Kubernetes-First Strategy Update

Last year we announced our Kubernetes First Strategy, whereby we committed ourselves fully to developing solutions built around and upon Kubernetes and the whole spectrum of Cloud Native technologies. Since then, we have increased our investment in the Cloud Native ecosystem to an unprecedented level, surpassing the expectations of our customers and partners, positioning ourselves as the undisputable leader in the Swiss and DACH Kubernetes market.

APPUiO Cloud

Last year we announced APPUiO Cloud, a new platform built upon the strength and stability of the most comprehensive, secure, and complete Kubernetes-based application platform available today: Red Hat OpenShift 4. We released our first APPUiO Cloud region on cloudscale.ch in Kanton Aargau. Following customer demand, we quickly opened up a second APPUiO Cloud region on Exoscale, located in the Canton de Genève.

APPUiO Cloud is our entry-level product, a perfect fit for small agencies, ISVs, consultants, and agile teams looking for a ready-to-use OpenShift cluster, available within minutes, offering security, performance, and a pay-per-use model. Thanks to our strategic partnership with Isovalent and our choice of Cilium as the Cloud Native networking technology of choice for APPUiO Cloud, our roadmap looks brighter than ever, enabling future advanced networking features like APPUiO Cloud Multi-Zone Networking.

Visible Results

Our strategy has already brought tangible results. For example, we were thrilled to learn that the CNCF had selected our K8up backup operator as a sandbox project, placing a tremendous responsibility on our shoulders and validating our strategy in the Cloud Native market. We look forward to further developing K8up into the standard choice for Kubernetes backups in the future.

Continuing our work with Project Syn, our popular GitOps-based Kubernetes management toolkit, we released the Commodore Components Hub. It consists of a growing catalog of 72 components (at the time of this writing) also featuring third-party contributions and showing the strength of the Project Syn ecosystem.

And the market has spoken; once again, VSHN has increased its ranking in the Computerworld Top 500 Ranking of Swiss ICT companies, but we have also been named a Top Ten Open Source Contributor.

We see that Kubernetes is getting a broader adoption every single day and we want our customers to benefit from it through our Kubernetes-First strategy.

Markus Speth, Co-CEO VSHN and CMO

One example where our Kubernetes-First strategy shines was how quick we were able to implement the APPUiO Cloud API, which is fully based on the Kubernetes API. I see the Kubernetes API being used for more and more automation tasks, and so will we use the Kubernetes API more and more.

Tobias Brunner, Co-CEO VSHN and Product Owner.

Our commitment to Kubernetes remains strong and decisive for our future. We look forward to working with our partners to empower Switzerland’s Open Source and Cloud-Native ecosystems and strengthen Switzerland’s position as a world-class innovation hub.

About VSHN – The DevOps Company

VSHN is Switzerland’s leading partner for DevOps, Container & Kubernetes. VSHN (pronounced like „vision“) was founded to fundamentally shake up the hosting market. As a lean startup, we have focused on operating applications through automation, agility, and a continuous improvement process. Completely location-independent and without its own hardware, we operate extensive applications according to the DevOps principle, agile and 24/7 on every infrastructure, so that software developers can concentrate on their business and IT operations are relieved.

VSHN Quick Facts

• 49 employees
• 350 partners
• Operating in 16 clouds
• Founded 2014
• 100% self-owned
• Winner Digital Economy Award 2019

VSHN is the link between business, software development, and IT operations. VSHN supports software developers in making applications automatically testable, deployable and scalable and operating them on any infrastructure. In addition to close and agile cooperation and consulting, we also take over responsibility for the stability of our services, including 24/7 support.