Optimatik: Tech support for SaaS in the energy sector

Reihen von Solarmodulen sind auf einer Wiese unter einem teilweise bewölkten Himmel installiert.

Customer

For over 30 years, Optimatik AG has been one of the leading Swiss providers and integrators of innovative software solutions for energy supply companies. We support the Optimatik AG team in providing their products as a software as a service solution on the web.

To Optimatik AG To the Energy Business Portal

The initial situation

Optimatik AG's Energy Business Portal was previously available as an on-premise solution and was now to be available as SaaS from the cloud. Optimatik AG did not (yet) have any cloud professionals in-house and also had a relatively tight schedule for the changeover.

Our solution

With a workshop specially tailored to Optimatik AG, we were able to bring the team up to speed on the topic of cloud hosting with Kubernetes within two days. We then worked closely with them to set up the new Google Cloud-based infrastructure and deploy the Energy Business Portal to the new cluster using automated CI pipelines.

Advantages of cloud operation

Faster onboarding of new customers
Simplified maintenance
Reduction in operating costs
Less manual intervention in the event of malfunctions

Our keys to success

1. keep it simple

The possibilities of operating in the cloud are endless. We have focused on keeping the solution simple so that problems can be found more quickly during operation.

2. customer proximity

Close cooperation between us and the Optimatik AG team was a basic prerequisite for them to be able to take over the operation of the new solution seamlessly.

3. automate everything

The most common errors in software operation are caused by human error during system updates. That's why we automate wherever possible.

«Immediately after the start of the project, we had a partner in smartive who responded to our needs with outstanding experience. We were able to complete the tasks effortlessly despite the tight schedule.»

Hans Keller

Head of Development & Technology Optimatik AG

And why is SaaS now better than on-premise?

A SaaS offering from the cloud is not per se better than an on-premise operation. However, on-premise solutions are more costly to set up and more complex to maintain. This is why cloud operation can generally be offered at a lower price.

And what do you need for this?

CI Pipelines

To avoid having to package and deliver the software manually, we rely on automated CI pipelines. In this case with Bitbucket. Otherwise often with GitLab or GitHub.

Docker

The software is packaged in Docker containers on delivery. This gives us a uniform basis for different technologies and simplifies operation considerably.

Kubernetes

Thanks to Kubernetes, the Docker containers come to life and can communicate with each other. Kubernetes also takes care of the restart if something gets stuck.

Google Cloud Platform

We obtain Kubernetes from the Google Kubernetes Engine. This starts the required servers for us in the data center in Zurich. AWS and Azure can also do this, but here we use Google's service.

Cloud SQL & MongoDB Atlas

We obtain a PostgreSQL database from Google Cloud SQL Service. A MongoDB from MongoDB Atlas. Both databases then run again in the Google data center in Zurich, right next to our Kubernetes cluster.