The bottom line.
You keep the keys: namespace and workload sovereignty, root in your own namespaces, your CI/CD and your release cadence. Options operates the OpenShift substrate underneath — version, upgrades, patching, nodes and the network — to a defined SLA.
Your senior platform engineers stop spending the week on cluster lifecycle, CVE patching and certificate rotation, and get back to product. A Validation Sandbox proves the boundary on one of your workloads before you commit.
Why now.
Cluster sprawl
Self-managed Kubernetes multiplies clusters faster than you can rationalise them. SRE time drains into upgrades, CVE patching and cert rotation.
Hardware cost pressure
Server DRAM prices are climbing hard. The next self-funded cluster refresh needs a capital approval it didn't need two years ago.
DORA attestation burden
Self-managed clusters make you attest the platform layer yourself. A managed substrate transfers that Article 28 evidence to Options.
Platform-team retention
Senior platform engineers don't want to spend their careers on cluster lifecycle. Offload the substrate and redirect them to product.
AI workload pull
Quant and product teams want GPU-backed namespaces inside the same cluster, not a side environment stood up from scratch.
The strategy.
Where It Applies
- Platform teams of five or more running self-managed Kubernetes, VMware or bare metal
- Capital markets quant teams: latency-tolerant analytics, overnight batch, ML
- Fintech platform teams fighting cluster sprawl as they scale
- ISVs that need hardened, attested infrastructure without a managed app service
Honest Edge Cases
- No internal platform team — the fully-managed Capital Markets motion fits better
- You want per-cluster lifecycle control and to deviate from the reference — self-managed suits you
- You need a hyperscaler-native control plane — Options isn't the answer for that workload
The operating boundary
The operating boundary.
Documented in a joint runbook on day one, revisited quarterly. Five lines, no ambiguity — which is what makes a shared-responsibility model work.
Cluster lifecycle
Options: OpenShift version, upgrades, patching, etcd, nodes. You: workload compatibility against version windows.
Networking
Options: cluster network, ingress, egress, service-mesh substrate. You: workload network policy and application traffic.
Identity & RBAC
Options: cluster-scoped roles, IdP integration, audit pipeline. You: namespace roles, application identity and secrets.
Workloads
Options: capacity guidance, upgrade-compatibility advisory. You: build, deploy, scale, debug and root in your own namespaces.
Compliance
Options: SOC 2 Type II and DORA Article 28 platform evidence. You: workload-level controls and application audit trail.
How it runs on OMC.
Highly capable teams usually land on Advanced — Standard for dev and test, Dedicated for the largest estates. The tier changes worker isolation, not the foundation.
Standard
Shared, multi-tenant platform. Fastest way onto FSI-hardened Kubernetes.
Advanced
Dedicated worker pools with tighter data-plane isolation and custom SLAs.
Dedicated
Single-tenant control plane in your jurisdiction. Full sovereignty over data and identity.
PodOps managed service
Options FSI hardening
Red Hat OpenShift
Kubernetes
Validation Sandbox.
A signed 30-day engagement where we stand up one of your workloads on a PodOps cluster, co-author the runbook that locks the operating boundary, and hand you the evidence.
- ✓ No procurement, no lock-in, no obligation to continue
- ✓ You keep root and workload ownership throughout
- ✓ Named FSI platform architect from day one
The co-authored runbook is what turns a shared-responsibility model from ambiguous to signed.
Engagement path.
Discovery
A 90-minute session with your platform lead to test the keys-and-platform fit and pick a workload.
30-day sandbox
Your workload runs on the platform. We co-author the runbook; both sides sign off the boundary.
Phased production
Tier selection — usually Advanced — with MigrateIQ, migration owned by your team at your cadence.
Proof and business case.
Red Hat Premier partner, all three OpenShift specialisations · 600+ FSI customers · 15 years SOC