Tensio’s Leap to Always-On GIS with ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes

For power grid operators like Tensio, reliability is more than a technical goal; it’s essential for serving communities across Norway’s Trøndelag region. Tensio’s service area covers 29,000 kilometers of lines and cables, 100 transformer stations, and 13,000 substations. These support nearly half a million people.

Every outage or delay can ripple across neighborhoods, businesses, and critical infrastructure.

To manage this responsibility, staff rely on accurate data, clear visibility, and a modern IT infrastructure that can support continuous operations. As data volumes grew and demands on its systems increased, Tensio recognized the need for a more flexible and resilient approach to managing its geographic information system (GIS)—one that could support mission-critical operations today and provide a foundation for future growth.

Tensio’s legacy GIS environment was built on ArcGIS Enterprise on Microsoft Azure—a Windows-based cloud deployment that had served them well for years. But cracks were showing. Tensio’s Azure deployment required paying for peak resources year-round, resulting in unnecessary costs and inefficiencies. Scaling up during outages meant resources sat idle most of the time. Upgrades also risked taking mission-critical systems offline, threatening the reliability customers depended on.

“We had a very expensive system in Azure that we thought could be better utilized on the Kubernetes platform,” said Ove Marthinussen, senior systems engineer at Tensio.

These challenges were compounded by Tensio’s small GIS team, who managed both GIS and IT tasks. The team spent a lot of time manually scaling and maintaining the system.

“Another big thing was that in Azure, we were not able to do upgrades while the system was up and running, because there is a lot of integrations towards ArcGIS from other third-party systems. So it was always an issue to take ArcGIS down to perform an upgrade,” said Marthinussen.

Tensio’s power grid maps are central to operations, relied on daily by field teams, engineers, and customers to monitor outages and maintain the grid. Any disruption could affect the safe and efficient delivery of electricity.

“[Staff] use it all the time, every day. Our grid area is the same size as the country of Denmark,” explained Magnus Aleksander Aspås, a systems engineer heavily involved in the migration. “It’s really important that when something happens, we are quickly out in the field and manage to figure out what’s wrong and fix the problem.”

Tensio needed a more dependable and adaptable IT foundation. The company worked with Geodata, the Norwegian Esri distributor, to migrate its GIS to ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes. The goal was a modern, cloud-native architecture that could scale easily, automate updates, and deliver reliable service for both external stakeholders and internal teams. This approach also met strict data sovereignty requirements.

The shift to Kubernetes was not without its hurdles. Tensio was among the first in its region, and the first grid operator, to migrate its entire GIS environment, taking on risk and uncertainty to modernize its operations.

“There aren’t a lot of other companies that have migrated their systems entirely the way that we have,” said Aspås. “We were kind of the pioneers...It’s always a risk when you are the first one to walk a new path.”

The migration took almost two years and used both automated tools and manual work. To avoid downtime, Tensio took an incremental approach and ran parallel systems throughout the transition. The teams containerized workloads, re-architected systems, and ensured seamless integrations through careful planning and technical expertise.

“For a long time, they had services running on both the old Azure platform and the new Kubernetes platform and gradually we switched more and more over until we could shut down the old solution,” said Espen Frette Gausel, cloud engineer at Geodata.

Regular meetings and shared channels in Jira, a project tracking software, and Microsoft Teams kept both teams aligned. Designated communication leads and scheduled meetings made troubleshooting easier. Most services and datasets were migrated with automated tools, but some required hands-on fixes. Close collaboration helped resolve issues quickly and ensured critical services were thoroughly tested before each major transition—an approach that minimized risk and ensured continuity.

For many organizations, knowing how existing data will be migrated and accessed in the new environment is critical.

Geodata’s cloud engineering team worked side by side with Tensio throughout the migration, while Esri provided technical guidance and best practices. This partnership ensured that Tensio could overcome challenges and build a resilient, future-ready system.

According to Geodata system architect Harald Øystein Lund, Geodata handled the cloud deployment, shifting from direct SQL database connections to API workflows. This improved data integrity and security, reduced the risk of accidental changes, and made auditing easier. API-based access also supports long-term stability and compliance as GIS environments evolve.

While the transition to API-based workflows had benefits, some users initially missed the flexibility of direct SQL database access. Tensio and Geodata addressed this concern by providing training and support, helping teams adapt to the new approach.

Migrating large datasets, especially images and attachments, was the main technical challenge. Lund explained that these files were “heavy to migrate and had to be loaded bit by bit.” ArcPy scripts (Python tools for ArcGIS) and resources from Esri, such as the Well-Architected Framework, were used to transfer data.

With the transition complete, Kubernetes now underpins Tensio’s GIS both externally and internally. Externally, the platform delivers reliable services to customers, ensuring they can access critical grid data without interruption. Internally, field crews and engineers use the system daily to maintain the grid, respond to issues, and support ongoing innovation projects.

“I think everybody’s agreeing that it’s more stable than the previous environment,” said Aspås.

Staff perform upgrades now without taking critical systems offline. As Marthinussen noted, the outage map is “almost always up and running, even if there are many outages at the same time...It still handles the load. That’s really beneficial.”

Kubernetes has enabled Tensio’s GIS team to focus more on developing solutions and less on maintenance, enhancing operational workflows for both routine and emergency response.

With Kubernetes, Tensio pays only for the resources they use. The platform automatically scales up during traffic spikes—such as outage events—while keeping base costs low during normal operations. “Previously, [Tensio] would have to spec the servers themselves to be able to handle these surges, whereas now you can run the entire system on a pretty low resource usage and scale it up as necessary,” said Gausel.

The GIS platform is no longer just a tool; it is now a foundation for reliable energy delivery across the power grid in Trøndelag.

Migrating to ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes was a critical step for Tensio to future-proof its operations. With Geodata and Esri as partners, Tensio has built a resilient, scalable platform that will support reliable energy delivery for years to come. The successful migration has also inspired new opportunities for Tensio to further enhance its GIS capabilities. Staff are now exploring products such as ArcGIS Enterprise Sites, ArcGIS Excalibur, and Site Scan for ArcGIS.

For organizations considering a similar migration, Tensio’s team offers clear advice: Build strong partnerships and follow a structured plan.

“The most important part was always having a structure and a steady pace forward—a clear plan for how to migrate. Geodata and Esri were always available, took our concerns seriously, and worked with us to ensure we came out with a system we felt confident in. That trust and support gave us a steady foundation for the future,” Aspås reflected.