VSHN joins the GitLab Channel Partner Program to strengthen GitLab’s presence in Switzerland and beyond and help companies make the best out of their DevOps journey. Zurich, Switzerland, November 18 2020: VSHN – The DevOps Company today announced it has joined the partner program for GitLab, the single application for the DevOps lifecycle, as a Channel partner. This strategic relationship delivers a great benefit to both GitLab and VSHN and their partners respectively. “GitLab is excited to build a strategic relationship with VSHN,” said Michelle Hodges, vice president of global channels at GitLab. “VSHN’s expertise across DevOps, Managed Services and Kubernetes Operations is helping companies to focus on their core business and makes them a great fit for the GitLab Partner Program and enables us to work together to create high-value services for our mutual customers.” Listen to what GitLab’s CEO Sid Sijbrandij has to say about the partnership with VSHN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p31CN5SN3UM Thank you very much, Sid!
GitLab at VSHN
VSHN allows you to take on your DevOps journey with GitLab. GitLab is one of the core DevOps tools we use at VSHN and which we are utilizing at our partners to help them run their application. We have been using GitLab internally and for our customers and partners for a long time and can offer both GitLab licenses and Managed GitLab as a complete package as a managed service. Customers can benefit from our many years of experience with GitLab and building CI/CD pipelines. GitLab is available in 4 different subscriptions from Free to Ultimate, depending on your needs. You can learn more about GitLab plans and pricing here.
GitLab in Switzerland
GitLab is no stranger to Switzerland and has a strong presence in the Swiss financial services industry. As an example, UBS and GitLab have just recently signed a multi-year contract for a strategic collaboration. This complements UBS’s cloud journey, which is targeted at developing a market leading, dynamic development experience – with the ultimate goal to faster produce high quality solutions for clients, while increasing efficiency. As members of the Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS), UBS and GitLab address common industry challenges and drive innovation in the financial industry. We as VSHN think that such initiatives strengthen the Swiss FSI and workplace Switzerland. VSHN also works with several partners in the financial services area, for example acrevis bank, CreditGate24, esurance or neon.
Learn more
For more information, go to GitLab at VSHN and also join our upcoming Webinar on Improving collaboration & software delivery using GitLab CI and Kubernetes and the Switzerland GitLab Meetup Group.
About GitLab
GitLab is an open core company which develops software for the software development lifecycle used by more than 100,000 organizations, 30 million estimated registered users, and has an active community of more than 3000 contributors. GitLab openly shares more information than most companies and is public by default, meaning our projects, strategy, direction and metrics are discussed openly and can be found within our website. Our values are Collaboration, Results, Efficiency, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging , Iteration, and Transparency and these form our culture.
About VSHN – The DevOps Company
VSHN is Switzerland’s leading DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes and 24/7 cloud operations partner. VSHN was founded with the intention to fundamentally shake up the hosting market. As a lean startup, we have focused on operating IT platforms through automation, agility and a continuous improvement process. Completely location-independent and without our own hardware, we operate extensive applications according to the DevOps principle agilely and 24/7 on every infrastructure, so that software developers can concentrate on their business and IT operations are relieved. With APPUiO.ch we have created a container platform on which we can offer Managed Services as a PaaS solution on any infrastructure: public, dedicated, private and on-premises.
Markus Speth
Markus is VSHN's CEO and one of the General Managers.
Latest news
VSHN.timer
VSHN.timer #228: Mind-Blowing Revelation: We’re Eurovision Song Contest Winners! (sort of)
“swiss hosting” was developed by swiss made software to create comparability and a reference to Swissness in the field of hosting & cloud. swiss hosting is a transparency label that guarantees data sovereignty, because in addition to the provider’s place of business, the cloud or data center and hardware must be in Switzerland and may not belong to any foreign company. swiss made software is the nationally and internationally recognized flagship for Swiss quality in software development. More than 650 companies have been awarded the label “swiss made software”. This corresponds to more than 12,000 employees in the core ICT industry in Switzerland.
Requirements of the swiss hosting label
The following criteria must be met in order to use the “swiss hosting” label:
Business location in Switzerland
Hosting in a Swiss data center. Data protection and data security must be subject to Swiss law.
Protection of the hosting environment against access from abroad
swiss hosting at VSHN: the customer decides
As a Swiss company with the option to host data exclusively in Swiss clouds & data centers, we are now the proud bearer of the “swiss hosting” label. We are clearly committed to Swissness and support the idea of “swiss hosting” to create comparability among the various hosting providers. Since VSHN itself does not operate any infrastructure or cloud, the “swiss hosting” label for VSHN is only valid in connection with a Swiss cloud or data center provider. With our APPUiO Public offering we can ensure swiss hosting because the platform is operated in the cloud of our friends at cloudscale.ch and the data is therefore hosted in a Swiss data center. Another example would be APPUiO Managed on Swisscom DCS. If customers choose a Swiss data location and the corresponding cloud or data center provider meets the criteria, the “swiss hosting” label can be guaranteed. For many of our Swiss customers, the Swissness and data location Switzerland is still an important factor. Especially for business critical applications and the processing of sensitive data, location and data sovereignty are of central importance. The “swiss hosting” label underlines this quality claim.
About VSHN – The DevOps Company
VSHN (pronounced ˈvɪʒn like “vision”) is Switzerland’s leading DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes and 24/7 cloud operations partner. VSHN was founded with the intention to fundamentally shake up the hosting market. As a lean startup, we have focused on operating IT platforms through automation, agility and a continuous improvement process. Completely location-independent and without our own hardware, we operate extensive applications according to the DevOps principle agilely and 24/7 on every infrastructure, so that software developers can concentrate on their business and IT operations are relieved.
Markus Speth
Markus is VSHN's CEO and one of the General Managers.
Latest news
VSHN.timer
VSHN.timer #228: Mind-Blowing Revelation: We’re Eurovision Song Contest Winners! (sort of)
We’re very happy to announce Red Hat OpenShift 4 services on APPUiO!
The whole VSHN team has been working hard on making OpenShift 4 a reality for our customers. We are fully committed on the strategic importance of our Red Hat partnership and OpenShift as a main pillar of APPUiO and VSHN services.
OpenShift 4 on APPUiO beta program
To celebrate this milestone we’re happy to provide the community with time-limited OpenShift 4 test accounts, at no charge except for one thing: your feedback. If you are interested in testing OpenShift 4 on APPUiO, please sign up here for our beta program:
Do you want to shape the future of APPUiO Managed OpenShift 4? Send us your feedback! To make it easier, we use a feedback voting system, where you can easily join the discussion and vote for your preferred features and services.
History of OpenShift & VSHN
OpenShift has been and continues to be the strategic Kubernetes platform for VSHN. VSHN was founded in 2014 with the idea of not doing everything ourselves, but rather focus on what we do best: Specialize in operating and onboarding customers and don’t own hardware, servers or data centers is one of the main aspects of why we exist. This led to a strong focus on innovation & automation, PaaS & container technology with the belief of being cloud native & cloud neutral. Shortly after in 2015, we created the brand APPUiO in cooperation with Puzzle ITC, and started deploying the first OpenShift 3 beta releases. In close collaboration with Puzzle ITC and Red Hat we launched APPUiO.ch container platform in production in 2016. Why did we choose OpenShift? A couple of arguments why OpenShift is our “way to go”:
Multitenancy, RBAC, WebGUI, container based images, “best of both PaaS and CaaS”
Delivery model: open source, available & supports both cloud/hyperscalers and on-premises/CCSP-infrastructure
Red Hat: trusted brand, marketing generating demand, customers ask for Red Hat
Flexibility fits perfect to our strategy & managed service business
Perfect for our future growth and open source practice
OpenShift enabled us to enter the Enterprise market through:
Enabling DevSecOps through RBAC and other security-by-default
Enterprise supported Kubernetes
Embracing open standards, enabling infrastructure/cloud abstraction and mobility, enabling cloud-native (and not necessarily cloud-only)
So the foundation for VSHN and APPUiO was set up which led to a strong & healthy natural growth through focus on what we do best. In 2020, we are still open & transparent and are embracing Open Source & partnerships, are still owner-run and managed and are ISO27001 certified and ISAE3402 audited. VSHN is the first Swiss Kubernetes Certified Service Provider (KCSP) and VSHN is Red Hat Advanced Business Partner (CCSP). So after using OpenShift since 3.0 beta 1, today we are operating 50 clusters in 16 countries. From Zurich to Sydney, the USA and China, numerous happy customers trust us in the banking, financial services, insurance brokering, medical insurance, medical, governmental, and many other online business fields. Our customers embrace Enterprise Kubernetes features such as multi-tenancy, authentication, and security hardening, in combination with the “batteries included” approach to auxiliary services: container building, logging, and metrics. OpenShift 4 includes a lot more features complementing this offering, bringing lots of value to our customers.
A container platform changes the way we develop, deliver and operate software. APPUiO presents OpenShift 4 in a Techlab: a free half day training course.
Target audience
The OpenShift Techlab is for anyone who wants to understand how a containerized application can be deployed and run on OpenShift.
Zurich, June 23, 2020: VSHN is proud to announce a strategic partnership with Rancher Labs.
Who or what is Rancher?
Rancher Labs delivers open-source software that enables organizations to deploy and manage Kubernetes at scale, on any infrastructure across the data center, cloud, branch offices, and the network edge. With 30,000 active users and greater than 100 million downloads, its flagship product, Rancher, is the industry’s most widely adopted Kubernetes management platform. For additional information, visit www.rancher.com and follow @Rancher_Labs on Twitter. With Rancher, we are adding another Kubernetes distribution to our portfolio besides Red Hat OpenShift. An extensive article with many more details about Kubernetes can be found here and Sebastian Plattner from Puzzle explains in his blog post, how to build a Kubernetes Cluster with the help of Ansible and Rancher.
Why Rancher?
