Joris Röling software & music technology

Senior Architect on Natuurmonitoring, the Dutch provinces' platform for collecting, managing and publishing ecological and environmental data on flora, fauna and habitats. I work on the data and platform architecture: Kubernetes (targeting Haven 2 compliance), a DuckDB-based analytical layer, S3 storage, OGC Feature APIs and vector tile services (martin/tegola), GraphQL, and Keycloak for auth. Focus areas: the data pipeline, content fingerprinting for tabular datasets, and the geospatial publication stack used by the cooperating provinces. See natuurmonitoring.online.

Technical Lead (Technisch Verantwoordelijk) for the database department of the Dutch Ministry of Defence, with technical ownership over a portfolio of 7000+ databases across the non-classified ('white side') environments. Technical direction, standards and architecture across the estate, advising on platform choices, modernisation and operational practices for the department supporting the Armed Forces' general IT.

Architect for the database department of RIVM, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (SQL Server, PostgreSQL), setting standards and technical direction across the estate. Also advised on the early architecture of a new, institute-wide data platform, including a review of Databricks as a potential backplane that ended in a recommendation against adoption.

Senior Architect at the Dutch public broadcaster, through a period of bringing development in-house and rebuilding the platform around modern services. I worked across the Zappelin, Zapp and NPO3 brands on authentication, authorisation, consent management and overall system architecture. GraphQL, microservices, MongoDB, and a multi-cloud footprint (AWS, GCP, Azure) alongside the legacy estate.

At TMG I worked on the new website for De Telegraaf, built on an all-new stack: Node.js and GraphQL on the back, React and Apollo on the front, a microservice backend with NATS and Redis, and websockets for real-time features such as stock tickers. Performance and scale were the main focus for this high-traffic site, serving around 40K concurrent users.

ING's 2500 developers, working on all its internal and external websites, needed a solid Continuous Integration & Continuous Delivery platform. My team delivered it, real-time, and designed, developed and hosted entirely in-house to meet the demands that come with being a bank. It contained unique features that would benefit any team in any company.

For Sanoma's innovation LAB I developed a diet app in Meteor (Node.js, MongoDB, Heroku hosting) plus its Cordova wrapper. The LAB was Sanoma's answer to digitalisation after a century of print expertise: a team of growth hackers, lean specialists, agile experts and UX designers boosting corporate innovation and launching new ventures across Europe.

For a startup rethinking the retail options of brands large and small, I developed the native iOS app (Objective-C), the web front-end for desktop and mobile, a hybrid Cordova client, and the cloud backend (Node.js, MongoDB, Meteor and Elasticsearch). Social media, QR scanning, synchronising, tracking, big data, real-time, scaling, localisation: the works.

For yellowBird, an innovative 360° video production company, I developed the Surround Video app for iOS (App Store) for viewing 360° videos. I also helped move the backend from a single self-hosted instance to an Amazon AWS cloud solution with a Node.js fast-access layer that scales well.

Backend development for SpotDog Meeting, iPad software that supports meetings, used among others by local government, including its connections to existing document management systems.

Node.js development, CRM integration and geospatial search for hotels.

For Hotels.nl, a Dutch hotel booking company, I developed Vertex: the database and backend of a vertical hotel comparison system covering over a million hotels worldwide. MySQL as aggregator database, MongoDB for publishing (speed, scalability and its geospatial features), and Sphinx for full-text search. Vertex powers www.hotel.nl (mind you, no s at the end).

A rebranding of MediaEtc, now operating under the name Bonboa. Development and implementation of the Bonboa CMS, an evolution of AxelRef, for dynamic sites.

Development and implementation of AxelRef, a community-focused framework used as the backend for dynamic sites.

Together with renowned sound designer Renger Koning (Soundbase.nl) I founded Soundlabel (www.soundlabel.com), a publishing house for sounds. Our first product, X-treme Whooshes, is heard daily in commercials and bumpers on national radio and TV. Piano Attack (www.pianoattack.com), built from the sounds of five dying pianos, made it into films like Stealth (Rob Cohen) and The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan). We are proud to count John Roome (The Orb), Jeffrey Rona (Silkscreen Music), Brian Transeau (BT) and Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL) among the fans.

Software for the training schedule of players in rehabilitation, with one target: getting injured players back into regular training as fast as possible. Barcelona used it successfully, as did the Dutch hockey world.

Teaching students in the field of digital media. The focus was on achieving the intended result rather than the intended use: creative misuse, by any means. Fun!

MediaEtc was born out of Water Network Services. Where WNS focused on content management systems and website development, MediaEtc broadened that to media, new and old. Customers included the Royal National Library, M2match, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and impresario Harry Kies Theaterproducties.

NAIT (Nieuw Amsterdam IT) was a media company built around physical broadband networks (Indyra) and a content group (Media Ventures). I worked in the Concepts, Strategy & Formats (CSF) department, scouting and initiating media concepts.

5D was a famous video plug-in company, making effects for all the major post-production systems (Discreet, Quantel), plus its own compositing system, Cyborg, competing with the likes of Flame and Henry.

I was the senior of a young international development team at the London HQ. Cyborg debuted at NAB 2000 (Las Vegas) and IBC 2000 (Amsterdam).

Part of my job at NOB was spent in the US, working with Silicon Graphics on a decent video player for their product MediaBase.

NOB was the largest broadcast facility house in Europe. I technically led an R&D team exploring possible new directions in new media: the design and implementation of the Media Park ATM network infrastructure for, among other things, video systems (the internet was still young), the first large ADSL trials (Snelnet, 1000 households in Amsterdam), and the idea, design, development and implementation of DelayTV, video on demand that later became Uitzending Gemist.

My first own company. Customers included NOB, 5D, Molenwiek Film and ABCS.

Altair/Ordina was a technology middleman and developer. I was the technical half of a sales team focused on high-performance databases for the telecom industry (OODBMS, ObjectStore).

Design company of Hans Kruit, famous for the (now obsolete) designs of the 50 and 250 guilder notes.

The Rand Institute focused on human resource management, advising and training young executives from companies like Apple and Albert Heijn. In-house development of assessment software with a self-developed GUI. These were the days before Windows!

Software for financial accounting departments. UNIX and Informix.

Computer Based Training (CBT): visual training software for the medical world.

Stichting Computer Animatie Nederland (SCAN), a cooperation between the main universities and the School of Arts in Groningen. Teachers were Susan Amkraut and Michael Girard of Ohio State University, established names in the industry. Internship at Valkieser (Hilversum).

Helping teachers and graphic design students with a network of Apple Macintosh machines (mind you, this was 1988!).

Lingenuity, a hardware and software firm in Norwich, UK. As a freelancer I developed two video digitiser products for use in English high schools.

Simplon, a youth centre with activities in photography, video, audio, print and, mainly, live concerts.

Here it all started...