Joel Studler
DevOps Engineer and System Architect
Bern, Switzerland
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Joel is part of the team building the cloud native 5G core at Swisscom, where he works on moving from box-centric telco practices towards Kubernetes-first automation using GitOps, the Kubernetes Resource Model and custom Operators. He is a co-creator of the open source NetBox Operator and contributes to Sylva as well as the Cloud Native Telco Forum, pushing the industry conversation on modernising telco beyond containerised network functions. Joel spoke in the KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2025 keynote on cloud native evolution in telecom and regularly presents at conferences like KubeCon, Open Source Summit and ContainerDays. Outside the tech sphere he is an active musician, both live and in the studio.
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It’s Always DNS: So Let’s Break It On Purpose
The distributed nature of cloud native DNS solution creates a variety of reliability concerns. Container crashes, network disruptions or traffic spikes, could disrupt a cloud DNS solution build for facilitating workload specific record types (NATPR for telco purposes), or service discovery across multi-cluster or hybrid cloud environments. Chaos Engineering can be used to evaluate the fault tolerance, performance, and correctness of these systems, helping ensure robustness under such conditions.
In this talk, we will show how to set up a DNS service with cloud-native components like CoreDNS, ExternalDNS and PowerDNS, then test its resilience with a steady‑state hypothesis and realistic fault injection. We will highlight the key metrics for observing and measuring the impact of injected faults and the overall health of the service. Finally, we will demonstrate how this chaos‑testing approach can drive architectural changes towards a more reliable service.
From YANG to YAML: How We Tamed the 5G Configuration Beast
Discover our breakthrough results from a unique telco operator-vendor collaboration on cloud-native 5G configuration management!
We’ll demonstrate our declarative GitOps solution using KRM and Kubernetes operators that simplifies complex YANG configurations for cloud-native network functions. Learn how combining telco operator knowledge with vendor expertise overcame practical cloud-native telco transformation challenges.
Our results showcase successful integration of a CNF with KRO, SDCIO, and dynamic IPAM hydration - proving operators and vendors can co-innovate effectively within the CNCF ecosystem. We’ll share our lessons learned, architectural decisions, and proven patterns for making 5G infrastructure truly cloud-native.
Join us to explore this collaborative model that accelerates industry adoption and aligns perfectly with CNCF’s mission!
Why is it so Hard to Run a 5G Core on Kubernetes—and What Needs to Change for 6G
Telco hard standards often clash with Kubernetes best practices. Many so-called “cloud-native Network Functions” (CNFs) are in reality just “Containerized Network Functions” and remain box-centric: Helm install mimics hardware mounts, Multus wires up virtual cables, and NETCONF configures boxes. Marketed as “telco grade,” these designs bypass Kubernetes’ strengths like IPAM, networking, and high availability—limiting real cloud-native gains.
This session shares practical examples, including why a User Plane Function (UPF) isn’t inherently cloud-native, and explores how 6G can align telco design with Kubernetes-first patterns. We will also highlight how exposing APIs can enable treating the network as a product, unlocking new use cases and business models. With a Kubernetes foundation, mobile networks can evolve to be simpler, faster, and more open, bridging the gap between telco standards and the cloud-native community.
Just Claim It: Simplifying Network Automation with NetBox Operator
As part of Swisscom's cloud-native transformation, we developed the open-source NetBox Operator to bridge the gap between network management and Kubernetes. Leveraging the Kubernetes API, the NetBox operator enables users to adopt GitOps practices for IP address management.
The operator uses the same "claim" model found in Kubernetes – e.g. in the PersistentVolume Controller – to differentiate desired and observed states. The user only defines a high-level intent which the operator will process to reserve a resource, like IPs, in NetBox.
In this talk, we’ll demonstrate how the NetBox Operator simplifies the automation of MetalLB IP Address Pools, enabling zero-touch configuration for ingress networking in your Kubernetes clusters. We’ll also highlight advanced features like sticky IP assignments for power users. By simplifying resource management, the operator lets engineers focus on higher-level tasks, enhancing scalability and agility across infrastructures, including the 5G core.
From Weeks to Seconds: Scaling Network Automation with Kubernetes Operators
Modern networks demand dynamic, scalable automation, yet managing complex networks remains a challenge. At Swisscom, we tackled this by building a Kubernetes Resource Model (KRM)-powered automation framework that transforms high-level user intents into production-ready network configurations, in seconds, not weeks. By integrating MetalLB load balancing and NetBox IP address management, we created an efficient, repeatable, and scalable workflow. In this talk, we’ll showcase our automation in action, demonstrating how we launch the Network of a 5G Core in minutes. We’ll highlight key productivity gains, share best practices, and discuss lessons learned from scaling network automation. You will learn about automation frameworks and our own experience building Kubernetes Operators such as the open-source Netbox Operator. Join us to see how cloud-native automation is transforming networking, and why Kubernetes Operators are the key to faster, smarter, and more flexible network operations.
Evolving GitOps: Harnessing Kubernetes Resource Model for 5G Core
In the forefront of 5G deployment, Swisscom leads by evolving GitOps through the adoption of the Kubernetes Resource Model (KRM), setting a new standard for dynamic configuration management and abstraction in 5G core networks. This strategic enhancement leverages the strengths of GitOps while introducing the flexibility and scalability of Kubernetes, aiming for increased deployment agility and operational efficiency. Our initiative extends Kubernetes API by integrating with custom Kubernetes Operators, alongside CI/CD advancements through Flux, to refine and empower GitOps practices. This talk will delve into our journey of merging GitOps with KRM, showcasing the transformative impact on 5G network operations, from increased reliability to seamless automation. Join us to explore how Kubernetes is reshaping the future of network management and GitOps methodologies.