VSHNhas been working successfully with Rancher since 2018 and is now officially a Rancher Partner. With Managed Rancher, VSHN takes care of the setup, 24/7 operation, monitoring, backup and maintenance of a Rancher cluster. Hosted in a public cloud of your choice or on-premise in your own data center. We offer our Managed Rancher Services under the brand APPUiO. Tobias Brunner, Head of DevOps & Partner of VSHN – The DevOps Company said about the partnership:
„With the addition of Rancher, we are diversifying VSHN – The DevOps Company’s portfolio by adding another Kubernetes distribution and listening to both the market and our partners who have asked for Managed Rancher.”
Rancher Rodeo event 2020 in Zurich
VSHN and Rancher Labs have already had joint appearances, for example at the first official Rancher Rodeo Event in Zurich on February 19, 2020, where our VSHNeer Adrian was able to hold a talk: https://twitter.com/vshn_ch/status/1230057034772553731
About Rancher
Rancher was started in 2014 to create software that would simplify the lives of teams who were building applications using containers. The market was new, Docker had just been introduced and questions about how to manage, secure and orchestrate containers were pressing and exciting problems to solve. Within a year we introduced the first version of Rancher, an open-source software platform for teams innovating around containers. By 2016 we had adopted Kubernetes as an orchestrator and had thousands of teams using Rancher to run containers in production. As our community has grown, we haven’t stopped innovating. Rancher 2.0 became the first enterprise-grade platform for delivering Kubernetes as an enterprise service. Projects like K3s and submariner continue to push the Kubernetes community forward. All along we’ve maintained a commitment to building open-source software that supports users as they innovate everywhere.
About VSHN – The DevOps Company
VSHN (pronounced ˈvɪʒn like “vision”) is Switzerland’s leading DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes and 24/7 cloud operations partner. VSHN was founded with the intention to fundamentally shake up the hosting market. As a lean startup, we have focused on operating IT platforms through automation, agility and a continuous improvement process. Completely location-independent and without our own hardware, we operate extensive applications according to the DevOps principle agilely and 24/7 on every infrastructure, so that software developers can concentrate on their business and IT operations are relieved.
Markus Speth
Markus is VSHN's CEO and one of the General Managers.
Latest news
VSHN.timer
VSHN.timer #228: Mind-Blowing Revelation: We’re Eurovision Song Contest Winners! (sort of)
We have been working hard since the initial announcement of Project Syn back in November 2019, and are proud to announce version 0.1.0, the first pre-release of a set of Project Syn tools.
Quick reminder about what Project Syn is about:
Project Syn is a pre-integrated set of tools to provision, update, backup, observe and react/alert production applications on Kubernetes and in the cloud. It supports DevOps through full self-service and automation using containers, Kubernetes and GitOps. And best of all: it is Open Source.
Short answer: it enables the management of many Kubernetes clusters, and provides a set of services to the users of those clusters. Project Syn is composed by many tools; some specially developed for the project, some already existing, all Open Source. It’s not only about tooling, it’s also about processes and best practices.
The actual story is a bit longer.
Features of version 0.1.0
To manage a big fleet of Kubernetes clusters, we need an inventory with the following information:
The cloud providers they are running on;
Locations;
Tenants each cluster belongs to;
Kubernetes versions deployed;
Kubernetes flavor / distribution used;
…and a lot more!
This is what the Project Syn tool Lieutenant (written in Go) gives us: an inventory application to register clusters, to assign them to a tenant and to store inventory data. It consists of a REST API (based on the OpenAPI 3 specification) and a Kubernetes Operator, to store data directly in the underlying Kubernetes cluster (in CRDs) and to act on events.
Knowing about clusters is just one part. Another important element is to continuously deploy and monitor system applications (like K8up, Prometheus, …) on Project Syn enabled Kubernetes clusters. This is all done with the GitOps pattern, managed by Argo CD, which is deployed to every cluster. Thanks to Argo CD we can make sure that the applications deployed to the cluster are exactly configured as specified in the corresponding Git repository, and that they are running just fine.
Each Project Syn enabled Kubernetes Cluster has its own so-called Catalog Git Repository. This contains a set of YAML files specifically crafted for each cluster, containing the system tools to operate the cluster, and to give access to well configured self-service tooling to the user of the cluster. The generation of these YAML files is the responsibility of the Project Syn tool Commodore (written in Python). Commodore is based upon the Open Source tool Kapitan by leveraging inventory data from Lieutenant. After gathering all needed data about a cluster from the inventory, Commodore can fetch all defined components, parameterize them with configuration data from a hierarchical GIT data structure and generate the final YAML files, ready to be applied by Argo CD to the Kubernetes Cluster. The Lieutenant API also knows where the catalog Git repository is located, and Commodore is therefore able to automatically push the catalog to the matching Git repository.
Secrets are never stored in GitOps repositories. They are instead stored securely in Hashicorp Vault, and only retrieved during the “apply” phase, directly on the destination Kubernetes Cluster. This process is supported by the Kapitan secret management feature and by Commodore, who prepares the secret references during the catalog generation. Argo CD calls kapitan secrets --reveal during the manifest apply phase, which then actually connects to Vault to retrieve the secrets and stores them in the Kubernetes Cluster, ready to be consumed by the application.
The management of all these Git repositories is the responsibility of the Lieutenant Operator (written in Go, based on Red Hat’s Operator SDK). It is able to manage remote Git repositories (GitLab, GitHub, Bitbucket, etc) and prepare them for Commodore and Argo CD, for example by configuring an SSH deploy key.
The Project Syn tool Steward (written in Go) has the responsibility of enabling Project Syn in a Kubernetes Cluster, communicating with the Lieutenant API, to perform the initial bootstrapping of Argo CD. This bootstrapping includes basic maintenance tasks: should Argo CD be removed from the cluster inadvertently, Steward will automatically reinstall it. An SSH deploy key is generated during bootstrapping and transmitted back to the API. With this procedure it is possible to bootstrap the whole GitOps workflow without any manual interaction.
Analogies with Puppet
For those familiar with Puppet, there are some similarities with the design of Project Syn:
Puppet Server: Commodore and Kapitan to generate the catalog, matching the facts from the cluster.
Puppet DB: Lieutenant acting as inventory / facts registry.
Puppet Agent: Steward and Argo CD on the cluster. Steward to communicate with the API and Argo CD to apply the catalog.
Puppet Modules: Commodore Components, bringing modularity into Kubernetes application deployment.
Many of these concepts are documented in the Project Syn documentation pages, specifically the Syn Design Documents, documenting all the design decisions (even though they are still in “work-in-progress” stages).
What are the next steps for Project Syn?
This is really just the beginning! There are a lot of plans and ideas for the future evolution of Project Syn. We have crafted an initial roadmap, and we published it as part of the official Project Syn documentation.
This initial pre-release is just the tip of the iceberg. Under the surface there is a lot more brewing, to be released as soon as possible. To reiterate: It’s not only about tools, but also about concepts and processes, which also means a lot of documentation will emerge over the next months.
One of the focus of this initial pre-release was to lay the foundation for future development. It has a strong focus on the operations side. Future milestones will broaden the focus to include more and more self-service possibilities for the user, including tight integration of Crossplane for easy and fully automated cloud service provisioning.
We at VSHN are now starting to use Project Syn for an initial set of managed Kubernetes clusters, and will continue to develop the concept, tools and processes while we learn about more use cases and with the real-life experience we gather.
How can I contribute?
Project Syn is a young project and is making the first initial steps in the open world. Many things are just getting started, just like the documentation and the contribution guidelines. Testing and giving feedback through GitHub issues is certainly a great way to start contributing. And of course, if you are looking for a Managed Kubernetes or Managed OpenShift cluster, get in touch with us with the form at the bottom of this page!
Zürich, 28.11.2019: VSHN wins gold at Digital Economy Award
VSHN wins gold at Digital Economy Award in the category Highest Digital Quality
Who would have thought? VSHN – The DevOps Company wins gold at the Digital Economy Award in the category Highest Digital Quality. We couldn’t be happier and would like to thank all #VSHNeers who made this success possible. The moment of certainty was captured on video by our friend David Kilchenmann from Puzzle, thank you very much, Dave! 😊
The Digital Economy Award Night
At the Digital Economy Award Night, 600 guests from the digital industry, research, business and politics celebrated the digital achievements of the year. The award ceremony took place in the Hallenstadion in Zurich in the presence of Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin.
Winner in the category Highest Digital Quality 2019: VSHN – The DevOps Company
Jury president Marcus Dauck:
«VSHN is setting a new benchmark for both SMEs and larger companies in the clearly defined service segment with the highest quality and strong global growth from Switzerland. As a young company, in a technologically rapidly changing environment, relying on sustainable but flexible services is not a matter of course and requires perseverance. Speed, focus and quality are at the highest level and have impressed the jury.»
The entire wording of the winning speech can be found in the official press release of the Digital Economy Award AG.
The Certificate Holders
At the Digital Economy Award Night on November 28, companies and organizations in five special disciplines were again awarded certificates: • Security: First Security Technology • Industrie 4.0: Side Effects • Lean, Agile & Scrum: SBB Informatik, VSHN, Aduno Gruppe / Viseca Cards Services SA, Five Up Community • Open Source: Zammad • User Experience: ti&m, Aduno Gruppe / Viseca Cards Services SA, interactive friends
About Digital Economy Award
The Digital Economy Award is organised by the ICT trade association swissICT and the specialist publisher Netzmedien AG and was created through a merger of the Swiss ICT Award and the Swiss Digital Transformation Award. The next award ceremony will take place on November 25 2020 in the Hallenstadion in Zurich.
All #VSHNeers celebrate the award together
The day after the Digital Economy Award, the entire team was able to take a look at the “Cup” at our Christmas party.
What’s next?
Even after winning the Digital Economy Award, it won’t get boring – have a look at our “Next Big Thing”, Project Syn.
VSHN is proud to announce a partnership with Crossplane
Zurich, Nov 21, 2019: VSHN is proud to announce a strategic partnership with Crossplane.io for Project Syn – VSHNs next generation Managed Services framework.
