5G platform modernization: Lower costs, accelerated delivery

Enterprise 5G client profile and legacy infrastructure context

The client is a prominent B2B telecommunications provider specializing in 5G network solutions and they needed a highly secure, cost-effective, and fully automated internal deployment platform to manage complex software pipelines and scale their operations.

However, to support their core operations and already existing legacy infrastructure, they required a strategic modernization approach that could eliminate costly vendor dependencies, upgrade end-of-life servers without service interruptions, and bridge the gap between their fragmented tools through custom automation and robust security guardrails.

Technical bottlenecks in vendor-locked CI/CD pipelines

• Vendor dependency: Heavy reliance on paid Bitnami resources for core databases and authentication systems drained budgets by recurring licensing fees, and created inflexibility.

• Security vulnerabilities and outdated systems: Critical workflows were running on End-of-Life servers (CentOS 7) incompatible with modern cloud integrations, while a reliance on unstable external storage registries frequently disrupted operations. Furthermore, a lack of automated code scanning had already led to accidental plain-text password leaks, exposing the business to severe security risks.

• Inefficient workflows: A lack of synchronization between GitHub, Jenkins, and Jira forced developers to manually track build statuses. This administrative bottleneck significantly impacted developer productivity and slowed down the entire release cycle.

Success criteria for open-source Kubernetes migration

To resolve the existing infrastructure limitations and security vulnerabilities, our engineering team designed a comprehensive modernization strategy focused on transitioning to a fully open-source, automated ecosystem. The primary objectives of this transformation were defined by three strict operational targets:

• Eliminate reliance on legacy paid charts to reduce infrastructure overhead.

• Automate the entire build-to-ticket lifecycle to increase developer productivity.

• Secure all internal infrastructure and deployment pipelines against credential leaks.

Technical architecture and Jenkins automation workflows: 

To break free from vendor lock-in, we custom-rebuilt Keycloak, MongoDB, and SQL Server deployments using official open-source Helm charts, rigorously validating each through end-to-end Kubernetes cluster reinstallations. To secure their software supply chain, we architected a robust hub-and-spoke AWS ECR environment via Terraform for a secure image registry. To ensure platform stability, we executed a complete infrastructure overhaul, safely migrating the core Jenkins build system from an End-of-Life OS to Ubuntu 24.04 and upgrading the networking layer to a highly available NGINX Gateway Fabric. 

Furthermore, we enforced strict security by integrating automated PR scanning to instantly block plain-text credential leaks. Finally, after moving core repositories to GitHub, we built a custom webhook-free Jenkins polling mechanism to bridge internal network restrictions. This established a fully automated Jira lifecycle that instantly updates ticket statuses upon merge, completely eliminating manual tracking from the developers' daily workflow.