Connecting automotive organizations on Catena-X using AWS with Cofinity-X

Each organization in the automotive supply chain has developed its own data models, creating inconsistency and fragmentation across the network. These differences have led to data silos, limited collaboration, and challenges in meeting regulatory requirements. Catena-X was established to break down these barriers, unify standards, and promote transparent and trusted data sharing across the industry.

As Catena-X’s first operator, Cofinity-X provides the required technical infrastructure and issues digital identities for participants to support trusted data exchange. The company also develops its own applications, such as Dataspace OS, a dataspace connector. Initially hosted on another cloud, Dataspace OS reached only part of the market. Cofinity-X identified a strategic opportunity to broaden its market reach by making the solution available to a global audience and new customer segments through AWS. “We have this larger vision to actually grow the network to activate those smaller suppliers within the industry, and we want to do that on AWS,” says Daniela Preda, product manager at Cofinity-X. The goal was to reach the long tail of suppliers, especially those already using AWS or those based in North America, by making the solution available where their data already resided.

To make Dataspace OS broadly accessible, Cofinity-X deployed its containerized solution on AWS and listed it on AWS Marketplace. “The launch of Dataspace OS on AWS marks an important milestone for us,” says Thomas Rösch, CEO at Cofinity-X. “By using AWS infrastructure, we can scale efficiently, reach new customer segments, and make procurement effortless.”

To host the application, Cofinity-X chose Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS), which empowers teams of any size or skill level to build, run, and scale production-ready applications easily across any environment. Amazon EKS Auto Mode is used to fully automate Kubernetes cluster management for compute, storage, and networking on AWS. This provided the scalable, resilient foundation needed to onboard thousands of suppliers.

To supply the underlying compute power, the company uses Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) for secure and resizable compute capacity for virtually any workload and Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling to add or remove compute capacity to meet changing demand.

Dataspace OS is a dataspace connector for secure, sovereign data exchange. Using Dataspace OS, companies can share specific information, such as company certificates or quality data, with a chosen partner for a defined purpose and time, without ceding overall control. “Data sovereignty is the most important design principle of Catena-X,” says Rafael Rabe, press and communications manager at Cofinity-X. “The data owner alone decides who can access the data and under what conditions.” By building on AWS, Cofinity-X uses a proven data foundation that fosters interoperability and helps break down the very data silos Catena-X was designed to remove.

Cofinity-X received support from AWS, including solution architecture guidance to pass the AWS Foundational Technical Review and dedicated help from the AWS Partner Program to navigate the marketplace listing. “We really felt taken by the hand and nicely guided through that process,” says Preda. This technical collaboration was paired with strategic workshops to identify and overcome barriers to network adoption, verifying that the solution was optimized for scale.

By offering Dataspace OS on AWS Marketplace, Cofinity-X is helping even more automotive companies around the world to join Catena-X. Suppliers can now use familiar AWS infrastructure and existing credits to procure and deploy the connector, streamlining procurement and integration. The primary expected benefit is the increased global accessibility of Catena-X.

Running on AWS infrastructure also supports more flexible compute consumption and pricing optimization, helping reduce compute costs by about 30 percent compared with the previous setup. Because AWS Marketplace serves as a fast-track procurement channel, organizations can draw on existing purchasing, billing, and compliance relationships to skip the standard steps typically involved in establishing a new contract—shortening the onboarding time frame by up to 60 percent.

This expansion is critical for network growth and for helping suppliers meet increasing sustainability and quality requirements for data exchange. Looking forward, Cofinity-X plans to launch additional Dataspace OS features and help customers use Dataspace OS for even more use cases, such as Product Carbon Footprint and Traceability. The collaboration has set a strong foundation for scaling the dataspace, and the company will continue working alongside AWS to reduce the entry barrier into dataspaces. By harnessing the global infrastructure and reach of AWS, Cofinity-X is making sovereign data exchange an accessible reality for the entire automotive industry.