Dutch enterprises are combining open-source foundations with enterprise-grade support to deliver the split-second performance and local control that critical infrastructure demands.
Every day in the Netherlands, one million people take the train. Thirty-seven million tons of goods also move along the country’s rail network annually. Behind the seamless operation of this vital infrastructure lies a critical dependency on data.
The stakes couldn’t be higher: a data failure lasting just five to ten minutes could mean trains grinding to a halt, highway signage going dark, or electrical grids shutting down.
The need for always-on data availability isn’t unique to transportation, either. In hospital emergency rooms, doctors depend on instant access to allergy records to avoid fatal medication errors. Wind farm operators need real-time data to adjust turbine settings to weather and wind speed to maximize energy production. In these situations and many others, instant access to secure, sovereign data isn’t a regulatory checkbox, but increasingly an operational mandate.
Dutch IT services company AMIS Conclusion has positioned itself at the center of this challenge, helping enterprises build the solid, reliable data platforms that core operations demand. By partnering with EDB, the leading sovereign AI and data company, AMIS Conclusion delivers the high-performance, intelligent database solutions that keep essential services running when failure isn’t an option.
“Our clients don’t just have ‘important’ data – they have mission-critical data that powers essential infrastructure,” says Robbrecht van Amerongen, Business Innovation Manager at AMIS Conclusion. “When a railway system or hospital emergency room depends on split-second data access, you need a database vendor that understands the true cost of failure. Security, availability, and zero data loss are absolute requirements.”
By providing clients with advanced failover mechanisms for data and very high database availability,AMIS Conclusion and EDB deliver the peace of mind that comes from knowing that data will be available, whenever and wherever they need it.
Bringing AI to the data: The sovereign platform approach
From railway networks to wind farms and energy companies, many of AMIS Conclusion’s clients are adopting hybrid and multicloud architectures that enable them to maintain tight control over their data. A key enabler of this flexibility is AMIS Conclusion’s expertise in deploying Postgres in Kubernetes environments, which allows organizations to seamlessly move workloads across different cloud platforms and on-premises infrastructure while maintaining consistent performance and control.
Alongside these hybrid approaches, Dutch companies are leveraging AI, machine learning, and real-time monitoring to strengthen their operational capabilities and competitive advantage.
While there’s more than one way to apply AI to data, Jozef de Vries, Chief Product Engineering Officer at EDB notes that as data volumes explode, it’s no longer practical – or safe – to move everything to the cloud for processing. The smarter move is to bring compute and intelligence to where the data already lives.
“Building a sovereign AI and data platform isn’t simply about technology procurement. It means bringing every tool, model and dataset into one secure, extensible environment where they can operate seamlessly together,” says de Vries.
Adopting a sovereign data and AI platform like EDB Postgres AI means organizations can maintain full control over privacy decisions, compliance requirements, and their innovation roadmap. They’re also free to choose their AI models and scale capabilities across clouds, regions, and teams without restrictions.
“The ability to run and train your models in your own data-controlled environment is essential. Especially in critical processes related to public transportation, medical, energy and utilities, and the financial industry,” says van Amerongen.
Enhancing open source with enterprise-grade support
Much of the Netherlands’ data infrastructure is built on open source foundations. The “open, unless” policy embraced by government and public administration specifies that open source should be favored unless there are specific reasons to use proprietary software.
As an open-source object-relational database system, Postgres is ideal in this environment, as it aligns with the country’s focus on transparency, open-source adoption, and technological innovation.
Yet even though open source is the default, enterprises recognize that every open source tool must have a service level agreement and support agreement to meet internal and external security and compliance requirements.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in the amount of data and the diversity of data,” says van Amerongen. “From a compliance perspective, there’s increasing risk around data processing and the resulting decisions, which makes availability, security, and privacy absolutely crucial.”
Technology partners like EDB and AMIS Conclusion combine stringent security and privacy controls with real-time performance and local control for Netherland’s enterprises.
“Postgres gives our clients greater autonomy over their data infrastructure,” says van Amerongen. “EDB brings enterprise-grade reliability and professional support to that foundation. Together, we deliver the robust technology platform and mission-critical availability that our clients’ operations demand.”
Overcoming data domain boundaries
While combining financial data, HR information, and factory operational metrics has traditionally been complex, van Amerongen anticipates that more organizations will start integrating data across disparate business domains to enable immediate corrective actions and enhance data quality.
“What excites me most is seeing data become more independent from the traditional storage systems that house it,” says van Amerongen. “As data transforms into real-time, accessible products, it becomes easier to integrate information from different Business Domains. Doing this all in real time is a huge step forward in increasing productivity, quality, sustainability, and security,” he says.
The partnership that powers critical infrastructure
When systems must respond in half-second timeframes and downtime can halt national transportation or compromise patient safety, organizations need the flexibility to adapt, migrate, and maintain full control over their technology stack without being held hostage by licensing restrictions or proprietary dependencies. On top of this, the current political and trade environment is forcing many enterprises to reconsider their dependence on specific IT vendors from specific countries. These are precisely the challenges that AMIS Conclusion and EDB are addressing.
“AMIS Conclusion and EDB Postgres AI reduce the TCO of traditional critical data infrastructure by 35%, without compromising on security, availability, compliance, and performance,” says van Amerongen. “If you’re experiencing vendor lock-in, we open up the possibilities and offer you more control, freedom and flexibility.”
More than cloud promises and service level agreements, the operational demands of critical infrastructure require technology partnerships that understand the true cost of downtime and the irreplaceable value of local control. This is where the collaboration between EDB and AMIS becomes essential, delivering the real-time performance and sovereign control that keeps the Netherlands running.