Cloud Agnostic with Crossplane
VSHN has always been cloud agnostic and will further enhance this paradigm by partnering with Crossplane – „The open source multicloud control plane“. By leveraging Crossplane, the user of Project Syn can specify the backend services needed in a completely cloud-independent way. Provisioning of these services happens fully automated, handled by the tooling in the most optimal way. As an example: when a MySQL service is requested, Crossplane would provision a cloud service if the cloud provides it or deploys it inside the Kubernetes cluster leveraging a service operator. This way the user doesn’t have to care about the implementation and can fully focus on the application. Project Syn is designed to run on all Kubernetes distributions and clouds. It’s prepared to support all the specific features of any given cloud and Kubernetes distribution by abstracting the specifics. This means Project Syn will run on OpenShift with APPUiO.ch, Rancher Kubernetes and all managed Kubernetes offerings. Support for even more Kubernetes flavors and clouds are added on demand. Plans exist to support single node Kubernetes Clusters using Rancher k3s.
Why Crossplane?
Tobias Brunner, Head of DevOps & Partner of VSHN – The DevOps Company:
“After several weeks of evaluation, we’re excited to be using Crossplane as a cornerstone in our next-gen hosted DevOps product. Crossplane is an extensible open-source platform that adds declarative cloud service provisioning and management to the Kubernetes API with excellent support for GitOps-style continuous deployments for cloud-native apps that is at the heart of the next-gen offering of VSHN.”
About Crossplane
Welcome to Crossplane! Crossplane is an open source multicloud control plane to manage your cloud-native applications and infrastructure across environments, clusters, regions and clouds. It enables provisioning and full-lifecycle management of applications and managed services from your choice of cloud using kubectl. Crossplane can be installed into an existing Kubernetes cluster to add managed service provisioning or deployed as a dedicated control plane for multi-cluster management and workload scheduling. Crossplane enables the community to build and publish Stacks to add more clouds and cloud services to Crossplane with support for out-of-tree extensibility and independent release schedules. Crossplane includes Stacks for GCP, AWS, and Azure today.
About VSHN – The DevOps Company
VSHN (pronounced ˈvɪʒn like “vision”) is Switzerland’s leading DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes, Openshift and 24/7 cloud operations partner. VSHN was founded with the intention to fundamentally shake up the hosting market. As a lean startup, we have focused on operating IT platforms through automation, agility and a continuous improvement process. Completely location-independent and without our own hardware, we operate extensive applications according to the DevOps principle agilely and 24/7 on every infrastructure, so that software developers can concentrate on their business and IT operations are relieved.
Markus Speth
Markus is VSHN's CEO and one of the General Managers.
Latest news
VSHN.timer
VSHN.timer #228: Mind-Blowing Revelation: We’re Eurovision Song Contest Winners! (sort of)
Announcing Project Syn – The Next Generation Managed Services
20. Nov 2019
VSHN announces Project Syn
VSHN is proud to announce Project Syn, the next generation Open Source managed services framework for DevOps and application operations on any infrastructure based on Kubernetes.
Project Syn is a pre-integrated set of tools to provision, update, backup, observe and react/alert production applications on Kubernetes and in the cloud. It supports DevOps through full self-service and automation using containers, Kubernetes and GitOps. And best of all: it is Open Source.
Project Syn combines tools and processes to make the best out of containers, Kubernetes and Cloud Services
VSHNs mission is to automate all aspects of software operations to help software developers to run their applications on any infrastructure. Since 2014, we have been using Puppet and Ansible to automate monitoring, backups, logs, metrics, service checks and alerts. Project Syn is the next generation of application operations tooling packaged as containers and orchestrated on any Kubernetes service. Project Syn provides an opinionated set of integrated tools and processes on any Kubernetes service and cloud infrastructure provider:
GitOps and infrastructure as code: declare the application environment requirements in Git and let the tooling take care of creation/changes
Observability and insights: service checks, metrics, logs, thresholds, alert rules and paging
Service provisioning: declare backends and other service dependencies as portable Kubernetes Objects (CRD) and let the tooling create the infrastructure-specific service (e.g. database service, S3 storage service, etc) with best-practice default configuration
Backup: regularly back up all user data from each service and persistent volume
Application container deployment automatically integrating the topics above
Work on any Kubernetes service and cloud provider
The Project Syn tooling is a fundamental part in your DevOps journey and provides you with production quality Ops.
Cloud Agnostic with Crossplane
VSHN has always been cloud agnostic and will further enhance this paradigm by partnering with Crossplane – “The open source multicloud control plane”. By leveraging Crossplane, the user of Project Syn can specify the backend services needed in a completely cloud-independent way. Provisioning of these services happens fully automated, handled by the tooling in the most optimal way. As an example: when a MySQL service is requested, Crossplane would provision a cloud service if the cloud provides it or deploys it inside the Kubernetes cluster leveraging a service operator. This way the user doesn’t have to care about the implementation and can fully focus on the application. Project Syn is designed to run on all Kubernetes distributions and clouds. It’s prepared to support all the specific features of any given cloud and Kubernetes distribution by abstracting the specifics. This means Project Syn will run on OpenShift with APPUiO.ch, Rancher Kubernetes and all managed Kubernetes offerings. Support for even more Kubernetes flavors and clouds are added on demand. Plans exist to support single node Kubernetes Clusters using Rancher k3s.
Details of Project Syn
Project Syn will become an Open Source project in the near future. It consists of several components, working together to bring the necessary features for running applications in production on Kubernetes, acting as an operations framework. Multiple Kubernetes distributions are supported and it can be installed on an already existing Kubernetes clusters or it can even provision a new one. Taking care of what is running inside a Kubernetes clusters (including the Kubernetes cluster itself) is in the heart of Syn.
Production readiness
Syn is made for production. It brings all aspects needed to run an application in production like monitoring of all important services and backup of data.
Self-service
All parts of Syn are engineered for self-service. Define what you need – declarative in code – and the platform does it for you. Be that provisioning of services, inside or outside of the cluster, configuration consistent backup incl. monitoring or setting the matching monitoring and alerting rules, the platform automatically takes care of it.
Developer happiness
By being able to work with the platform without external dependencies, the developer can express the needs for the application in code (e.g. “a Postgres database is needed”) and do this individually.
Service provisioning
Provisioning services like databases outside of the cluster (e.g. in the cloud) or inside the cluster is completely automated by Project Syn, leveraging the endless possibilities of Crossplane. It is a key part of the platform and fully integrated with all the important production readiness features. Crossplane abstracts the specifics of the service to be provisioned. As a user of the platform you just tell Crossplane what you want. e.g. a MySQL server, and Crossplane then takes care to deploy the best matching service, depending on which cloud it runs. On AWS, Crossplane would provision an RDS instance, on a cloud without a managed database offering, it would provision an in-cluster MySQL instance managed by a matching database operator, installed and configured by the Project Syn platform. The reconciliation process of Crossplane ensures that the provisioned services are configured as intended all the time and will take measures should the configuration drift apart.
Best-practices configuration
Project Syn makes use of best-practices configuration, learned from running Kubernetes and applications on top of it in production since many years, and applies them continuously. As the best-practices evolve over time, they are integrated as they are learned.
Data protection
Data safety is key. Project Syn makes sure to continuously backup the important data on a filesystem level and also on an application consistent level. All data is stored encrypted at rest and in transit by leveraging possibilities of modern application offerings.
Security
No secrets are stored in plain text, they all live in protected key stores. By applying best-practices configuration we ensure secure configuration by default of all components. Only TLS secured connections are used.
Configuration auditing
All configuration is stored in Git and applied using the GitOps pattern. This allows to have full auditability and history of the full configuration. By signing the generated configuration data we ensure that only trusted configuration is applied to the cluster. In-cluster configuration reconciliation ensures that the configuration is up-to-date all the time and matches the intended state.
Regular maintenance
Project Syn components are regularly maintained in a fully automated way. This is to ensure that latest patches are installed and no vulnerable components are part of the system.
Decentralization
A key part of Project Syn is a decentralized approach. All parts are designed to work without relying on a central management service.
Open Source
One of the goals of Project Syn is to make use of existing and fantastic Open Source applications and glue them together to form a unity. To name a few – the most important ones:
Kapitan
Jsonnet
Crossplane
Argo CD
Prometheus – Alertmanager
Grafana
Loki
Vault
Alerta
Renovate
All Project Syn components specifically written for tying all these tools together will become Open Source as well. Contributions from Project Syn are continuously brought upstream to support these tools.
Project Syn as Managed Service by VSHN
Project Syn is an Open Source project and can be used by anyone for free. VSHN in addition offers Project Syn as a managed service. Taking care of the Project Syn platform with engineering, 24/7 operations and maintenance is key part of the offering. By adding additional services VSHN ensures that the platform can be trusted to run business-critical application workload.
Alert handling
Reacting to alerts and handle them according to a specified SLA, including 24/7 operations and continuous improvement of alert rules based on a day-to-day experience
Expert pool
The Project Syn experts at VSHN are available to help the user of the platform
Developer support
Supporting the users of the platform by actively participating as part of the development team enables the user to get the best out of the platform. We provide the Ops part in the DevOps chain.
SLA
Specific SLAs are available for applications running on the Project Syn platform
Best-practice curation
Delivering of best practice configuration learned by operating many Project Syn enabled clusters in production all over the world
Container image curation
Only VSHN tested and approved images are running on the platform which ensures stability and security
Regular maintenance
VSHN carries out regular maintenance on all involved components by keeping them up-to-date to latest bugfix and security updates
Active project Syn development
Customer needs are actively developed by VSHN engineers and brought into the Project Syn platform
Assisting services
Assisting Project Syn platform services are provided, like:
Customer portal with self-service capability and deep insights
Service desk
Image registry with curated and tested images
Inventory
and more
Early Access for Project Syn
The foundation for Project Syn is already prepared. We are actively looking for early access users of the platform, helping to test it and shape the future of Project Syn. If you are interested in getting a glimpse at our next generation managed services platform, please fill in the form below and let us know. [hatchbuck form=”Contactform-vshn-ch”]
Tobias Brunner
Tobias Brunner is working since over 20 years in IT and more than 15 years with Internet technology. New technology has to be tried and written about.
