Established in 1953, the Korea Coast Guard (KCG) is South Korea’s central administrative agency responsible for protecting maritime sovereignty, ensuring public safety at sea and preserving the marine environment. Its broad mission scope includes maritime disaster response, illegal fishing enforcement and search and rescue operations. In recent years, the KCG has intensified its focus on leveraging digital and AI technologies to enhance maritime surveillance, predictive analytics and operational efficiency.
At-a-Glance
The Korea Coast Guard (KCG) reduced deployment times by 75% and achieved 30% cost savings by modernizing its maritime operations with SUSE solutions. This significant transformation occurred despite a limited budget and a shortage of specialized IT personnel. By implementing SUSE Rancher Prime at headquarters and lightweight K3s clusters on vessels, the KCG established a scalable foundation for future advancements like AI-driven analytics, predictive maintenance and real-time maritime surveillance. Additionally, SUSE Multi-Linux Support reduced KCG’s overall Linux costs and enhanced security across its mixed-Linux environments.
Building the foundation for an AI-ready fleet
The Information and Communication Team, responsible for overseeing the full lifecycle of the KCG’s information and communication infrastructure (from project planning and execution to inspection and maintenance) recognized that valuable data was scattered across various systems and was not being properly stored or managed.
Vessel network connectivity was often unstable due to challenging maritime conditions. Many onboard systems still relied on analog methods, and teams manually managed data without a centralized collection or analysis framework. This fragmented approach limited the usability of critical information. Each vessel also ran different Linux-based operating systems, including CentOS and Red Hat versions that were reaching End-of-Service (EOS), introducing serious security vulnerabilities and operational risks.
In response, the Information and Communication Team launched a pilot project in the second half of 2024 to develop a Digital Ship System as a foundational step toward enhancing maritime security. The project aimed to replace legacy infrastructure with a scalable, Kubernetes-based platform capable of supporting real-time data integration, digital twin technologies and advanced analytics. Ultimately, the goal was to build an AI-ready infrastructure to analyze maritime video and sensor data in real time, detect abnormal patterns, and support autonomous decision-making aboard patrol vessels. It would also enable predictive maintenance through the systematic collection and visualization of key equipment metrics, such as engine performance.
However, several constraints stood in the way. Budget limitations required cost-effective solutions. A shortage of IT personnel (compounded by the KCG’s rotational duty cycle) hindered continuity and limited in-house Kubernetes expertise, preventing them from building an internal platform they would need to maintain. As a result, the team began looking for simplified, efficient and flexible solutions that could deliver immediate operational benefits while also supporting long-term capability growth.
“SUSE Rancher Prime played a pivotal role in helping the Korea Coast Guard tackle the dual challenges of resource efficiency and security for our Kubernetes and AI infrastructure.”
Why SUSE solutions?
The Korea Coast Guard evaluated several leading container orchestration and multi-OS support solutions, including VMware Tanzu and Red Hat OpenShift. The Information and Communication Team prioritized ease of use, deployment flexibility, operational efficiency and compliance with strict public-sector constraints.
SUSE Rancher Prime emerged as the preferred Kubernetes management platform due to its intuitive interface and low operational complexity, which allowed non-specialist personnel to manage containerized environments more effectively, even within a staffing model where most personnel rotate periodically. Its support for heterogeneous Linux environments and vendor-neutral architecture also aligns with the KCG’s need to avoid lock-in and accommodate varied vessel configurations. According to KCG’s architectural plan, SUSE Rancher Prime centralizes the entire infrastructure management at KCG headquarters and allows them to deploy lightweight Kubernetes to vessels in service or to any environment of choice.
To complement SUSE Rancher Prime, SUSE Multi-Linux Support (part of the SUSE Linux solutions) unifies management of diverse Linux distributions under a single, streamlined support framework. This was particularly appealing given the KCG’s mix of aging CentOS and Red Hat installations, some of which had reached EOS status.
“Considering all our constraints — limited budget, human resources and tight deadlines — we concluded that SUSE Multi-Linux Support and SUSE Rancher Prime were the optimal solutions for building our Digital Ship System,” says Young-soo Kim, Officer, Information and Communication Division, Korea Coast Guard.
The Results
KCG enlisted systems integrator to integrate the SUSE solutions across the KCG’s headquarters and pilot vessel. The KCG deployed SUSE Rancher Prime and SUSE Multi-Linux Support centrally at its headquarters, with lightweight K3s distributions installed directly onto individual vessels to optimize performance onboard. The infrastructure operates on a private IaaS foundation built on VMware virtual machines (VMs) and Kernel-based Virtual Machines (KVMs), running on HPE HCI and Supermicro GPU servers. This architecture provides a versatile and powerful foundation for advanced AI and analytics workloads, aligning closely with South Korea’s AI policy initiatives.
