No Vendor Lock-in – Our Principle

We believe customers should stay because they want to – not because they have to.

Lock-in is not part of our business model.
At the same time, we acknowledge that not every technical setup can be fully vendor-neutral.
That’s why we openly document how we approach the issue – today and going forward.

What we mean by “Vendor Lock-in”​

Vendor lock-in occurs when switching providers is difficult, costly, or technically unfeasible – for example, when:

• proprietary tools are used without access or documentation
• core components can’t be handed over
• setups or processes are tightly tailored to one provider

For a detailed definition, see our Glossary entry on “Vendor Lock-in”Vendor lock-in is a technical or organizational dependency on one provider that makes switching difficult. Learn more →.

Our Approach: Open, Transparent, Responsible​

Infrastructure as a Service – not a Trap​

When we provide infrastructure for clients, it always happens in a dedicated context – technically and organizationally isolated, documented, and transferable at any time.

This means:

• No shared environments between customer systems
• Full handover possible at the end of a project
• Access to configurations, data, and operational parameters

Shared Platform Services (If It Makes Sense)​

Some services – like monitoringMonitoring spots problems before they escalate – active oversight, not just reacting. Learn more →, metrics, or databasesA database stores structured information – reliably, securely, and on demand. Learn more → – can be operated as multi-tenant platforms.

We ensure:

• strict separation of data and access rights
• export options for future migrations
• transparent communication if a service is not exclusively operated

Shared infrastructure is never introduced without mutual agreement.

Our Own Platform – But Never a One-Way Street​

Our infrastructure is provisioned via an internally developed platform – built for consistency, security, and speed.

That means:

• Our tools are not public, but their behaviour is documented
• They are based on open standards like KubernetesKubernetes is a system for managing containerized applications – automated, scalable, and fault-tolerant. Learn more →, Helm, and GitGit is a version control system – it makes code changes traceable, collaborative, and secure. Learn more →
• You can migrate without using our platform

We use our own tools – but we never lock you out.

Our IaC Framework – Designed Against Lock-in​

Our Infrastructure-as-Code framework is explicitly built to reduce technical dependency on any particular cloud or infrastructure provider.

• We can migrate infrastructure across bare metal, VMsVirtual machines simulate full computer environments – with their own operating system, kernel, and resources. Learn more →, and cloud platforms
• Configurations are modular, portable, and automatable
• BackupsBackups are the life insurance of digital systems. Learn more → (e.g. with Velero) allow for clusterA cluster is a group of servers running a system together – scalable, fault-tolerant, and flexible. Learn more → recovery in minutes
• The current system state is documented and can be reproduced elsewhere

Our goal: full control – no matter the hosting model.

Exit Strategies & Handover Processes​

We actively support our customers during exit or handover phases:

• transfer of access rights, configurations, secrets, and operational data
• support with exports, snapshots, and replication
• documented processes – transparent and contractually defined

To us, responsibility means: making it easy to leave, too.

Our Core Principle​

We build infrastructure that works without us.
If it works even better with us: all the better.

Technical Notes for Infrastructure Leads​

• Provisioning is primarily handled via our internal tool chain.
• All deploymentsDeployment is the moment software goes live. Learn more → are versionedVersioning makes changes identifiable and traceable – in code, infrastructure, and operations. Learn more → and tracked in Git.
• Secrets and configurations are encrypted and portable.
• Logs, monitoring, container registriesA registry is where your software lives – as an image, versioned and ready to deploy. Learn more →, and CI/CD artifacts can be run in dedicated or multi-tenant mode.
• The system state is always exportable and reproducible.

Got questions about a specific setup?
Get in touch