Government & public sector

The Kafka platform for European government

Real-time citizen services, cross-agency data exchange, and complete auditability on infrastructure that never leaves your borders. On-premises, hybrid, or cloud.

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5 years
In production, Dutch government datacenters
6 months
Shorter go to market time against a DIY build estimate
Days → minutes
Topic provisioning, with approvals intact
Overnight → seconds
Message delivery to citizens
Rated with a 4.5 from more than
13 G2 reviews
The public sector on batch

Citizens move faster than your data does

Citizen applications, benefit changes, and register updates move between agencies in nightly batches or point-to-point links, so citizens wait and agencies work with outdated data. Axual shares each change across agencies the moment it happens, through one governed platform instead of dozens of separate connections.

Why the European public sector chooses Axual

Everything that waited on batch,
now runs in real time

Cross-agency data exchange

Share data between agencies as it changes, not in the next file transfer. Each agency publishes once, and every authorised agency receives it, with access approved by the data owner.

Base registers, shared once

Distribute register updates to every system that relies on them, without each one querying the source. One stream, many consumers, and less load on the systems that hold the source data.

Real-time citizen services

Act on life events (a move, a birth, a change in income) when they happen. Services and notifications respond in real time instead of after the next batch run.

Modernising legacy integration

Replace tangled point-to-point links and ageing message buses step by step. Existing systems keep running while new services connect to the same streams.

Controls auditors can see

Real time, with every control in place

Citizen data demands strict control over who sees what, and proof afterwards. Axual controls who can produce, consume, and manage every stream, and records every action automatically. Governance is enforced by the platform, not by policy documents.

Access only with approval. Every request to use a stream is approved by its owner, so you can show which teams and applications use which data.
Personal data stays hidden. Field-level masking in Topic Browse, set by the schema owner, with a strict mode that prevents unmasking.
Only the right people get in. mTLS, SASL, and OAuth authentication, with role- and attribute-based access control and secrets managed in HashiCorp Vault.
A complete audit trail. Every create, change, deletion, access request, and approval, filterable by resource, person, action, and time.
See who uses what. An overview graph of every producer and consumer per stream.
Test safely before going live. Separate development, testing, and production environments.
ISO 27001

certified
‍
NIS2
ready
GDPR
ready
‍
View our ISO 27001 certification
Data Sovereignty

No non-EU vendor in the critical path

Public services can’t depend on a supplier whose ownership, priorities or jurisdiction can change overnight. With Axual, the platform behind your citizen services runs in your datacentres, under your operational control, from a Dutch supplier.

Inside your own datacentres

‍The full platform runs on your Kubernetes or OpenShift, and no data is routed through Axual

‍

Continuity beyond a contract

Built on Apache Kafka and Strimzi, so your services keep running on standard Kafka whatever the outcome of the next tender

Under your operational control
You hold the keys, apply upgrades on your schedule and decide who operates the platform

‍

A European supplier

EU-owned, and developed and supported in the Netherlands, within the European legal framework

Proven in production

Logius has run Axual in production for five years inside Dutch government datacentres, on Logius-managed Kubernetes

Evidence for your auditors

Deployment control and audit evidence support your BIO, GDPR and NIS2 obligations

Built for the infrastructure you already have

Real-time government data without replacing your registers or core systems

Axual connects the systems you already run and streams their data in real time, on-premises, in firewalled environments, in your own cloud, or across all three.

Diagram showing a three-layer stack with Axual at the top including connectors like Databases, APIs, SaaS, Data lakes, and Message Queues; Kafka in the middle with components such as Kafka Connect, Kafka Streams, and Brokers; and Infra at the bottom with Deployment, Kubernetes, Cloud, Operators, and Monitoring components.
Connects to what you have, including legacy. Ready-made connectors, plus a REST Proxy for systems that can’t run a Kafka client.
Runs where your data must stay. On Kubernetes or OpenShift, in your own data centre or cloud account.
Moves data between on-prem and cloud. Axual Distributor syncs messages, schemas, and offsets between clusters.
Migrates without a cutover. Built on standard Apache Kafka, so existing applications keep working while you move.
Topics, applications, schemas, and connectors in one interface
Proven in the public sector

Public sector organisations running Axual in production

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Logius

Digital services agency, Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations

‍The national Berichtenbox needed real-time delivery instead of overnight batch, and building it in-house was estimated at 18 to 24 months. With Axual, the Federated Message System went live in months, with all data inside Dutch government data centres. Creating a new topic went from a multi-day ticket to minutes, with approvals built in, and the platform now serves services beyond its original use case.

