UpCloud
Effortless global cloud infrastructure for SMBs
Introducing
If you’re interested in what we have to offer, contact sales or fill out a contact form.
Our support live chat is available for our customers 24/7. You can also email our support team.
Send us an email to give feedback or to say hello.
Start a new journey
Why Partner with UpCloud?
I’ve been passionate about the hosting industry since 2001. Before founding UpCloud, my first company grew to become one of Finland’s largest shared web hosting providers, serving over 30,000 customers. Along the way, I faced the same challenges many of you know well—24/7 on-call responsibilities, solving technical issues, and managing customer inquiries.
At UpCloud, we’ve designed a platform that solves these challenges, offering reliability, scalability, and unparalleled support. We understand the pressures you face because we’ve been there too. Partner with us, and let’s help you focus on growing your business while we handle the rest.
Sincerely, Joel Pihlajamaa CTO, Founder
Login
Sign up
Posted on 16.5.2025
As cloud infrastructure continues to evolve, businesses of all sizes are rethinking their approach to scaling, securing, and modernizing their operations. In a recent episode of our Cloudscapes podcast, hosts Janikka Jokinen, Senior Account Executive, and Teppo Suominen, Team Coach, sat down with Lauri Kainulainen, CTO of Montel Intergalactic, to talk about cloud migrations, Kubernetes, and the future of cloud-native infrastructure.
Subscribe now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube and be part of our growing community that’s building a smarter, more secure European cloud ecosystem.
Here are the top three takeaways from the conversation:
Kainulainen emphasized that nearly every company, regardless of size or industry, will eventually need to migrate to the cloud. While cloud adoption brings obvious benefits like scalability, speed, and cost-efficiency, the process of migrating can be complex—especially for companies with legacy systems and undocumented infrastructure.
“Migrations are scary because you’re often moving the beating heart of the company. But with the right expertise, it’s entirely manageable.”– Lauri Kainulainen, CTO, Montel Intergalactic
“Migrations are scary because you’re often moving the beating heart of the company. But with the right expertise, it’s entirely manageable.”
– Lauri Kainulainen, CTO, Montel Intergalactic
Montel’s approach? Make migrations modern and meaningful—not just a lift-and-shift, but a true modernization of architecture, tools, and practices. Their advice: don’t fear migration, but don’t go it alone. Lean on partners who understand both the legacy and the modern.
Over the past five years, Kubernetes has transformed from a complex, hard-to-implement tool into a solid, production-grade platform. Montel now exclusively recommends Kubernetes to its customers because of its flexibility, power, and ecosystem maturity.
“Today, the hardest part of setting up Kubernetes on UpCloud is naming the cluster.”– Lauri Kainulainen, CTO, Montel Intergalactic
“Today, the hardest part of setting up Kubernetes on UpCloud is naming the cluster.”
Thanks to tools and services from providers like UpCloud—such as managed databases, object storage, and developer-first interfaces—the infrastructure layer has become easier to manage. The real challenge now lies in designing scalable, stateless workloads and embracing higher-level abstractions that free up development time.
As geopolitical uncertainty and cyber threats rise, security and compliance are becoming non-negotiable concerns—especially for European companies. Kainulainen noted that demand for threat detection, infrastructure reviews, and basic security hygiene (like avoiding exposed databases) is surging.
“Security is no longer a checkbox—it’s a constant process. And it’s top-of-mind for every customer.” – Lauri Kainulainen, CTO, Montel Intergalactic
“Security is no longer a checkbox—it’s a constant process. And it’s top-of-mind for every customer.”
In parallel, AI is rapidly becoming a core part of digital strategies, with customers exploring machine learning use cases that require cloud-native, compute-heavy infrastructure. Montel sees 2025 as the year when AI will deliver real, tangible value to small and medium-sized businesses—not just proof-of-concepts.
Successful cloud journeys depend on having the right partner. Montel’s collaboration with UpCloud reflects this shared commitment to developer-first tooling, predictable pricing, and European data sovereignty.
From modernizing monoliths to running high-performance AI workloads, Montel and UpCloud are helping companies reimagine what cloud can do—securely, scalably, and with less stress.
“No company will win the market just by having the best DevOps team—but they can absolutely lose it without the right infrastructure.”– Lauri Kainulainen, CTO, Montel Intergalactic
“No company will win the market just by having the best DevOps team—but they can absolutely lose it without the right infrastructure.”
Tune in and subscribe now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube to explore how European businesses are building secure, future-ready cloud solutions—one conversation at a time.
Migration icons created by Eucalyp – Flaticon
See all posts
July 23, 2024
Private cloud infrastructure emerged as a solution to some of the drawbacks of public cloud services. Although the private cloud has similarities to public cloud architecture, it distinctly provides a proprietary framework dedicated to a single organisation. Cloud services are agile and scalable, and many companies have already made the choice to move away from […]
April 16, 2025
Puzzling over the right cloud solution for your company? Cloud computing is mission-critical for business operations, so choosing between private, public, and hybrid cloud setups can feel like a tough decision. In this blog, we will help you differentiate between these three options, so you can make an informed choice on what best suits your […]
June 28, 2024
Cloud costs are an essential overhead for today’s future-focused business, but with often complex cloud server pricing and a raft of cloud pricing models to choose from, managing cloud expenses carefully is critical to optimising the investment. Cloud services are agile and easily scalable, far easier to maintain, and don’t come with up-front capital costs. […]