Custom platform · Nonprofit & media
An educational nonprofit publishing on contentious subjects needed a platform that stays up, stays fast, and doesn't hand attackers an easy target. intSignal built a custom publishing platform behind a CDN and edge protection, and runs the security and support around it.
The problem
A public content platform that would draw hostile attention.
What we did
Custom website and publishing platform with CDN and managed hosting.
The outcome
CDN absorbed traffic spikes without paying for permanently oversized hosting.
The challenge
A public content platform that would draw hostile attention. Editorial and contributor workflows with no supporting system. Traffic that spikes unpredictably when content lands. No internal IT or security capability.
The approach
Custom website and publishing platform with CDN and managed hosting. Cybersecurity program plus Microsoft 365 management. Custom CRM and ERP for contributor and operations workflow. Full MSP and IT support.
The thinking
A publisher that draws hostile attention needs to stay fast under sudden load and hard to knock over — but can't pay for permanently oversized hosting to guarantee it. We used a CDN and edge protection to absorb spikes (where cloud-style elasticity genuinely fits) on top of a custom platform we host and harden ourselves. Different layers, different models, chosen for what each actually needs — not one default applied to everything.
Why it works
The quieter win is accountability. When a custom platform, its hosting, its security and its phone system come from four different vendors, the gaps between them are where things break — and no one owns the gap. Building and running it as one means a single team is answerable for the whole, the systems are unified by design rather than integrated after the fact, and there's one relationship to manage instead of a switchboard of suppliers. For a small team, that unification is the difference between technology being a tool and being a second job.
Outcome
Traffic spikes are absorbed by the CDN instead of paid for with permanently oversized hosting, the public platform is hardened and monitored for attack traffic, and published work is protected by tested recovery. The organisation runs end to end on one provider with no internal IT.
Custom platform removed recurring license costs of a commercial CMS stack. Consolidated hosting, security, email, and support under one provider. Managed support replaced the need for internal IT headcount.
How these figures were derived
Effort and outcomes are reconstructed from production systems of record — ticket histories, call detail records, dispatch and SOC/NOC telemetry — read end to end rather than sampled. Cost comparisons are indexed to a baseline, never a fee or rate. Where a figure is modelled rather than measured it is labelled as such, and the model is documented and available to defend on request.
Customer
Shown on request. Some engagements remain confidential by contract.
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