Read The Logius story
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Norsk Helsenett

National health network, Norway

Full audit coverage across clinical data flows. Today Axual provides secure event streaming for 17,000 healthcare organisations, with full audit coverage across clinical data flows.

Read the Norsk Helsenett story

See how Axual fits your architecture, security requirements, and procurement process

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Frequently asked questions

Can Axual keep citizen data within national borders?

Yes. The Axual Platform can run entirely in your own data centres on Kubernetes or OpenShift. Your data is not routed through Axual infrastructure. Logius runs Axual inside Dutch government data centres on infrastructure it manages.

Is the Axual Platform open source?

Axual is built on open-source technologies, including Apache Kafka, Strimzi, Kubernetes, Apicurio, and Keycloak. Axual adds governance, self-service, security, and operational capabilities. Applications use standard Kafka topics and clients, reducing vendor lock-in.

How does Axual support NIS2, the Cyberbeveiligingswet and BIO?

Axual provides the technical controls and evidence that support your obligations under NIS2 (implemented in the Netherlands as the Cyberbeveiligingswet), BIO and GDPR: owner-approved access to every stream, role- and attribute-based access control, a filterable audit history of configuration and governance actions, monitoring, and separate development, test and production environments. For supply chain security, Axual is an ISO 27001-certified, EU-owned supplier, and the platform runs on your own infrastructure with no data routed through Axual. Axual provides the controls and evidence; your organisation remains responsible for its own policies and compliance processes.

How can public organisations share data securely between agencies?

Axual gives each organisation its own tenant, resources, and identity realm on shared or separate infrastructure. Agencies grant access to specific Kafka topics, with requests and approvals recorded in the audit history. Access can also be withdrawn.

How do government organisations use Apache Kafka?

To share data between agencies and systems continuously instead of in scheduled batches. Typical uses are cross-agency data exchange, distributing register updates, real-time citizen services, and replacing point-to-point integrations. Axual adds the governance layer on top of open Kafka: stream ownership, schema validation, access approvals, and an audit history of every change.

How do you handle personal data in streams?

Schema owners mark fields as masked, and stream owners can mask additional fields per environment. Masked fields are hidden in Topic Browse, and strict masking prevents unmasking. This controls what users see in the platform, not what is written to the stream, so encryption or pseudonymisation at the source remains your responsibility.

Is Axual an alternative to Confluent?

Yes. Axual is an enterprise Kafka platform built on open Apache Kafka and Strimzi, and it runs entirely in your own datacentres, with no data routed through Axual. As a Dutch company that develops and supports the platform in the Netherlands, Axual keeps foreign vendors out of the critical path of your public services. Because the core is standard Kafka, your services keep running whatever the outcome of a future tender. Logius has run Axual inside Dutch government datacentres for five years.

What does the Axual audit history record?

The audit history records configuration and governance actions, including resource creation, modification and deletion, access requests, approvals, and application restarts. It covers nine resource types but does not record individual Kafka messages produced or consumed. Access is restricted to Tenant Admins, and operators must enable the feature.

Is Axual a European supplier for public sector procurement?

Yes. Axual is a Dutch company with all shareholders based in the EU, and the Axual Platform is developed and supported in the Netherlands. Eligibility for a specific procurement process depends on its framework and accreditation requirements.

How much does the Axual Platform cost?

Axual Platform pricing depends on the deployment model, support level, and scale of the environment. Contact Axual for a quote based on your requirements.

Where is our data stored?

Wherever you run Axual. Data stays on your own infrastructure or in your cloud account, never in an Axual-hosted service unless you choose our managed option.

Does Axual support BIO and NIS2?

Axual provides controls that support your obligations, including access approval, audit history, environment separation, and EU-owned, on-premises deployment.