Axel
Hi, I'm Axel

I'm a serial entrepreneur, public speaker and software development expert based in Munich.

 

I am the founder of CloudCaptain (previously known as Boxfuse). Our self-service cloud deployment platform enables hundreds of small and medium size companies to focus on development, while we take care of infrastructure and operations. CloudCaptain reliably and securely provisions our customers' applications in the AWS cloud and updates them with zero downtime thanks to our unique immutable infrastructure with minimal fully baked machine images approach. We also take care of all supporting resources including elastic IPs, load balancers, databases, security groups, DNS and more so that our customers can focus their attention where it matters most: delighting their users.

 

In 2010 I also created Flyway, and grew it into the world's most popular database migration tool. By late 2017 I extended the project beyond its open-source roots and turned it into a very successful business, acquiring many of the world's largest companies and public institutions as customers for the new commercial pro and enterprise editions we launched. After just under two years of very rapid growth, I sold the company to Redgate in 2019.

 

In the past I have also spoken regularly at many large international conferences including JavaOne, Devoxx, Jfokus, JavaZone, JAX and more about a wide range of topics including modular monoliths, immutable infrastructure and continuous delivery. As part of this I received the JavaOne RockStar speaker award and thanks to my broad industry contributions I was elected Java Champion by Oracle.

 

 

You can find me on Twitter as @axelfontaine
and email me at axel@axelfontaine.com

 


Speaking
Over the last few years, I have given a large number of talks at conferences and user groups.
The focus has been Modular Monoliths, Immutable Infrastructure, Continuous Delivery, Flyway and Boxfuse.
devoxx presenting portrait
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This talk is pure Gold. This talk must be mandatory for every software developer. Thanks for this tremendous knowledge
Waldo Araya at Devoxx Belgium 2018 in Antwerp
A masterclass in my opinion. Especially relevant in my home country of New Zealand where we have a small population (under 5 million) so the vast majority of software written to serve subsets of that population does not need the rather costly benefits that come with microservices.
Nico de Wet at Devoxx Belgium 2018 in Antwerp
Rise of the Machines Images: Very nice talk about immutable infrastructure by @axelfontaine #qconlondon
Julien Vey at QCon 2016 in London
#qconlondon. Great talk by @axelfontaine. Nice to see a live demo that shows real life technical solutions.
Martin Peston at QCon 2016 in London
Very nice talk on infrastructure by @axelfontaine. Good questions, observations and ideas. #geecon
Konrad Garus at Geecon 2015 in Krakow
@axelfontaine rocks! Helps to rethink settled concepts. Consequently the room is fully packed. #geecon
Katerina Shkor at Geecon 2015 in Krakow
Really enjoyed @axelfontaine's talk tonight. Another excellent @devbash and @BelfastJUG event. If you're not attending these ur missing out!
Gillian Armstrong at DevBash in Belfast
Interesting talk by @axelfontaine about infrastructure automation for PaaS with boxfuse.com #heroku #docker #aws #JavaZone
Lukas Eder at JavaZone 2014 in Oslo
Inspiring talk @axelfontaine about continuous delivery in #jfokus
Ari Räisänen at Jfokus 2014 in Stockholm
Really good stuff from @axelfontaine, "maybe we don't need to roll back, but we can roll forward" #jfokus
Ilari Kontinen at Jfokus 2014 in Stockholm
Excellent continuous delivery presentation by @axelfontaine. #jfokus
Janne Sinivirta at Jfokus 2014 in Stockholm
A lot of interesting topics on #confess_2013 but the continuous delivery session of @axelfontaine is my favorite to date.
Bert Vado at CONFESS_2013 in Vienna
@axelfontaine kept the audience in a tight grip for his continuous delivery presentation, no turning back! #jdays
Cecilia Borg at jDays 2012 in Göteborg

Articles
I've written a number of articles for magazines, my blog and around the web.
These are the most popular ones.
Java Magazin Cover
Architecting for Continuous Delivery [Print / iPad]
The leading article for the Java Magazin 11.13 issue. The issue also includes an interview with me as author of the month.
Agilität und Continuous Delivery
Agilität und Continuous Delivery [Kindle / iBooks]
Chapter 2 is a reprint of my Architecting for Continous Delivery Java Magazin article. The e-book is available both on Kindle and on iBooks (iPad or iPhone).
Flyway - Open Source Java Database Migration Framework
Introductory Flyway article for the Fall 2012 issue of Methods & Tools.