North Star is a managed IT and managed security provider based in Northglenn, serving organizations across the Denver metro area, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins since 1992. We support businesses running roughly 5 to 300 endpoints — most commonly regulated firms with no full-time IT staff, or a single internal technologist who needs backup.
Most IT companies describe themselves in adjectives. This page is deliberately specific instead: what we do, what we commit to, who we are a good fit for, and who we are not.
Every managed client is monitored around the clock. Monitoring on its own only tells you something broke, so it is paired with detection and response: behavior-based managed threat protection that isolates a compromised device rather than emailing an alert nobody reads at 2 a.m.
What that covers in practice: server and workstation health, patch and update status, endpoint detection, backup success and restore verification, identity and sign-in anomalies, and network and connectivity faults. You receive a weekly report showing an overall health score alongside patch, antivirus and security-setting status for every machine — so the work is visible rather than asserted.
We do not take over an environment we have not measured. Every engagement opens with a network health and security assessment: a full inventory of what is connected, verification of whether the controls you believe are in place are actually working, and a ranked list of gaps by real-world risk rather than by product category.
That becomes a roadmap with a sequence and a budget you can plan around, reviewed quarterly as your business changes. This assessment-first, continuously-reviewed approach is what we call North Star Secure Operations, and it is how every client relationship runs.
These terms get used interchangeably in sales conversations and they should not be. Knowing the difference is the fastest way to work out what you are actually shopping for.
North Star operates as an MSP and an MSSP, and will work co-managed where you have internal staff. We also provide fractional security leadership through vCISO and compliance-as-a-service for organizations that need a documented program and audit-ready evidence without hiring a full-time executive.
We work best with organizations of roughly 5 to 300 endpoints on Colorado’s Front Range, particularly in regulated fields — healthcare and dental, financial services, legal, construction, defense and manufacturing, real estate and property management, and special districts and local government. The pattern that fits us best is a firm where a compliance obligation or a close call has made technology a board-level concern.
We are probably not the right choice if you want the lowest hourly rate available, if you need on-site coverage well outside the Front Range, or if you are looking for a provider who will implement whatever is requested without raising a concern. We will tell you when we think something is a bad idea, and some organizations would rather not hear that.
The efficiency and speed they employ in solving problems is greatly appreciated and keeps us from having downtime. If you’re looking for a responsive IT firm that solves your problems, North Star is the company you’re looking for.
Andrew Iverson, Hamilton Faatz PC
When the monitoring service became available, we took advantage. In the few months since we’ve switched, North Star has alerted us to three major issues regarding our backup system, our antivirus, and our drive space. Left unattended, any of these could have brought our business to a standstill.
Gregory Olivet, Systems Design International, Inc.
One of the things I like most about working with North Star is that I think the people honestly care, not just a smile to make the client feel good. They take our success as part of their success.
John Cohagen, The Snow Goose Companies
North Star’s project management made the transition from our IT support vendor to their IT support services easy.
Lisa Fogg, Denver Merchandise Mart
From our office in Northglenn we support organizations across Colorado’s Front Range, including Denver, Aurora, Lakewood, Arvada, Westminster, Thornton, Northglenn, Broomfield, Commerce City, Brighton, Centennial, Greenwood Village, Englewood, Littleton, Highlands Ranch, Parker, Castle Rock, Golden, Wheat Ridge, Colorado Springs, Monument, Fountain, Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor and Greeley, along with the surrounding communities and clients running remote and hybrid teams.
Both. As a managed service provider we run the environment — helpdesk, monitoring, patching, backup, cloud and procurement. As a managed security service provider we run detection and response, vulnerability management, security awareness training and compliance evidence. Keeping both in one team removes the gap where two vendors each assume the other handled something.
Roughly 5 to 300 endpoints. Below that, a managed program is usually more structure than the business needs; well above it, an internal IT department typically makes more sense with us in a co-managed or security-only role. Our strongest fit is regulated firms with no full-time IT staff or with one internal technologist who needs depth behind them.
By phone or email during business hours, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mountain, Monday through Friday, and managed clients also receive an emergency after-hours number covering evenings and weekends. Our service agreements commit to a technician callback within two hours of a request reaching dispatch.
Yes. Compliance work is a core part of what we do rather than an add-on, and it drives how we configure environments in regulated fields. We produce the written policies, risk assessments, access reviews, training records and control evidence auditors and insurers ask for, through our vCISO and compliance-as-a-service program. Legal interpretation stays with your counsel; the technical controls and documentation are ours.
Routinely. Co-managed engagements are common, and they usually work best when the internal person keeps ownership of user-facing support and business-application knowledge while we cover monitoring, security operations, after-hours coverage, specialist projects and vacation gaps.
Managed services are a predictable recurring fee scoped to your environment — endpoint and user count, the systems in play, and the compliance obligations you carry. We do not publish price lists, because environments differ enough that a public figure would either mislead you or be padded to cover the worst case. Every quote follows an assessment, so you know what you are buying before you see a number.
We maintain detailed documentation for every client — effectively a blueprint of your environment — updated quarterly, so any of our technicians can pick up where another left off. Institutional knowledge should not live in one person’s head, ours included.
The honest way to evaluate any IT provider is to have them measure your environment and show you what they find. North Star will inventory what is actually running, test whether your existing controls work, and give you a ranked, budgeted roadmap — whether or not you engage us afterward.
Call 303-552-0018 or book a time above to talk with North Star about your Denver, Colorado Springs or Fort Collins organization.