Latest news
VSHN.timer
VSHN.timer #228: Mind-Blowing Revelation: We’re Eurovision Song Contest Winners! (sort of)
VSHN is a finalist at the Swiss Digital Economy Award
18. Sep 2019
VSHN is a finalist at the Swiss Digital Economy Award category Highest Digital Quality
Zurich, September 18 2019
VSHN has made it into the 23 finalists of the Digital Economy Award 2019.
VSHN has made it into the 23 finalists of the Digital Economy Award 2019. After an exciting application phase and pitches in front of juries of experts from the Swiss digital economy, we are delighted that VSHN – The DevOps Company made it into the 23 finalists. The Digital Economy Award is awarded in four categories to both start-ups and established companies. The winners will be announced on November 28 2019.
Jury statement Highest Digital Quality
VSHN – THE DEVOPS COMPANY SHORT DESCRIPTION VSHN is the leading Swiss service provider for DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift and 24/7 Cloud Operations. VSHN helps software developers run applications agile and 24/7 on any infrastructure and relieve IT operations. THE JURY STATEMENT The jury recognizes that VSHN’s highly focused business model provides a managed service for software developers that runs 24/7 on any infrastructure and relieves IT operations. In a clearly defined service segment, a new benchmark is set with the highest quality and strong global growth from Switzerland. VSHN has sustainably established a DNA consisting of a service seminar set paired with a very collaborative management model and is therefore an important enabler for the Swiss digital economy. A continuous further development of the organization focuses on automation in order to provide the service even faster and more completely. Speed, focus and quality are at the highest level and have impressed the jury.
The finalists of the Swiss Digital Economy Award 2019
And these are the finalists: The Next Global Hot Thing:
Archilyse
Fixposition
Protonmail
Sonect
Digital Innovation of the Year:
Aionav Systems
Approovd
Carbon Delta
Seervision
Side Effects
Digital Transformation:
Bank Vontobel
BVD Druck+Verlag
Confiseur Bachmann
Five up Community
HEKS
Jungfraubahnen Management
Sozialversicherung Aargau
Verein iGovPortal.ch
Veriset
Highest Digital Quality:
SBB Informatik
VSHN – The DevOps Company
Aduno Gruppe
ti&m
Five up Community
On 25 October, an exclusive event for the finalists and other interested parties will take place at the Radisson Blu near Zurich Airport as an after-show for the swissICT Symposium.
Digital Economy Award ceremony on 28 November 2019
On November 28 2019, the awards ceremony for the Digital Economy Award will take place in the Hallenstadion Zurich. The awards will be presented in a festive awards show and background information on the winners will be provided. We are particularly pleased that Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin has confirmed his participation. For the first time in the history of the event (including the predecessor awards) we are receiving the highest attendance from Bern. Dr. Daniel Risch, Minister of Economic Affairs and Deputy Head of Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein, will also attend the ceremony. The award ceremony will be accompanied by interesting and highly topical thematic inputs and a gala dinner. Single tickets can be ordered under the following link. Tickets can be ordered directly on the Digital Economy Awards website.
Markus Speth
Markus is VSHN's CEO and one of the General Managers.
Latest news
VSHN.timer
VSHN.timer #228: Mind-Blowing Revelation: We’re Eurovision Song Contest Winners! (sort of)
VSHN and Puzzle ITC support acrevis Bank with future-oriented technology platform for further digitalization projects
9. Sep 2019
acrevis Bank creates future-oriented technology platform for further digitalization projects
With the development of its own technology platform, acrevis Bank AG of Eastern Switzerland has succeeded in laying the foundation for its further digitalization projects. The platform enables acrevis to react agile, flexible and quickly to customer and market needs. VSHN and Puzzle thus support acrevis in the ongoing digitalization of its business area in order to react to the growing customer needs and market requirements.
Official press release of acrevis Bank from Monday, September 09, 2019
acrevis Bank erstellt zukunftsweisende Technologieplattform
Der Ostschweizer acrevis Bank AG ist es mit der Entwicklung einer eigenen Technologie-Plattform gelungen, die Basis für ihre weiteren Digitalisierungsvorhaben zu legen. Die Plattform ermöglicht es acrevis, agil, flexibel und schnell auf Kunden- und Marktbedürfnisse reagieren zu können.
Die neue acrevis Technologie-Plattform vereint modernste Technologie und innovatives, fortschrittliches Gedankengut. Dank der erfolgreichen Zusammenarbeit mit den IT-Dienstleistern Puzzle ITC und VSHN konnten innerhalb von sieben Monaten für die acrevis Bank AG optimale Voraussetzungen für die Zukunft geschaffen werden.
Die Two-Speed Architektur der Plattform erleichtert es acrevis, die mit Niederlassungen vom Bodensee bis zum Zürichsee vertreten ist, künftige komplexe Anforderungen der Digitalisierung zu meistern. Besonders vorteilhaft ist es, dass die Technologie-Plattform erlaubt, bewährte Strukturen zu bewahren und gleichzeitig für Neues gewappnet zu sein: Die moderne Lösung verbindet beide Welten, so dass neue Tools entstehen können, ohne den Machern der bereits vorhandenen Systeme im Weg zu stehen.
Christian Gentsch, Leiter des Bereiches Logistik und Mitglied der Geschäftsleitung der acrevis Bank sowie Geschäftsführer der Finanz-Logistik AG: «Wer hätte es uns zugetraut, dass wir, als regional tätige Bank, zusammen mit Puzzle ITC und VSHN, ein Projekt dieser Grösse in solch kurzem Zeitraum erfolgreich realisieren könnten? Die Plattform deckt nicht nur alle dem heutigen Standard entsprechenden Kriterien ab, sie verfügt zusätzlich über neue, innovative Ansätze und ebnet den Weg zu unserem Ziel, zukünftige Digitalisierungsprojekte schnell, unkompliziert und kostengünstig realisieren zu können.»
Die VSHN AG ist das Bindeglied zwischen Business, Software-Entwicklung und IT-Betrieb. Als führender Schweizer Partner für DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift und 24/7 Cloud Operations unterstützt VSHN Software-Entwickler dabei, Applikationen agil und 24/7 auf beliebiger Infrastruktur zu betreiben und den IT-Betrieb zu entlasten. Seit 2014 betreuen wir für 350 Kunden & Partner über 1’500 Server in 20 verschiedenen Clouds sowie bei Kunden on-premises und überwachen mehr als 80’000 Services. VSHN ist ISO 27001 zertifiziert und arbeitet nach den strengen FINMA-Richtlinien, um die Sicherheit und Vertraulichkeit von Kundendaten jederzeit sicherzustellen. VSHN ist der erste Kubernetes Certified Service Provider (KCSP) in der Schweiz und wurde als Rising Star Switzerland 2019 in der ISG Provider Lens ausgezeichnet. Mehr Informationen: www.vshn.ch
Puzzle ITC deckt als innovativer IT-Dienstleister den ganzen Lebenszyklus von geschäftskritischen Anwendungen und Infrastrukturen ab. Dabei wird konsequent auf Open Source Technologien sowie modernste Methoden und Werkzeuge gesetzt. Seit 1999 wuchs das Start-Up zum erfolgreichen Software- und Technologie KMU mit über 120 Mitarbeitenden in Bern, Basel, Zürich und Tübingen (DE). Heute arbeitet ein interdisziplinäres und qualifiziertes Team an Projekten in den Bereichen: Beratung, Applikationen, Delivery, Infrastruktur und eigenen Open Source Lösungen. Mehr Informationen: www.puzzle.ch
Die acrevis Bank AG ist 2011 aus dem Zusammenschluss der Bank CA St.Gallen AG und der swissregiobank AG entstanden. Als führende Regionalbank zwischen Bodensee und Zürichsee positioniert sich acrevis durch eine systematische Abdeckung des Marktgebiets und segmentspezifische Angebote. Die Kernkompetenzen liegen in der Finanzierung privater Immobilien, in der Anlageberatung, in der Vermögensverwaltung sowie im kommerziellen Geschäft mit KMU, Gewerbe und Selbstständig- erwerbenden. Mehr Informationen: www.acrevis.ch
Puzzle ITC deckt als innovativer IT-Dienstleister den ganzen Lebenszyklus von geschäftskritischen Anwendungen und Infrastrukturen ab. Dabei wird konsequent auf Open Source Technologien sowie modernste Methoden und Werkzeuge gesetzt. Seit 1999 wuchs das Start-Up zum erfolgreichen Software- und Technologie KMU mit über 120 Mitarbeitenden in Bern, Basel, Zürich und Tübingen (DE). Heute arbeitet ein interdisziplinäres und qualifiziertes Team an Projekten in den Bereichen: Beratung, Applikationen, Delivery, Infrastruktur und eigenen Open Source Lösungen. Mehr Informationen: www.puzzle.ch
Die VSHN AG ist das Bindeglied zwischen Business, Software-Entwicklung und IT-Betrieb. Als führender Schweizer Partner für DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift und 24/7 Cloud Operations unterstützt VSHN Software-Entwickler dabei, Applikationen agil und 24/7 auf beliebiger Infrastruktur zu betreiben und den IT-Betrieb zu entlasten. Seit 2014 betreuen wir für 350 Kunden & Partner über 1’500 Server in 20 verschiedenen Clouds sowie bei Kunden on-premises und überwachen mehr als 80’000 Services. VSHN ist ISO 27001 zertifiziert und arbeitet nach den strengen FINMA-Richtlinien, um die Sicherheit und Vertraulichkeit von Kundendaten jederzeit sicherzustellen. VSHN ist der erste Kubernetes Certified Service Provider (KCSP) in der Schweiz und wurde als Rising Star Switzerland 2019 in der ISG Provider Lens ausgezeichnet. Mehr Informationen: www.vshn.ch
Computerworld Top 500 2019: VSHN makes a leap forward
3. Sep 2019
VSHN improves placement and continues to grow strongly
UPDATE: VSHN in the top 10 fastest growing Swiss ICT companies for the 2nd year in a row
Computerworld once again ranked the top 500 of the strongest Swiss ICT companies in 2019. The measured total turnover of the companies listed in the ranking rose further to around 78 billion Swiss francs, driven by digitisation and cloud adoption.
