Case Study VBL
The successful collaboration between the Verkehrsbetriebe Luzern (VBL) and baseVISION led to a profound transformation of the IT landscape. Azure Arc played a key role in strengthening cybersecurity, increasing the efficiency of server updates, optimising resource utilisation and preparing for future technologies. This partnership demonstrates how cloud technologies can enable organisations like VBL to modernise their IT operations and achieve their strategic goals.
Verkehrsbetriebe Luzern (VBL) is a leading transport organisation providing public transport in the city and canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. With a strong focus on sustainable mobility and a modern customer experience, VBL plays a central role in the regional transport infrastructure.
The situation before baseVISION: Challenges faced by VBL
Faced with a changing technological landscape and the need to improve its IT infrastructure, VBL set out to modernize its operations and strengthen its cybersecurity measures. With these pressing challenges at hand, VBL turned to baseVISION, and our collaborative journey on the project began.
The situation before baseVISION: Challenges faced by VBL
Faced with a changing technological landscape and the need to improve its IT infrastructure, VBL set out to modernize its operations and strengthen its cybersecurity measures. With these pressing challenges at hand, VBL turned to baseVISION, and our collaborative journey on the project began.
The Vision: The Cloud-First Strategy
With the potential of Microsoft Azure in mind, the company sought a cloud-first strategy to enable efficient management of its servers, increase security, reduce costs and best position itself for emerging technologies.
Unify management across all 80 on-premises servers in the cloud.
Take full advantage of new cloud technologies.
Save resources with efficient cost monitoring and automatic updating.
«Microsoft’s Update Management Center makes it possible to ensure that the operating system and anti-virus protection are updated in an orderly and audited process.»
Pratheep Sinnathurai, Azure Engineer at baseVISION AG
The Transformation
Evaluation & Decision
Evaluation and strategic decision: Originally, a project to update the Endpoint Manager was planned. However, the partnership with baseVISION and Microsoft technologies opened up new possibilities. Together with baseVISION, the VBL team explored the benefits of both Endpoint Manager and Azure Arc for the future IT landscape. After a thorough review, VBL decided to adopt a cloud-first strategy and focus on Azure.
Planning
Azure Governance and Planning: A comprehensive Azure governance strategy was developed in close cooperation with baseVISION. This included the definition of naming conventions, networks, RBAC, resource organization (management groups, subscriptions, resource groups), identity management and Azure policies. This step was critical to ensure optimal resource utilization in terms of scalability, cost, and availability.
Implementation
Implementing Azure Arc for server management: The implementation of Azure Arc brought a new dimension to server management. The focus was on the Update Management Center, which replaced the manual installation of Windows updates. Automation saved resources and ensured compliance. Updates were tested in a staged process on test servers and then rolled out to production servers to improve stability.
Enhance Security
Strengthening security measures: Azure Arc not only enabled efficient server management, but also significantly improved the security landscape. Thanks to multi-factor authentication (MFA) and conditional access, access to servers was only allowed to authorised administrators. Network communications are protected by SSL encryption, which is further enhancing the security situation.
Outlook
Azure cost management and future scalability: The Azure platform provided an effective way to control and manage costs. By using Azure Cost Management, budgets could be set, and irregularities detected before costs got out of control. The entire environment was also designed to seamlessly integrate future Azure resources, which supported the scalability of the system.
Evaluation & Decision
Evaluation and strategic decision: Originally, a project to update the Endpoint Manager was planned. However, the partnership with baseVISION and Microsoft technologies opened up new possibilities. Together with baseVISION, the VBL team explored the benefits of both Endpoint Manager and Azure Arc for the future IT landscape. After a thorough review, VBL decided to adopt a cloud-first strategy and focus on Azure.
Planning
Azure Governance and Planning: A comprehensive Azure governance strategy was developed in close cooperation with baseVISION. This included the definition of naming conventions, networks, RBAC, resource organization (management groups, subscriptions, resource groups), identity management and Azure policies. This step was critical to ensure optimal resource utilization in terms of scalability, cost, and availability.
Implementation
Implementing Azure Arc for server management: The implementation of Azure Arc brought a new dimension to server management. The focus was on the Update Management Center, which replaced the manual installation of Windows updates. Automation saved resources and ensured compliance. Updates were tested in a staged process on test servers and then rolled out to production servers to improve stability.
Enhance Security
Strengthening security measures: Azure Arc not only enabled efficient server management, but also significantly improved the security landscape. Thanks to multi-factor authentication (MFA) and conditional access, access to servers was only allowed to authorised administrators. Network communications are protected by SSL encryption, which is further enhancing the security situation.
Outlook
Azure cost management and future scalability: The Azure platform provided an effective way to control and manage costs. By using Azure Cost Management, budgets could be set, and irregularities detected before costs got out of control. The entire environment was also designed to seamlessly integrate future Azure resources, which supported the scalability of the system.
«The cooperation with baseVISION was very successful. Their support was comprehensive in all areas, and they gave us a deep understanding of the latest Microsoft technologies. They also impressed us with well-thought-out solutions that were extremely interesting for our needs. Working with baseVISION has undoubtedly been an enriching experience»
Manuel Ottiger – Head of ICT Operations / Deputy Head of IT
Most beneficial Microsoft technologies used
- Azure infrastructure
- Azure Arc
- Defender for Endpoint
- Microsoft Entra ID
- Conditional Access
Most beneficial Microsoft technologies used
- Azure infrastructure
- Azure Arc
- Defender for Endpoint
- Microsoft Entra ID
- Conditional Access
«The cooperation with baseVISION was very successful. Their support was comprehensive in all areas, and they gave us a deep understanding of the latest Microsoft technologies. They also impressed us with well-thought-out solutions that were extremely interesting for our needs. Working with baseVISION has undoubtedly been an enriching experience»
Manuel Ottiger – Head of ICT Operations / Deputy Head of IT