Unscheduled Pods Leads Sportmarket’s Digital Transformation
Introduction
Sportmarket, a renowned sports betting brokerage based in Europe, has been a major player in the industry since 2004. Regulated in the Isle of Man, Sportmarket offers a unique service that allows customers to place bets across multiple bookmakers using a single account. Their commitment to providing a seamless betting experience has positioned them as one of the most reliable bet brokers globally.
From Traditional Data Center to AWS
To accommodate the increasing number of users, Sportmarket needed to improve their existing IT setup and infrastructure. We suggested a complete overhaul — migrating to AWS, switching to Microsoft 365, and redesigning the entire development process. Such a comprehensive shift removed the scalability and performance limitations imposed by the obsolete data center and on-premises solutions.
Solution by Unscheduled Pods
In 2016, the project began with us providing a comprehensive audit and analysis of Sportmarket’s existing on-premises systems. This initial phase was crucial in understanding the gaps and potential areas for improvement.
The analysis revealed that migrating to more advanced and scalable cloud-based solutions like AWS and Microsoft 365, together with the improvement of development processes would streamline operations and enable Sportmarket to handle a larger user base more effectively.
The move to AWS from their traditional data center setup was a strategic decision that allowed Sportmarket to leverage the flexibility, scalability, and advanced capabilities of cloud computing. This shift was instrumental in addressing their scalability challenges and preparing the platform for future growth.
Another major component was transitioning from their on-premises Exchange server to Office 365. This shift modernized their communication and collaboration tools, as well as integrated seamlessly with their new cloud-based infrastructure. All this enhanced the overall efficiency and productivity.
Another important element of this overhaul was refining the development process, which included the implementation of GitLab for version control and the integration of Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. These changes modernized their software development and deployment processes, ensuring faster, more reliable, and more efficient delivery of software updates and features.
Another step in this transformation was adding Defender 365 to enhance server and endpoint security, and Intune to implement device management features for all Sportmarket IT assets. This shift marked a significant move towards a more flexible and collaborative digital workspace, allowing Sportmarket's team to work more efficiently and securely.
In terms of cloud computing, Unscheduled Pods implemented a multi-account AWS strategy. The first step was to migrate the existing infrastructure from a data center to AWS to ensure elasticity and scalability. This was accomplished through virtualization and the use of AWS EC2 with Autoscaling.
Next, the database was modernized and made more reliable by moving to AWS RDS. Availability was also improved through the use of AWS CloudFront and AWS S3.
In later stages, when the platform was upgraded to support microservices architecture, Unscheduled pods moved a part of the architecture to AWS ECS (Fargate) to be able to utilize serverless architecture for scaling.
With these upgrades, the system could support a practically unlimited number of users. But there was more work to be done.
Recognizing the criticality of cybersecurity in the sports betting industry, Unscheduled Pods implemented the Cloudflare platform alongside Microsoft Defender 365 and Microsoft Sentinel (SIEM).
Cloudflare was chosen because of its core benefits — robust defenses against DDoS attacks, traffic filtering and bot management, CDN, WAF, SSL/TLS encryption, DNS services, and rigorous verification for every user and device (Zero Trust Security Model).
Additionally, we provided Sportmarket with 8x5 support service to ensure continuous monitoring and rapid response to any security threats.
The Unscheduled Pods team also provides continuous support to Sportmarket’s Development Team.
Initially, Unscheduled Pods suggested the implementation of Git to store code, evaluated the available solutions and opted for Gitlab with self-hosted Gitlab CI runners, which are hosted in AWS EC2.
Finally, for the deployment of frontend and backend code, a CI/CD pipeline was designed, with front-end being deployed in AWS S3 and CloudFront, while backend is deployed through Docker to AWS ECS.
Today, we continue to provide support to Sportmarket’s internal development team when it comes to the improvement of their GitLab environment and integrating security in the development process through Secure SDLC.
Impact
The collaboration between Sportmarket and Unscheduled Pods resulted in a profound transformation of Sportmarket’s IT infrastructure. The shift to cloud-based solutions not only improved operational efficiency but also scaled up Sportmarket’s capacity to manage a larger user base. The enhanced security measures ensured robust protection against cyber threats, crucial in the sensitive field of sports betting.
Conclusion
Over seven years, Sportmarket and Unscheduled Pods’ ongoing partnership stands as proof of how digital transformation drives the modernization of business operations.
By adopting advanced technological solutions, Sportmarket streamlined their internal processes, ensured the highest levels of security and resilience, and improved the overall user experience for their clients. This partnership highlights Unscheduled Pods' expertise in navigating complex IT landscapes in highly-regulated industries and providing solutions that align with our clients’ unique needs and objectives.