Nevertheless, Computerworld sees the first signs of a slight slowdown, so entrepreneurs are “cautiously optimistic” about the future.
UPDATE: VSHN again among the top 10 fastest growing Swiss ICT companies
VSHN defies the negative signs and continues to grow strongly. In 2019, we again made it into the top 10 of the fastest growing Swiss ICT companies.
In 2019, we were again able to increase both sales and the number of employees. Every month we were able to welcome new VSHNeers. In the Computerworld Top 500 ranking of Swiss ICT companies, VSHN was able to improve its ranking with a big leap from 487th to 454th place. Of course, we are very pleased about this great ranking and take the award as an opportunity to continue to improve in the future. And all that during Swiss #digitalday. ?
The complete edition of the Top 500 with exciting facts and reports can be ordered directly from Computerworld.
Learn more about Computerworld Top 500
The special edition of Computerworld Top 500 has long since become the industry’s standard reference work and publishes the list of the 500 ICT companies with the highest sales in Switzerland since 1997. The special digital edition of Computerworld Top 500 is now available.
About VSHN – The DevOps Company
VSHN (pronounced ˈvɪʒn like “vision”) is Switzerland’s leading DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes, Openshift and 24/7 cloud operations partner. VSHN was founded with the intention to fundamentally shake up the hosting market. As a lean startup, we have focused on operating IT platforms through automation, agility and a continuous improvement process. Completely location-independent and without our own hardware, we operate extensive applications according to the DevOps principle agilely and 24/7 on every infrastructure, so that software developers can concentrate on their business and IT operations are relieved.
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. VSHN is the first Kubernetes Certified Service Provider (KCSP) in Switzerland, we were awarded as Rising Star Switzerland 2019 in the ISG Provider Lens, are ISO27001 certified and work according to the strict FINMA guidelines.
APPUiO – Swiss Container Platform
With APPUiO.ch we have created a Swiss container platform based on Red Hat OpenShift on which we can offer Managed Services as a PaaS solution (Platform-as-a-Service) on any infrastructure: public, dedicated, private and on-premises.
VSHN at the award ceremony for the Rising Star award Cloud Transformation/Operation Services & XaaS from ISG in Berlin
28. Jun 2019
VSHN receives Rising Star award
VSHN – The DevOps Company receives the award Rising Star of the ISG Provider Lens Switzerland 2019 study at the award ceremony night in Spreespeicher Berlin. We are of course very happy that we were able to place ourselves so successfully in the study alongside many well-known global players from the IT world. The VSHNeers Patrick Mathers (CEO) and Markus Speth (CMO) receive the Rising Star from ISG Director Heiko Henkes and are very pleased about the award.
Heiko Henkes statement about VSHN:
“We have been watching VSHN for several years now and our extensive research in 2019 has come to the conclusion that VSHN can be regarded as Unicorn and one of the most innovative IT service providers in the area of Cloud Transformation/Operation Services & XaaS. As an absolute expert in Managed Services and the operation of modern Container Platforms such as OpenShift and Kubernetes, VSHN supports many companies in an agile and innovative way both in Switzerland as well as internationally with their digital transformation and the implementation of a holistic DevOps strategy. VSHN relieves software developers in their daily work like no other company in Switzerland and despite the size of the company, VSHN is able to manage and scale large and complex projects thanks to sophisticated management & automation.”
Such kind words are of course very nice and at the same time underline our daily work and strategic orientation.
Importance of the award for VSHN
What does the Rising Star award mean for VSHN? On the one hand, the study confirms us in our daily work and in our strategy not to do everything ourselves, but to focus on the operation of modern hosting platforms and future technologies such as Docker, OpenShift and Kubernetes, to automate and to cooperate with partners. On the other hand, the study results also confirm that Switzerland is a multi-cloud country and DevOps is “the way to go”. For this reason, we are extremely happy about the award as Rising Star and see it as a confirmation of our previous path and at the same time as an incentive to become even better in the future.
Berlin is always worth a visit, of course all the more so if you are receiving a prize. Following a few impressions of the ISG Provider Lens Award Ceremony Night 2019 at the Spreespeicher in Berlin on Wed. June 26 2019.
ISG annually awards the Rising Star to the product challenger with the highest potential for the future, which convinces in particular by its promising product portfolio and promising roadmap, focusing on key market trends and customer value. ISG defines the selection criteria of the Rising Star as follows:
“Rising Stars are mostly product challengers with high future potential. When receiving the “Rising Star” award, such companies have a promising portfolio, including the required roadmap and an adequate focus on key market trends and customer requirements. Also, the “Rising Star” has an excellent management and understanding of the local market. This award is only given to vendors or service providers that have made extreme progress towards their goals within the last 12 months and are on a good way to reach the leader quadrant within the next 12-24 months, due to their above-average impact and innovative strength.”
About ISG Provider Lens
In the Provider Lens, the market research company ISG rates Swiss cloud providers for the attractiveness of their product portfolio and their competitive strength. ISG is one of the leading market research and consulting companies in the information technology segment, helping more than 700 clients worldwide to achieve operational excellence. Customers have the proven expertise in innovative technology solutions, the industry’s most comprehensive database, and more than 50 years of experience and global leadership in an international information and consulting firm. ISG is based in Stamford, Connecticut with 21 locations worldwide and supports its customers in Germany, Switzerland and Austria through its locations in Frankfurt a. M., Kassel and Zurich.
About VSHN – The DevOps Company
VSHN is the leading Swiss partner for DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift and 24/7 Cloud Operations. VSHN helps software developers run their applications agile and 24/7 on any infrastructure while relieving the burden on IT operations. Since 2014, we are managing more than 1500 servers in 20 different clouds as well as on-premises at customer locations with a total of more than 80’000 services for 300 different customers and partners. We are ISO 27001 certified and work to the strict FINMA guidelines to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer information at all times. Take a look at our services and learn more about our services and how we can possibly support you. Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter (@vshn_ch and @APPUiO) and don’t miss any news. Follow @VSHN_ch Follow @APPUiO
VSHN releases K8up – Backup Operator for Kubernetes at KubeCon 2019
21. May 2019
VSHN – The DevOps Company is pleased to announce K8up (pronounced /keɪtæpp/) at KubeCon / CloudNativeCon 2019, our Open Source backup operator for Kubernetes and OpenShift. You can find all information about K8up here: https://vshn.ch/k8up
Tobias Brunner
Tobias Brunner is working since over 20 years in IT and more than 15 years with Internet technology. New technology has to be tried and written about.
Latest news
VSHN.timer
VSHN.timer #228: Mind-Blowing Revelation: We’re Eurovision Song Contest Winners! (sort of)
VSHN supports acrevis bank on their way to digitalization
23. Jan 2019
Zurich, January 21, 2019 – Together with our partner Puzzle ITC, VSHN AG is building an OpenShift-based technology platform for the Eastern Swiss regional bank acrevis. The technology platform consists of business, integration, security and delivery layers and enables acrevis to implement a two-speed IT. VSHN and Puzzle thus support acrevis in the ongoing digitalization of its business area in order to react to the growing customer needs and market requirements.
VSHN and Puzzle ITC support acrevis bank on its way to digitization
After an intensive evaluation and detailing phase, acrevis decided on a partnership with VSHN and Puzzle ITC for the implementation, realization and operation of IT platforms. Together we will develop a technology platform, which enables acrevis to use two-speed IT. In addition, it distinguishes the regional bank as an active player in the ongoing digitalization of the financial sector. Michael Steiner, CEO of acrevis Bank: “We are starting small and want to grow consistently and jointly with the needs of our customers and the bank”. The modern platform will provide acrevis with a future-oriented foundation for further digitization initiatives and combine security, stability and flexibility. It also enables acrevis to react quickly, easily and efficiently to customer wishes and new market requirements and to integrate them into the existing system landscape. Thanks to the scalability of the new technology platform, future digitization projects can be realized more quickly, easily and cost-effectively. acrevis is an exciting customer for VSHN and Puzzle ITC in the banking sector. We are very pleased to be able to support acrevis in its pursuit of an offensive digital strategy and look forward to a successful cooperation.
The individual needs stand in the foreground
The technology platform is based on the OpenShift-based APPUiO Swiss Container Platform and represents a classic two-speed integration architecture consisting of the two areas “Steady” and “Speed”. The stable and less agile backend systems (Steady area) are preceded by modern and agile components (Speed area). This architecture forms the basis for reacting flexibly and quickly to changes in applications and services that use data and services from the backend systems. In addition, the new platform provides a standardized environment for future applications and services, enabling them to benefit from the prepared environment in terms of operation, security and deployment. Thus, the new platform enables an optimal response to individual customer needs and new market requirements.
About Puzzle ITC
As an innovative IT service provider, Puzzle ITC covers the entire life cycle of business-critical applications and infrastructures. We consistently rely on open source technologies as well as state-of-the-art methods and tools. Since 1999, the start-up has grown into a successful software and technology SME with over 120 employees in Bern, Zurich and Tübingen (DE). Today, an interdisciplinary and qualified team works on projects in these areas: consulting, applications, delivery, infrastructure and own open source solutions. More information: www.puzzle.ch
About VSHN AG
VSHN AG is the leading Swiss partner for DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift and 24/7 Cloud Operations. VSHN helps software developers to run their applications agile and 24/7 on any infrastructure and to relieve IT operations. Since 2014, we have been supporting over 1000 servers in 20 different clouds for 300 different customers & partners as well as on-premises for customers with a total of more than 70000 services. VSHN is ISO 27001 certified and works according to the strict FINMA guidelines to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer data at all times. VSHN is the first Kubernetes Certified Service Provider (KCSP) in Switzerland. More information: www.vshn.ch
About acrevis Bank AG
acrevis Bank AG was created in 2011 from the merger of Bank CA St.Gallen AG and swissregiobank AG. As the leading regional bank between Lake Constance and Lake Zurich, acrevis positions itself through systematic coverage of the market area and segment-specific offerings. Its core competencies lie in the financing of private real estate, investment advice, asset management and commercial business with SMEs, trade and self-employed persons.
