Sky Italia taps Akamai to guarantee online video QoE
DetailsJoseph O'Halloran | 06 February 2015
As it explores Web-based complements to core pay-TV services, Sky Italia has selected Akamai's Aura Managed Content Delivery Network (MCDN) to control the quality of service of its online content.
SkyItaliaBoasting the biggest over-the-top (OTT) video audience in Italy, Sky Go (2.35 million users) and Sky on Demand (1.4 million) are included with Sky's subscription services. Because of the growing importance of its online channel, Sky adopted an architecture based on multiple CDNs to obtain maximum control over its delivery capabilities at all times, even during high online traffic peaks, such as major sports events.
MCDN will provide Sky with dedicated CDN capabilities that are maintained by Akamai, and the pay-TV operator will be able to scale to support its capacity needs of 100Gbps and beyond. Integrated with Akamai's Media Delivery Services, the Aura MCDN provides Sky the architectural infrastructure it sought. Because the Aura MCDN delivers more than 30% of traffic on behalf of Sky, the operator will be able to manage traffic peaks that have reached up to 250Gbps. The new content delivery architecture will also allow Sky to improve download speed by a quarter and reduce bandwidth cost by a tenth.
"Subscriber demand for video is at an all-time high and growing, and our consumers expect a fast, secure, reliable online content experience across any device," explained Massimo Bertolotti, head of engineering and innovation, Sky Italia. "We tested many CDNs to complement the Akamai CDN, but only Aura MCDN proved to offer the same levels of reliability and quality."
Sky expects to further invest in necessary technology solutions to address the constant evolution and increasing popularity of online content. "Akamai provides flexible solutions that reduce our complexity while supporting our different content-related strategies. By partnering with Akamai, we can quickly respond to changing end user demands and maintain a competitive advantage," added Bertolotti.
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