Ster (Stichting Etherreclame) was established in 1965 to sell advertising space on the channels of the Dutch Public Broadcasting Organisation (NPO - Nederlandse Publieke Omproep). Ster is an independent, non-profit foundation. All advertising revenue is fully transferred to the Ministry of Education, Culture & Science, which uses it to fund public broadcasting.
Ster & Azure:
Ster began using Azure in 2008, but did not have a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) at that time. When Ster later transitioned to Office 365, maintaining continuous access to Premier Support became a top priority, as Ster’s infrastructure played a key role in its operations. In 2019, Microsoft ended direct support for smaller customers and advised Ster to find a CSP partner for further support. Given the critical importance of a reliable IT environment, Ster undertook an extensive search for a reputable CSP partner in the Netherlands. In June 2019, Ster selected Intercept as its CSP partner. Since then, Ster has collaborated with Intercept to manage and support its Azure environment.
Background:
Since 2019, Intercept has managed Ster’s infrastructure. During this collaboration, Ster noticed that Intercept had skilled and experienced technicians. Until then, Ster had mostly managed IT internally, as they rarely engaged external parties. However, in 2022, the need arose to replace the sales system. The challenge was how to organise and implement this effectively. This marked the beginning of Starlight 2.0.
Starlight 2.0
The new Starlight sales system needed to be modern, robust, and reliable, running on Azure. While Ster knew exactly what they needed, they lacked the internal expertise to build it. Crucial knowledge of network architecture, security, setting up a landing zone, uptime, and backups was missing within the team. To ensure flexibility, Ster decided to separate the software and infrastructure. Centric was chosen for software development due to their proven expertise. For the infrastructure, Ster selected Intercept, both for their specialised Azure knowledge and the trust developed during previous collaborations. With this setup, Ster laid the foundation for a future-proof sales platform.
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"Intercept provided an Azure platform on short notice, enabling both internal and external developers to work securely. For the first time, we confidently granted an external party access to our internal systems. Something we were able to fully trust Intercept with."
System and Network Architect Ster, Marc Punte
The challenge:
Centric was responsible for developing the entire software package, while Intercept handled a specific part of the project, the infrastructure. This division had the potential to cause friction between the parties. To ensure the project’s success, it was essential that Centric and Intercept communicated effectively and ‘spoke the same language.’ Thanks to their proactive approach and clear communication, Intercept established a strong collaboration with Centric. Ster valued not only Intercept’s independence but also their ability to maintain ongoing engagement with Centric, which ensured the project progressed smoothly. The trust between the parties has grown so strong that, according to Ster, Intercept employee Fabian could easily put on a “Ster jacket” and fully integrate into their working methods.
What were the results?
Intercept designed and implemented the entire infrastructure for Starlight 2.0, including networking, security, and a landing zone on Azure. This solid and flexible foundation enabled Centric’s developers to build their code efficiently. The initial results were impressive: the system proved technically robust, scalable, and reliable. Pleased with the approach, Ster decided to migrate all future projects to Azure in the same way. The Starlight project not only delivered a new sales system but also established a modern foundation for Ster’s IT future. Lacking the necessary internal expertise, Ster chose to hire externally and became a DevOps client of Intercept. For the first time, Ster outsourced the monitoring and optimisation of their systems. Intercept continues to ensure uptime and performance, responding quickly to new requests and expansions. This project exemplifies how collaboration, trust, and expertise drive sustainable innovation.
Starlight 2.0 was a project carried out for Ster, focused on building a robust, scalable, and reliable infrastructure. The work involved designing and implementing networking, security, and a landing zone on Azure. But the impact didn’t stop there. Following the project, Ster chose to migrate all future projects to Azure and became a DevOps client of Intercept, outsourcing the monitoring and optimisation of their systems.