Dig Smart: Building a Reliable Cloud-Native DNS for Modern Networks
Join us for a tech talk where we'll demonstrate how we operate and automate a highly available, geo-redundant DNS service for Swisscom's 5G mobile network using a cloud-native tech stack. We'll provide an in-depth look into our multi-cluster architecture that leverages ExternalDNS, PowerDNS, and CoreDNS. Additionally, we'll showcase how the system behaves when a cluster breaks down, and how we monitor and troubleshoot this multi-cluster setup at scale.
This talk will be particularly interesting for those with demanding DNS requirements—such as applications which require rare DNS resource records like NAPTR—as well as engineers and architects tasked with building a DNS service using cloud-native tools who, due to compliance, governance, or availability concerns, cannot use publicly available DNS-as-a-service offerings.
Building and Operating a Highly Reliable Cloud Native DNS Service With Open Source Technologies
In this tech talk, we will show how we deploy, operate and automate a highly available and geo redundant DNS Service for Swisscom's 5G mobile network using a Cloud Native tech stack. We will provide an in-depth insight into our multi-cluster architecture that leverages ExternalDNS, PowerDNS and CoreDNS to build a modern and reliable DNS setup. In addition we will deep dive into the automation and demonstrate the interplay between ExternalDNS and Kubernetes resources such as Ingresses, Services, Istio Gateways, Contour HTTPProxies and ExternalDNS DNSEndpoints. Our talk will be interesting for highly demanding DNS users – for instance applications that require the use of rather rare DNS Resource Records like NAPTR – as well as engineers and architects tasked with building a DNS service with cloud native tools that are – for compliance, governance or availability concerns – not allowed to use a publicly available DNS-as-a-service offering.
Evolving GitOps: Harnessing Kubernetes Resource Model for 5G Core
In the forefront of 5G deployment, Swisscom leads by evolving GitOps through the adoption of the Kubernetes Resource Model (KRM), setting a new standard for dynamic configuration management and abstraction in 5G core networks. This strategic enhancement leverages the strengths of GitOps while introducing the flexibility and scalability of Kubernetes, aiming for increased deployment agility and operational efficiency. Our initiative extends Kubernetes API by integrating with custom Kubernetes Operators, alongside CI/CD advancements through Flux, to refine and empower GitOps practices. This talk will delve into our journey of merging GitOps with KRM, showcasing the transformative impact on 5G network operations, from increased reliability to seamless automation. Join us to explore how Kubernetes is reshaping the future of network management and GitOps methodologies.
From Spreadsheets to "Everything as Code"
At Swisscom, we are engaged in an ambitious technology and cultural transformation towards cloud-native readiness. The advent of new technologies and open source tools has provided us with the opportunity to rethink how we build and operate our 5G Core. By leveraging these technologies, we have taken the chance to ban the widely adopted use of spreadsheets and files "stored anywhere" and adopt a GitOps approach. This has enabled us to introduce DevOps best practices for application development, such as version control and CI/CD/CT for both infrastructure and applications. Our strategy of utilizing state-of-the-art tooling and a new willingness to embrace a "try fast and fail fast" mentality was crucial in finding the optimal solution to address various challenges. Early experience and lessons learned have guided us towards advanced templating practices, which go beyond simply copying and pasting environments. Low-level design as code and repository/branching strategies were instrumental in enabling us to automate at scale and streamline the instantiation, configuration, testing, and lifecycle management of 5G core services. In this presentation, we will showcase the evolution of the mobile network core in regards to deployment, configuration, and testing of 5G network functions on Kubernetes using Flux, Ansible, GitLab, Grafana & Kubernetes Operators.
How we provide MongoDB Enterprise in self-service and at scale leveraging Kubernetes Operators
At Swisscom we are hosting MongoDB for customers that, for compliance reasons, are unable to consume services from public cloud providers such as AWS, GCP or MongoDB Atlas. We fill this gap with our MongoDB-as-a-Service offering which is available to all our enterprise customers in self service and hosted exclusively in Swiss datacenters.
In this Session we will talk in-depth about our 6 years of experience in building MongoDB-as-a-Service, operating hundreds of clusters for various use cases and our journey to move from VMs to Kubernetes. You will learn how we automated MongoDB using Ops Manager, Open Service Broker, Argo CD, Helm and existing as well as self made Kubernetes Operators.
How We Are Moving From GitOps to Kubernetes Resource Model in 5G Core
5G is the next evolution in mobile networking. While the rollout of Radio antennas and base stations is ongoing globally, the next generation of mobile core is still being developed. At Swisscom we are moving from a GitOps oriented approach with static configuration to a more dynamic KRM (Kubernetes Resource Model) oriented approach to improve deployment and lifecycle of the mobile network. This involves rethinking configuration management and change management as well as introducing new concepts from the cloud native world like Kubernetes Operators and Custom Resource Definitions. In this talk, you will learn what we are currently doing in achieving an end-to-end automation with dynamic configuration management that is based on Kubernetes clusters. We will talk about Nephio, custom built Kubernetes Operators, CI/CD tools like Flux and Argo and how it all ties in to GitOps.
ContainerDays Hamburg 2026 Sessionize Event Upcoming
KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2026 Sessionize Event
CNCF-hosted Co-located Events Europe 2026 Sessionize Event
Swiss Cloud Native Day 2025 Sessionize Event
Open Source Summit Europe 2025 Sessionize Event
CNCF-hosted Co-located Events Europe 2025 Sessionize Event
Open Source Summit Europe 2024 Sessionize Event
ContainerDays Conference 2024 Sessionize Event
KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2024 Sessionize Event
ContainerDays 2023 Sessionize Event
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