VSHN is Rising Star Switzerland at ISG Provider Lens 2019
26. Nov 2018
ISG has published the Provider Lens Switzerland 2019 study and awarded VSHN the title of “Rising Star Switzerland”.
VSHN is Rising Star at Cloud Transformation/Operation Services & XaaS
We are delighted to have been awarded Rising Star by ISG Provider Lens Switzerland 2019 – Cloud Transformation / Operation Services & XaaS. ISG annually awards the Rising Star to the product challenger with the highest potential for the future, which convinces in particular by its promising product portfolio and promising roadmap, focusing on key market trends and customer value. ISG defines the selection criteria of the Rising Star as follows:
“Rising Stars are mostly product challengers with high future potential. When receiving the “Rising Star” award, such companies have a promising portfolio, including the required roadmap and an adequate focus on key market trends and customer requirements. Also, the “Rising Star” has an excellent management and understanding of the local market. This award is only given to vendors or service providers that have made extreme progress towards their goals within the last 12 months and are on a good way to reach the leader quadrant within the next 12-24 months, due to their above-average impact and innovative strength.”
The Managed Public Cloud Services area takes a look at vendors offering Managed Services on third-party IaaS platforms. The services typically include proactive monitoring, automation and cloud platform management to maximize the performance of workloads in the cloud, reduce costs, and ensure security and availability. In particular, the study emphasizes DevOps willingness, new business models and agility. Also very important is the willingness to constantly evolve, to think outside the box and to be able to leave the comfort zone in order to offer new business models and technologies such as container. Managed Service Providers have become strategic partners for customers on their way to cloud transformation and public cloud usage through their specialization. The biggest challenge for Managed Public Cloud Service Providers is to keep up with the evolutions and advancements of the public cloud, while developing a better understanding of the customers and their business processes. Vendors need to invest in their people and their skills, and further develop DevOps know-how.
Meaning of the award for VSHN
What is the significance of the award as Rising Star for VSHN? Firstly, the study confirms our daily work and our strategy of not doing everything ourselves but focusing on the operation of modern hosting platforms and future technologies such as Docker, OpenShift and Kubernetes, to automate and to collaborate with partners. On the other hand, the study results confirm that Switzerland is a multi-cloud country and DevOps is “the way to go”:
DevOps, the combination of software development (Dev) and operations engineering (Ops).
For this reason, we are extremely happy to receive the Rising Star award and see the award as a confirmation of our path so far, as well as an incentive to become even better in the future.
In the Provider Lens, the market research company ISG rates Swiss cloud providers for the attractiveness of their product portfolio and their competitive strength. ISG is one of the leading market research and consulting companies in the information technology segment, helping more than 700 clients worldwide to achieve operational excellence. Customers have the proven expertise in innovative technology solutions, the industry’s most comprehensive database, and more than 50 years of experience and global leadership in an international information and consulting firm. ISG is based in Stamford, Connecticut with 21 locations worldwide and supports its customers in Germany, Switzerland and Austria through its locations in Frankfurt a. M., Kassel and Zurich.
About VSHN – The DevOps Company
VSHN AG is the leading Swiss partner for DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift and 24/7 Cloud Operations. VSHN helps software developers run their applications agile and 24/7 on any infrastructure while relieving the burden on IT operations. Since 2014, we are serving more than 900 servers in 20 different clouds as well as on-premises at customer locations with a total of more than 62’000 services for 300 different customers and partners. We are ISO 27001 certified and work to the strict FINMA guidelines to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer information at all times. With APPUiO.ch, we have created a Red Hat OpenShift based Swiss container platform, where we can offer Managed Services as a PaaS solution (Platform-as-a-Service) on any infrastructure: public, dedicated, private and on-premises. At VSHN, we believe in openness and transparency, so we let you decide where to store your data (we call this multi-cloud strategy). Either locally in your own data center (on-premise) or at a cloud provider location of your choice. Take a look at our services and learn more about our services and how we can possibly support you. Follow us on Twitter and don’t miss any news.
Markus Speth
Markus is VSHN's CEO and one of the General Managers.
Latest news
VSHN.timer
VSHN.timer #228: Mind-Blowing Revelation: We’re Eurovision Song Contest Winners! (sort of)
VSHN from Zurich has won two major customers this year: the Australian Ministry of Finance and Opendata.swiss, the Swiss federal government’s open data portal. VSHN founder and CTO Aarno Aukia explains how the DevOps start-up was successful and how it can offer data center services without a data center.
Aarno Aukia: Wir haben VSHN vor vier Jahren gegründet, weil wir gesehen haben, dass sich der Hostingmarkt verändert und zwar insofern, dass sich Hardware und Softwaredienstleistungen im RZ voneinander entkoppeln. Die Hardware mit Servern, Netzwerk, Bandbreite, Rechenleistung, Storage etc. wird von Cloud- beziehungsweise RZ-Betreibern angeboten, und dann gibt es VSHN, die für die Kunden Betrieb, Überwachung, Skalierung und Back-ups von Software sicherstellt. Wir helfen also Softwareentwicklern, ihre Applikationen agil und 24/7 auf beliebiger Infrastruktur zu betreiben.
Warum ist das für Kunden interessant?
Beim Betrieb von Software aus einer Cloud war es bislang so, dass der Entwickler nicht nur entwickelte, sondern oft auch gleichzeitig noch für den Betrieb des Servers zuständig war und Support leisten musste, wenn der Server nicht mehr lief. Er war also quasi Architekt, Provider und Incident Manager in einer Person. Das sind drei Rollen, die eigentlich nicht zusammenpassen. Bei VSHN helfen wir den Kunden, sich auf die Entwicklung zu konzentrieren, und automatisieren alles andere. Wir bieten ihnen Flexibilität, Skalierbarkeit und Einfachheit, wie sie sie von Cloud-Providern kennen, wenn es darum geht, Rechenleistung und Storage zu beziehen. Bei uns beziehen sie stattdessen das Software-Hosting, ohne dass wir ein eigenes Rechenzentrum haben. Und damit sind wir meines Wissens momentan die Einzigen in der Schweiz.
Was für Kunden möchten mit Ihnen zusammenarbeiten?
Das ist vom Kundenprofil abhängig. Einige Kunden haben etwa eine öffentliche Website und sind auf Skalierbarkeit, Zuverlässigkeit und Sicherheit angewiesen. Wir sind ISO-27001-zertifiziert und haben damit bewiesen, dass wir mit Daten sicher umgehen. Wir haben deshalb auch Kunden aus dem Gesundheitswesen und aus dem Finanzumfeld. Was alle unsere Kunden vereint: Sie wollen die Zeit minimieren von der Idee für ein Softwareprojekt bis dieses in Produktion geht beziehungsweise veröffentlicht wird. Diesen Zeitraum kann man nur minimieren, wenn man den ganzen Prozess durchautomatisiert. Und den Prozess kann man nur durchautomatisieren, wenn man ein Interesse daran hat, dass der Prozess stabil, robust und schnell ist. Und genau das ist unser Kerngeschäft. Wir machen für unsere Kunden das “Ops” von DevOps.
Aber machen denn die IT-Abteilungen heutzutage nicht eh schon alle selbst DevOps?
Nein, das ist noch lange nicht so weit – und noch lange sind nicht alle so weit. In der Realität kämpfen viele IT-Abteilungen noch mit traditionellen IT-Modellen. Wer die Ops an uns auslagert, kann viel schneller als innerhalb eines traditionellen IT-Modells in Produktion gehen.
Wer sind Ihre Kunden?
Wir haben Kunden quer durch alle Branchen, von Retail über Banken und Versicherungen bis hin zur Gesundheitsbranche. Die Kunden vereint, dass es für sie geschäftskritisch ist, immer online zu sein. Ein grosser Schweizer Retailer etwa ist ein Kunde von uns. Er nutzt unsere Dienstleistungen, um die Performance seiner Website hochzufahren, wenn er seinen Aktions-Newsletter verschickt und schnell mal 2,5 Millionen User innert einer halben Stunde auf den Onlineshop zugreifen möchten. Dann muss die Website laufen. Und wir helfen ihnen dabei und zwar vollautomatisiert.
Vor Kurzem haben Sie das australische Finanzministerium als Kunde gewonnen. Wie kam es dazu, und welche Rolle spielt dabei Amazee.io?
Die australische Regierung machte eine Ausschreibung, weil sie für den Betrieb ihrer 180 Websites einen neuen Hoster suchten. Dazu muss man wissen, dass diese Websites mit GovCMS auf Drupal-Basis entwickelt wurden und es weltweit nur drei oder vier Hosting-Partner gibt, die alle nötigen Zertifizierungen und den entsprechenden Trackrecord haben, um solche Regierungswebsites zu betreiben. Einer dieser Hosting-Partner ist Amazee.io in Zürich. Sie erhielten zusammen mit der australischen Webagentur Salsa Digital im Februar den Zuschlag, die nächste Evolution des CMS aufzubauen, und VSHN wird die zugrunde liegende Openshift-Plattform betreiben, um einen reibungslosen und hochverfügbaren 24/7-Betrieb der Hosting-Plattform sicherzustellen. Und das Ganze läuft auf AWS.
Ein weiterer grosser Deal, den VSHN gewonnen hat, ist Opendata.swiss. Was bedeutet das für Sie?
