I'm the lead architect of the edge and compute platform behind one of Germany's largest e-commerce sites.
Most of my focus now is sovereign, private AI infrastructure — running open LLMs, RAG, and coding agents on your own Kubernetes, with the governance and auditability that regulated environments (EU AI Act, GDPR) actually require.
private-ai-platform-kit — Kubernetes-native reference platform for private LLMs, RAG, and coding agents: vLLM/Ollama serving, Qdrant, GPU autoscaling with KEDA, Argo CD GitOps, policy-as-code with Kyverno, OpenTelemetry tracing, and full supply-chain attestation (SBOM, Sigstore, SLSA).
kube-shield — Kubernetes security posture manager in Go. Scans clusters for CIS, RBAC, network-policy, and secrets risks; emits SARIF for CI gating; ships signed, SBOM'd releases.
vmod-wasm — Varnish 9 module that runs WebAssembly / Proxy-Wasm filters at the edge via Wasmtime — sandboxed custom logic right in the request path.
restore-drill — Automated disaster-recovery restore verification for PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, and Redis, with Prometheus metrics and compliance evidence.
otto-de/prometheus_varnish_exporter — Maintainer · Prometheus exporter for Varnish cache metrics.
Auditable Private LLM Serving on Kubernetes: A Vendor-Neutral Architecture and Evidence Model for Regulated Environments (2026) → Zenodo preprint
ChatGPT-level capability without sending data to US cloud APIs: private model deployment, RAG on proprietary data, GPU platform management, and EU AI Act / GDPR governance — built on production Kubernetes, GitOps, and security foundations.
