Project December 22, 2025

Support with the tender process for the introduction of a container management solution

Solid foundations for innovative IT – from the idea to secure implementation.

A leading energy and infrastructure company in Switzerland faced the challenge of further advancing the modernization and efficiency of its IT infrastructure. The goal was to introduce a container management solution that would enable applications and services to be operated flexibly, scalably, and securely in isolated containers in the future. Until now, only a few applications had been containerized, but in the future, as many applications as possible were to benefit from the advantages of a standardized solution for container management. Clear responsibilities, centralized integration of IT security, and the implementation of modern security controls were particularly important in this context.

To ensure the success of this project, a high-level architecture and a comprehensive big picture for container management were developed in collaboration with atrete as part of a preliminary project. The high-level architecture encompassed the cluster architecture, while the big picture included the recommended CI/CD setup based on DevSecOps principles and an overview of the operating process according to GitOps. In several workshops and using structured questionnaires, a detailed catalog of criteria was created, which included suitability criteria, technical specifications, and weighted award criteria. This catalog formed the basis for the subsequent submission for the implementation of the container management solution.

The project was divided into three phases: First, challenges, success factors, and responsibilities were defined. In the requirements analysis, stakeholders and user profiles were identified, and key technology components such as Kubernetes and GitLab were presented in workshops. In the third phase, the high-level architecture and GitOps setup were developed jointly, security aspects were analyzed, and various architecture variants were evaluated. The requirements were systematically documented and regularly reviewed, resulting in a complete catalog of requirements and a master document containing all project results.

This structured approach enabled the company to establish a solid basis for the WTO tender for the introduction of the container management solution. The most important results include a comprehensive catalog of criteria with weighting, a master document of all project results, a common technical understanding within the project team, and a clearly defined high-level architecture. The modern CI/CD and GitOps setup based on best practices and the consideration of security controls also ensure the security and future viability of the new management solution.

A senior project manager and IT architect at the company summarizes the collaboration as follows:

"Thanks to the project with atrete, we were able to work together as partners to develop a solid foundation for successfully and thoroughly finalizing the WTO tender. The deliverables we developed, the clarification of the high-level architecture and the clear structure and security measures also give us a high degree of confidence in the successful introduction of the new container management solution."