Opendata.swiss ist das Portal der Schweizer Behörden für offene, das heisst frei verfügbare Daten. Das Portal ist ein integraler Teil der Open-Government-Data-Strategie Schweiz 2014-2018 des Schweizer Bundesrats und wir freuen uns natürlich sehr, dass wir mit unserem Angebot überzeugen konnten und die Ausschreibung gewonnen haben. Wir werden künftig sowohl den Servicebetrieb als auch den Support über den gesamten Leistungszeitraum der Linked Data Platform für Opendata.swiss sicherstellen und allfällige Beratungs- und Integrationsleistungen erbringen. Bund, Kantone, Gemeinden und weitere Organisationen mit einem staatlichen Auftrag, wie etwa SBB, veröffentlichen ihre offenen Daten auf Opendata.swiss. Das Portal vereint unterschiedlichste Datensätze wie beispielsweise die Gemeindegrenzen der Schweiz, Bevölkerungsstatistiken, aktuelle Wetterdaten, historische Dokumente oder ein Verzeichnis der Schweizer Literatur. Gemeinsam ist den Datensätzen, dass sie alle kostenlos heruntergeladen und weiterverwendet werden können. Softwareseitig wird Stardog eingesetzt werden, eine Enterprise-Knowledge-Graph-Software. Betrieben wird Opendata.swiss bei Exoscale in Crissier.
Das sind beeindruckende Erfolge für ein Jungunternehmen. Was treibt Sie an? Sie haben ja schon einige Start-ups gegründet.
Ja, das stimmt. Das ist nicht meine erste Firma. Ich musste auch Lehrgeld zahlen, konnte aber schon viel Erfahrung sammeln. Mein erstes Informatikprojekt war in der 5. Klasse in der Primarschule, ein Netzwerk zusammenzulöten. Und später hatte ich parallel zum Gymnasium ein eigenes Unternehmen für Veranstaltungstechnik. Da lernte ich, mit Kunden umzugehen und auch mit Zeitdruck. Denn wenn am Freitagabend ein Konzert ist, öffnet der Konzertsaal um 21.00 Uhr, und die Gäste kommen herein, egal, ob wir mit allem fertig sind oder nicht. Nach dem Studium an der ETH musste ich mich dann auf etwas konzentrieren und entschied mich für die Informatik. Wir gründeten eine Firma, die sich auf RZ-Dienstleistungen spezialisierte, und merkten nach einigen Jahren, dass dieser Bereich ein Klotz am Bein ist. Und so konzentrierten wir uns auf den Bereich, in dem wir heute unterwegs sind.
Warum reizt es Sie so, Start-ups zu gründen?
Ich finde es einfach extrem vielseitig, in einem Start-up zu arbeiten. Ich habe grossen Spass daran, etwas Neues aufzubauen und schätze auch die Freiheit enorm, die das Unternehmertum mit sich bringt. Das kombiniert damit, dass ich all die coolen Menschen auswählen kann, mit denen ich zusammenarbeiten möchte, ist einfach toll. Ich kann mir auch die Kunden aussuchen. Es gibt in der Schweiz so tolle Unternehmen, die einfach einen enormen Drive haben und mit Passion und Energie bei der Sache sind, dass es für mich eine Riesenmotivation ist, mit ihnen etwas Tolles auf die Beine zu stellen. Und auch die konstante Veränderung meiner Firma und meiner eigenen Aufgaben und Verantwortung finde ich sehr spannend. Es wird mir nie langweilig. In den vier Jahren mit VSHN hat sich mein Job schon mehrfach geändert. Ich bin ja Engineer. Meine Passion ist es, neue Probleme zu lösen. Und das kann ich hier jeden Tag. Auch wenn es immer mehr unternehmerische Probleme statt technische sind.
Wie finden Sie denn in Zeiten des oft zitierten Fachkräftemangels die gut ausgebildeten, coolen Leute, mit denen Sie zusammenarbeiten möchten?
Wir haben den grossen Vorteil, dass wir eine Open-Source-Company sind. Es ist uns wichtig, transparent zu zeigen, was wir tun und wie wir das tun. Diese Open-Source-Philosophie hilft uns nicht nur im Kontakt mit möglichen Kunden, sondern auch beim Rekrutieren. Man kann in unsere Projekte reinschauen und die Leute sehen, dass wir cooles, spannendes Zeug machen. Das verursacht einen Sog, der die guten Leute und die guten Kunden anzieht.
Ist es schwierig für Sie, als Start-up in der Schweiz das Kapital zu finden, um schnell genug zu wachsen?
Nicht für uns. Wir haben uns entschieden, dass wir keinen Investor suchen, sondern den Aufbau von VSHN zur Produktfirma aus dem Projektgeschäft finanzieren. Als wir vor vier Jahren anfingen, haben wir 100 Prozent Betriebsprozessentwicklung, Customizing etc. für Kunden gemacht und 0 Prozent monatlich wiederkehrende Einnahmen aus Serviceprodukten generiert. Heute sind wir bei über 64 Prozent monatlich wiederkehrenden Serviceprodukteinnahmen angekommen und generieren nur noch 36 Prozent aus dem Projektgeschäft. Und das ist eine Entwicklung, die weitergeht. Wir sind für einen Investor vielleicht auch nicht so attraktiv, weil wir nicht die nächste Billion-Dollar-Company sind. Deshalb sind wir bis auf ein kleines Darlehen selbstfinanziert, das wir für die Sicherstellung der Löhne in den ersten 12 Monaten zur Verfügung hatten. Aber wir mussten dieses nicht einmal ausschöpfen, da wir schon nach 6 Monaten einen positiven Cashflow hatten.
Also gibt es keine Exit-Strategie?
Nein. Wir verfolgen eine langfristige Strategie. Die ganzen Services muss man einmal entwickeln und dann generieren sie monatlich wiederkehrende Erträge. Dieses Geschäftsmodell lohnt sich erst nach einigen Jahren. Wir sind nun seit 4 Jahren unterwegs und machen das mindestens noch 10 weitere Jahre und noch länger. Unser Ziel ist es, nachhaltiges Wachstum für unser Unternehmen zu generieren.
VSHN in the top 10 of the fastest growing Swiss ICT companies
3. Sep 2018
VSHN has made it into the top 10 of Switzerland’s fastest-growing ICT companies in the Computerworld Top 500 2018 edition.
With a revenue growth of 55% compared to the previous year, we came in 6th, which makes us very happy but also strengthens our strategy as a Swiss DevOps startup, to help companies and software developers with our innovative approach and our technology set such as Docker, Kubernetes and OpenShift to run their applications agile and 24/7 on any infrastructure. The rapid growth is likely to repeat itself this year – today only we are welcoming 3 new VSHNeers. 🙂
VSHN: booming DevOps startup
Computerworld Top 500 ICT Companies in Switzerland 2018
This year’s edition of the Computerworld Top 500 bears the title ‘Swiss ICT with record growth’ with record sales made by Swiss ICT companies. Important topics this year include skills shortages, blockchain and crypto fever, how young women can be inspired for ICT professions and how the digital transformation also drives the IT providers themselves. The Computerworld Top 500 2018 can be ordered here.
About VSHN – The DevOps Company
VSHN AG is the leading Swiss partner for DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift and 24/7 Cloud Operations. VSHN helps software developers run their applications agile and 24/7 on any infrastructure while relieving the burden on IT operations. Since 2014, we are serving more than 900 servers in 20 different clouds as well as on-premises at customer locations with a total of more than 62’000 services for 300 different customers and partners. We are ISO 27001 certified and work to the strict FINMA guidelines to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer information at all times. With APPUiO.ch, we have created a Red Hat OpenShift based Swiss container platform, where we can offer Managed Services as a PaaS solution (Platform-as-a-Service) on any infrastructure: public, dedicated, private and on-premises. At VSHN, we believe in openness and transparency, so we let you decide where to store your data (we call this multi-cloud strategy). Either locally in your own data center (on-premise) or at a cloud provider location of your choice. Take a look at our services and learn more about our services and how we can possibly support you. Follow us on Twitter and don’t miss any news.
Markus Speth
Markus is VSHN's CEO and one of the General Managers.
Latest news
VSHN.timer
VSHN.timer #228: Mind-Blowing Revelation: We’re Eurovision Song Contest Winners! (sort of)
VSHN – the DevOps Company is official hosting partner of Spryker Systems
29. Aug 2018
VSHN AG and Spryker Systems GmbH agree on partnership
VSHN AG from Zurich and Spryker Systems GmbH from Berlin / Hamburg agree on a strategic cooperation to serve future e-commerce customers jointly with Spryker Commerce OS, the unique e-commerce operating system and VSHN as hosting partner for the 24/7 operation and support of the platform.
In a world of increasing device diversity and increasing complexity of customer behavior, Spryker enables companies to reach their customers across all current and future digital points of contact: online store, mobile apps, IoT scenarios, blockchain technology or bot and voice integrations. Spryker makes it possible. With VSHN, Spryker Systems has chosen the leading Swiss partner for DevOps, container technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift and 24/7 Cloud Operations. VSHN helps software developers run their applications agile and 24/7 on any infrastructure while relieving the burden on IT operations. The scope of services offered to Spryker by VSHN includes, among other things, Managed Servers, Managed Cloud and Managed Container Platforms including 24/7 Operations & Support, Service Management, Maintenance, Incident Management, DevOps Processes, Infrastructure-as-Code, Container Management and advanced consulting services such as conception, development of infrastructure & CI/CD processes, DevOps support and application performance management.
Patrick Kleine-Albers, Director Industry Partnerships, Spryker Systems GmbH: “With VSHN – the DevOps Company, we have won another partner who will provide our customers with professional and modern hosting solutions, container technologies and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) concepts and VSHN fits ideally into our agile development philosophy.”
Aarno Aukia, CTO, VSHN AG: “We are very pleased to be Spryker’s official hosting partner in the future and to be able to assist customers in operating their online shops and other e-commerce solutions based on the innovative Spryker Commerce OS. Through our close collaboration, we want to deliver the highest level of quality and support for our customers and help them implement their digital business processes through our highly secure and scalable hosting platform.” VSHN and Spryker are already working together successfully in their first joint customer projects and the partnership will be further expanded in the long term.
