Adfinis unveils OpenBao services for secure secrets

Adfinis has launched a suite of open source services built around OpenBao, as the systems integrator moves to formalise its role in the emerging secrets management project.

The Switzerland-headquartered open source specialist has introduced six end-to-end offerings that sit on top of OpenBao, a secrets and encryption management system developed in the open under the Linux Foundation and OpenSSF.

Adfinis said the new portfolio targets organisations in sectors that face strict regulatory and security requirements. The services focus on managing passwords, API tokens, certificates, and other sensitive credentials.

OpenBao provides access control, encryption at rest and logging for secrets. It runs as an open source alternative to proprietary vault and key management platforms.

Open source focus

OpenBao operates under community governance and uses an open development model. It offers organisations a route away from single-vendor products in this area.

Adfinis acts as an OpenBao co-maintainer and sits on the project's Technical Steering Committee. The company said it is using that position to align commercial services with the upstream roadmap.

The new portfolio starts with what Adfinis describes as tailored OpenBao platforms. This covers the design of OpenBao architectures, deployment in customer environments, and integration with existing systems, such as identity platforms and application back ends.

Adfinis said this workstream focuses on individual security and compliance requirements. The company positions it as a route for organisations seeking a custom OpenBao setup rather than a standard template deployment.

A second offering is a fully managed OpenBao service. Adfinis operates, monitors and maintains OpenBao environments on a 24/7 basis under this model.

Customers retain control of their data and secrets in that structure. Adfinis takes on patching, upgrades and operational incident handling.

Consulting and support

The company has also created an OpenBao adoption and enablement service. This focuses on consulting for organisations at an early stage in their secrets management implementation.

The consulting package covers organisation-wide adoption. It examines how staff handle secrets, how processes manage credentials, and how technical controls enforce policies.

Adfinis has paired this with an OpenBao enterprise support and assurance subscription. The subscription gives organisations a route to vendor-style backing for an open-source project.

The subscription includes guaranteed software support for OpenBao. It also provides software maintenance and continued development work.

Adfinis said this structure aims to give customers assurance over long-term product upkeep without shifting them onto a proprietary platform.

Migration and development

The portfolio also includes a migration service for organisations that use closed-source vault tools or home-grown secrets stores. Adfinis has created tooling to increase migration speed into OpenBao.

The migration work focuses on reducing risks and costs when moving sensitive data. It covers the transfer of secrets, integration changes for applications and operational cutover.

Adfinis has also formalised a feature development stream dedicated to OpenBao. In this model, the company contributes new features directly to the upstream project.

Those contributions go through the community development process. The approach keeps improvements available under the open source licence and avoids customer-specific forks.

Adfinis said the feature development work will prioritise integrations and functions that its customers request. It is intended that these features will remain available for the wider OpenBao community.

Digital sovereignty push

The company has framed the new services as part of a broader push for what it calls digital sovereignty in secrets management. It links this concept with control over the software stack and with the ability to change suppliers.

Adfinis said many organisations face high costs, opaque licensing, and limited flexibility when using proprietary secrets management tools. It argues that an open-source alternative can provide greater transparency and long-term control.

The company also pointed to challenges around internal expertise. Many organisations lack staff specialised in secrets and key management, which can slow the adoption of secure platforms.

Adfinis said the new portfolio is structured around those constraints. It ranges from advisory services for organisations that want to run OpenBao themselves through to fully managed operations.

Michael Hofer, Chief Technology Officer at Adfinis, said the launch responds to long-standing market demand for accessible secrets management. He said this is relevant for organisations at different scales and in different industries.

"Adfinis's new OpenBao offerings are a long-awaited step forward in making secrets management accessible to everyone. An organisation's security shouldn't be disadvantaged by missing budget, resources, or expertise, and it should be sustainable for the long term. Together with the incredible OpenBao community, we are dedicated to championing a secrets management model founded on the principles of openness, simplicity, and unwavering reliability."

Adfinis said it has managed secrets platforms for almost a decade and has delivered more than 80 projects and managed services for over 25 customers in that period. The company plans to use the new OpenBao-focused suite as the basis for further work on open source secrets management in regulated and complex environments.