Swisscom’s Journey from Vendor Lock-In to Cloud Native Infrastructure Platform

As a premier Swiss service provider, Swisscom envisioned evolving its existing “Container Service” into a next-generation platform. The goal was clear: create a modern, powerful, and flexible Kubernetes offering for its private cloud customers that would guarantee data sovereignty and give Swisscom full control over quality and reliability.

Achieving this vision, however, required overcoming significant challenges. The legacy solution’s reliance on proprietary VMware technology created high costs and stifled innovation through vendor lock-in. Furthermore, a modernization gap had emerged, as competing with global hyperscalers meant delivering advanced features like autoscaling and native load balancing. Layered on top of these technical requirements were strict sovereignty demands to meet rigorous Swiss data protection laws. Finally, the sheer operational complexity of building a multi-tenant, highly available platform from scratch demanded a streamlined and highly automated approach to management.

To solve these challenges, Swisscom architected its new Kubernetes Service as an entirely new, highly available platform grounded in open-source technologies. "In collaboration with Kubermatic, a leading Kubernetes platform provider, we eliminated proprietary technology and have established a robust foundation," states Christian Dietrich, Product Manager for Cloud at Swisscom.

The core of this new foundation is the Kubermatic Kubernetes Platform (KKP), which provides the powerful provisioning and orchestration engine for all backend services. Leveraging a full open-source stack built on KKP with Baremetal, KubeVirt, and Kube-OVN, Swisscom was empowered to deliver a truly modern and flexible service.

KKP’s automation was key to managing the full cluster lifecycle, including updates and autoscaling across two regions and three availability zones. This enabled Swisscom to offer the advanced, CNCF-certified feature set their customers demanded, including flexible CNI options, enhanced RBAC security, and a native Kubernetes Load Balancer, ensuring the highest standards in cloud-native technology.

The launch of the new Kubernetes Service, powered by Kubermatic, has had a profound impact on both Swisscom and its customers.

For Swisscom, replacing its proprietary stack with an open-source solution built on KKP has eliminated vendor lock-in, providing full control over their technology roadmap while dramatically lowering licensing costs. This shift enables them to offer a more competitive and cost-effective service.

Consequently, Swisscom’s customers now benefit from a truly sovereign and compliant platform, with all infrastructure, operations, and support contained exclusively within Switzerland. They receive a modern, feature-rich, and intuitive self-service experience that rivals the performance of global hyperscalers, ultimately accelerating their own digital transformation journeys.