Reduces deployment time by 75%
SUSE Rancher Prime significantly accelerated the KCG’s infrastructure deployment process by reducing setup time to just one week. This is 75% faster than competing solutions, which typically require months for similar deployments. This rapid deployment enabled the KCG to swiftly implement its digital transformation initiatives without extensive delays.
"SUSE Rancher Prime’s low technical complexity allowed us to build the infrastructure in about a quarter of the time compared to competitors’ solutions," says Young-soo Kim.
Achieves 30% cost savings
SUSE Rancher Prime helped the KCG achieve substantial financial efficiencies compared to licensing structures of competitors. “SUSE Rancher Prime’s licensing policy saved us 30% in costs,” says Young-soo Kim. This cost-effectiveness was crucial for managing tight public budgets, ensuring the project’s economic feasibility.
Maintains security of a mixed-Linux environment
As part of the SUSE Linux solutions, SUSE Multi-Linux Support enables the KCG to centrally manage diverse Linux operating systems across its vessels, including EOS versions of CentOS and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The solution delivers continuous, unified security updates and patches, effectively eliminating security gaps across varied systems without necessitating costly upgrades or replacements. Importantly, SUSE Multi-Linux Support facilitates management of differing operating systems provided by various vessel manufacturers through a single license, significantly reducing complexity and cost.
Enables resilient edge operations and digital twin capabilities
KCG addressed the challenge of intermittent network connectivity at sea by deploying a resilient edge computing platform with K3s on each vessel. This architecture allows each vessel’s critical onboard systems to operate autonomously, processing and storing data locally even when temporarily disconnected from central systems.
This edge foundation enables the KCG’s digital twin strategy. Lightweight K3s Kubernetes clusters onboard vessels collect real-time data from key systems (such as engine performance monitors) and synchronize that data with central applications whenever connectivity is restored. This ensures a continuously updated, high-fidelity virtual model of each vessel, supporting both real-time situational awareness and predictive maintenance.
Simplifies Kubernetes management with limited IT resources
SUSE Rancher Prime’s streamlined interface reduces operational complexity, allowing the KCG’s limited IT personnel to handle Kubernetes and container operations at scale. It manages the distributed fleet of K3s edge clusters alongside core infrastructure at headquarters through a single, unified interface. This centralized control simplifies operations, providing seamless visibility and coordination across the entire Kubernetes environment — from the data center to the tactical edge.
Given that more than 70% of KCG personnel are police officers rotating positions periodically, with a limited number of dedicated IT specialists, this simplification is particularly valuable, enabling continuity of expertise and ease of operational management while avoiding vendor lock-in.
Supports AI-driven maritime surveillance and predictive maintenance
The combined infrastructure provided by SUSE Rancher Prime and SUSE Multi-Linux Support creates an ideal foundation for advanced data analytics and AI-driven applications. Notably, the KCG implemented a large language model (LLM) trained on digitized equipment manuals, which runs within the SUSE Rancher Prime-managed container environment and enables automated question-and-answer functionality.
Additionally, the infrastructure based on SUSE solutions supports the Marine Domain Awareness project led by other departments, contributing to broader maritime situational awareness efforts. These sophisticated AI workloads enhance predictive maintenance strategies, digital twin technologies and real-time maritime surveillance, positioning the KCG at the forefront of maritime security innovation.
Delivers proactive support tailored to unique needs
SUSE’s proactive, ongoing technical support significantly enhances operational efficiency at the KCG. This support includes comprehensive training programs, quarterly system check-ups and specialized consulting for cluster integration, ensuring continuous optimization and reliability of the deployed solutions. This not only reduces operational costs and administrative burdens but also helps KCG personnel maintain high levels of internal technical expertise, critical for long-term operational sustainability.
What’s next for the Korea Coast Guard?
The success and stability demonstrated in the Digital Ship System pilot project were so significant that they validated the KCG’s digital transformation goals. “SUSE Rancher Prime played a pivotal role in helping the Korea Coast Guard tackle the dual challenges of resource efficiency and security for our Kubernetes and AI infrastructure,” says Young-soo Kim. As a result, the organization is now moving forward with its broader Information Strategy Planning (ISP), using the pilot as a blueprint for future expansion.
The KCG plans to expand its advanced infrastructure across all maritime territories, fully implementing comprehensive AI-driven surveillance, data analysis and predictive maintenance capabilities. The project aligns closely with national efforts to modernize public sector IT infrastructure in support of South Korea’s broader AI and digital transformation strategy.
Recognizing the value of centralized management and security from a single trusted provider, the KCG is actively evaluating SUSE's container security solution, SUSE Security, for potential integration. With continued support from SUSE, including specialized training, regular check-ups and expert consulting, the KCG is positioned to strengthen its maritime security operations significantly and sustainably.