About Spryker
Spryker Systems develops the Spryker Commerce OS – a unique e-commerce operating system for the post-desktop and post-shop era The rapidly growing number of user devices results in an increasing complexity of the customer journey. Spryker Commerce OS enables companies to develop highly individualised digital business models for B2C and B2B that reach customers through all digital touch points. Within short time frames, Spryker Commerce OS allows companies to implement new customer interfaces via frontend applications, such as the desktop shop, mobile apps, IoT scenarios, blockchain technologies or bot and voice integrations. This enables businesses to realise customer-centric sources of revenue without long lead times. Brands and manufacturers including Tom Tailor, Hilti or A.T.U are using Spryker Commerce OS. The Spryker Systems team is based in Berlin and Hamburg. You can find more information about Spryker Commerce OS on the official website of Spryker Systems GmbH and on Twitter.
About VSHN – The DevOps Company
VSHN AG is the leading Swiss partner for DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift and 24/7 Cloud Operations. VSHN helps software developers run their applications agile and 24/7 on any infrastructure while relieving the burden on IT operations. Since 2014, we are serving more than 900 servers in 20 different clouds as well as on-premises at customer locations with a total of more than 62’000 services for 300 different customers and partners. We are ISO 27001 certified and work to the strict FINMA guidelines to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer information at all times. With APPUiO.ch, we have created a Red Hat OpenShift based Swiss container platform, where we can offer Managed Services as a PaaS solution (Platform-as-a-Service) on any infrastructure: public, dedicated, private and on-premises. At VSHN, we believe in openness and transparency, so we let you decide where to store your data (we call this multi-cloud strategy). Either locally in your own data center (on-premise) or at a cloud provider location of your choice. Take a look at our services and learn more about our services and how we can possibly support you. Follow us on Twitter and don’t miss any news.
Markus Speth
Markus is VSHN's CEO and one of the General Managers.
Latest news
VSHN.timer
VSHN.timer #228: Mind-Blowing Revelation: We’re Eurovision Song Contest Winners! (sort of)
VSHN wins tender for hosting the Swiss Linked Data Platform
24. Jul 2018
We are happy to announce that VSHN has won the tender for hosting the Swiss Linked Data Platform of the Swiss Federal Archives.
What is the purpose of opendata.swiss?
opendata.swiss is the Swiss authorities’ portal for open – i.e. freely available – data. It is part of the Federal Council’s Open Government Data Strategy for Switzerland 2014-2018. The Confederation, cantons and communes as well as other organisations with a mandate from the state publish their open data on opendata.swiss. The portal brings together a wide range of datasets such as Swiss communal boundaries, population statistics, current weather data, historical documents and health insurance premiums. All the datasets can be downloaded free of charge and exploited. You can find more details about opendata.swiss here.
About Opendata.ch
Opendata.ch is the official support association of opendata.swiss and the Swiss section of the Open Knowledge Foundation.
Opendata.ch develops positions and projects and contributes them to the media. The goal is to make data publicly, freely available and usable for more transparency, innovation and efficiency – that’s Open Data.
The Swiss Federal Archives preserve the documentation of government actions and make it accessible. This enables the administration to account for its activities and work more efficiently. For the public and researchers alike, archiving is essential for the formation of independent, critical opinions in a democratic state under the rule of law. Research in the Federal Archives can be carried out online or on site. More information about the Swiss Federal Archives can be found on their official website or on Twitter.
Purpose of the tender
The Swiss Federal Archives and the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN have agreed to cooperate closely on the establishment, operation and further development of a productive Linked Data Platform. The Swiss Federal Archives and the FOEN prepared the tender documents for the ‘Linked Data Platform’ in close collaboration, the overall WTO tender was lead by the Swiss Federal Archives.
The Swiss Federal Archives has been looking for a competent, reliable and high-performance service provider who can provide the required service organization in close cooperation with the client, successfully migrate existing data from the legacy system and then operate the Triplestore infrastructure in regular operation.
Why was VSHN AG selected?
At the invitation to tender held by the Federal Office for Buildings and Logistics (FOBL) as an organizer, VSHN AG was able to convince both regarding the good fulfillment of the qualitative requirements and the overall good price / performance ratio. We are very pleased that we will be ensuring the service operation as well as the support throughout the entire performance period of the Swiss Linked Data Platform and to provide further consulting and integration services on behalf of the client.
On the software side, Stardog will be used, the leading Enterprise Knowledge Graph software. Of course, we are also very pleased to be working with Stardog Union to make this project a joint success.
VSHN AG (pronounced ˈvɪʒn like “vision”) is Switzerland’s leading DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes, Openshift and 24/7 cloud operations partner. Since 2014 we support >300 customers & partners operating >900 servers in 20+ different clouds and on-premises with >62000 combined monitored services. We are ISO 27001 certified and work in accordance with the strict FINMA guidelines to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer data at all times. Companies such as Adcubum, Avectris, Generali, Die Schweizerische Post, hitobito, HRM Systems, die Mobiliar, Sherpany, SIX Group, Sobrado, Starticket and many more already trust in our services.
Markus Speth
Markus is VSHN's CEO and one of the General Managers.
Latest news
VSHN.timer
VSHN.timer #228: Mind-Blowing Revelation: We’re Eurovision Song Contest Winners! (sort of)
VSHN will run the OpenShift platform for the next evolution of the Australian GovCMS
19. Jul 2018
VSHN AG will build and operate the OpenShift platform for amazee.io and Salsa Digital to host the next evolution of GovCMS for the Australian Department of Finance.
amazee.io + Salsa Digital + VSHN
amazee.io and Salsa Digital signed a three-year contract with the Australian Department of Finance to build the next evolution of GovCMS, the Drupal-based content management system used by the Australian Government and VSHN will operate the OpenShift platform and ensure highly available 24/7 operation in close collaboration with them.
In February 2018, the Australian Department of Finance approached the market through a Request for Proposal to continue to operate GovCMS, a content management system based on Drupal. Salsa Digital and amazee.io were selected to build the next evolution of the CMS and VSHN will operate and manage the underlying OpenShift platform to ensure a smooth and high available 24/7 operation of the hosting platform.
GovCMS websites will operate in a fully containerised environment which will reduce and simplify agency development efforts, with the same setup and configuration across environments. All SaaS websites will be highly available, with a guaranteed uptime of 99.99% and have self-healing capabilities. PaaS websites can elect for the higher availability option.
You can find more details in the original press release of the Australian Department of Finance here.
Open Source
The new solution will bring GovCMS onto an open source platform making the entire technology stack open source for the first time. Salsa Digital, amazee.io and VSHN share the values of open source and transparency.
Container based hosting platform based on Lagoon
Existing sites on GovCMS, as well as new government agencies on-boarding, will benefit from a fully open source and container based hosting platform.
Together we will be providing GovCMS with a modern hosting solution based on Lagoon. Lagoon is everything you’ve come to expect from Docker in a Drupal-friendly environment. It is made up of a system of microservices that take code, create Docker Images, push the images into OpenShift/Kubernetes, and monitor deployments.
Lagoon allows developers to develop locally with Docker, with the exact same Docker images and Containers running in production in Kubernetes. This eliminates all of the hassle that comes with different versions or configurations. If it runs locally, it will run in production.
The decision to use Lagoon, coming from the Australian Department of Finance, clearly shows the need for open source platforms in the hosting market. Open source has been at the heart of all we do, and amazee.io was built on the idea that hosting should no longer be the one place in web development where open source solutions weren’t available. This is an incredible day for open source and we are excited to be a part of it.’
The original amazee.io media release can be found here.
OpenShift is an open source project by Red Hat, which expands the open source components Docker and Kubernetes through a web based administration interface and the ‘source to image’ (source code to container image) process. With OpenShift, you can centralize the creation of containers to ensure successful testing and to automate deployment to make sure that it isn’t depending on individuals.
Why VSHN?
Thanks to our many years of experience in setting up and operating large-scale and high available OpenShift platforms, we are of course very pleased to be able to secure and manage the 24/7 operation of GovCMS for the Australian Ministry of Finance for Salsa Digital and amazee.io.
Companies such as Adcubum, Die Schweizerische Post, hitobito, HRM Systems, die Mobiliar, Sherpany, SIX, Sobrado, Starticket and many more already trust in our services.
VSHN and amazee.io
VSHN and Amazee Labs, the creators of amazee.io, have been partners since 2015 to offer a new and efficient infrastructure for hosting Drupal. VSHN supported with consulting, engineering and the operation of the servers and through our collaboration, we laid the technological foundation for the future of Drupal hosting. More in-depth information about our partnership with Amazee Labs can be found here.
Salsa Digital will deliver program, application, and support services, and amazee.io will provide the platform and hosting supported by VSHN who will provide OpenShift management. Salsa Digital is an Australian based digital agency with a legacy in Drupal and open source, and key contributor to the open government movement.
About VSHN AG
VSHN (pronounced ˈvɪʒn like “vision”) is Switzerland’s leading DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes, Openshift and 24/7 cloud operations partner. Since 2014 we support >300 partners operating >900 servers in the cloud and on-premises with >62000 combined monitored services and are also ISO 27001 certified to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer data.
In addition to close collaboration and consulting we also take on the responsibility for the stability of our services including 24/7 support. We believe in openness and sharing of know how, experience and code (open source).
APPUiO
We also created APPUiO.ch, the Swiss container platform based on Red Hat OpenShift, where we provide managed services on a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) on any infrastructure: public, dedicated, private and on-premises. Reliable open source concepts such as Docker and Kubernetes allow you to develop, operate and scale your application according to your needs. With APPUiO, your applications can be operated both on public clouds as well as on in-house data centers. The platform was originally built by the two IT specialists Puzzle ITC and VSHN AG to professionalize internal IT. Today, APPUiO is already used in production by several customers and supported by a strong community.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkPrivacy policy
