How Trade Connectors Optimized Kubernetes Cost with Multi-Tenancy from vCluster

Duplicated Environments and High Costs Across Regions

Trade Connectors’ infrastructure relied on virtual machines and legacy software, which limited their scalability and increased operational burden. As they began moving to Kubernetes to support growing demands across 13 countries, the need for multiple environments—QA, UAT, Regression, and Production—posed a significant challenge. Without vCluster, this transition would have required 52 separate AKS clusters to maintain the necessary environments for each country, an approach that would have been prohibitively costly and operationally complex for a not-for-profit with limited resources. Additionally, they faced challenges in maintaining data isolation and compliance for each country, making scaling with traditional Kubernetes models unsustainable.

Challenges

• High operational costs and duplicated infrastructure across countries
• Complexity in managing 52 clusters to support 4 environments in 13 countries
• Difficulty maintaining data isolation and compliance for multi-country deployments

Consolidated Multi-Tenant Architecture for 13 Countries

After exploring options for Kubernetes multi-tenancy, Trade Connectors selected vCluster to consolidate their infrastructure. Instead of managing 52 separate AKS clusters, they now operate isolated virtual clusters for each country and environment within a few physical clusters, providing both data security and compliance. This new setup enables Trade Connectors to manage unique requirements by country without impacting other environments, achieving substantial cost savings and simplicity.

‍Advantages

• Isolated, virtual clusters for each environment and country, reducing the need for 52 physical clusters
• Efficient multi-tenancy that substantially cut infrastructure costs 
• Reduced operational complexity, allowing faster environment setup across countries

A Flexible, Cost-Effective Solution with Outstanding Support

Trade Connectors chose vCluster for its affordability and flexibility, which allowed them to implement Kubernetes multi-tenancy without the costs of traditional setups. vCluster’s support team provided seamless onboarding and consistent assistance, enabling Trade Connectors to optimize their operations from day one.

“We needed a solution that worked out of the box with strict isolation, and vCluster delivered with seamless support,” says Carsten Peyk, CTO. This combination of isolation and reliable support allowed Trade Connectors to manage their multi-country requirements affordably and efficiently, making vCluster the ideal choice for their needs.