CDN (Content Delivery Network) Service
Tata Communications’
Challenges Global CDN Powers Streaming
of On-demand and Live
• Reduce total cost of ownership
• Increase viewership
• Try new pricing model to
Cricket Matches
increase revenue
• Shift from traditional
streaming protocols to HTTP
to improve viewer experience
• Increase scalability
• Limit access to improve security As one of India’s largest broadcast companies, Nimbus Communications Ltd. holds
vast media interests in entertainment and sports. They own one of the leading cricket
Tata Communications’ portals, www.cricketnirvana.com, which is the destination for on demand and live
Solution Benefits cricket content. They are the first sports site in the world to experiment with the
unique business model of delivering cricket content around the world free to users
• Ramped up delivery of cricket with an advertising revenue model. Hence, it was critical for Nimbus to work with a
matches and on-demand, strong service provider with a global platform to deliver content to its audience.
sports videos
• Straightforward pricing model
with no hidden costs
• Global, Tier 1 network delivers
The Challenge
high performance worldwide
• Secure access from non-allowed Nimbus was working on a paid subscription model to provide access to live and
geographies on-demand content to end users in the geographies where they hold the internet
• Streamlined efficient migration rights. The on-demand content is available globally and live content is accessible
from traditional protocols to within India. As the dynamics of delivering live sports in India varies dramatically
new streaming platform from the rest of the world, Nimbus decided to be the world’s first sports website
offering premium cricket content free to end users with ad monetisation. This
arrangement required a switch to new CDN platform which can sustain the surge in
“We were moving to the ad based the traffic from multifold increase in the viewership, cost-effectively.
revenue model which requires
a cost effective solution without Nimbus also sought for a HTTP based delivery platform which is more scalable
compromising on the features and and firewall friendly for users watching the live matches from work
quality of the live broadcast and
this is where Tata Communications’
CDN services proved to be a High Performance Viewing
better fit. Its distributed origin
architecture along with clean pricing of Live Cricket Matches
model makes it an ideal CDN services
for portal like ours which receives Nimbus’ business objectives were to accelerate content delivery and provide
millions of hits per match day”. on-demand and live cricket matches across target geographies with minimum
latency. Tata Communications proposed its CDN (Content Delivery Network)
Secure Access solution, which would stream content from the nearest node to
Jose Felix end users. CDN Secure Access also provides specific security capabilities that
—Head, Nimbus Communications, Nimbus needed, such as limiting user access to content based on expiry time,
New Media geo blocking, IP address, URL, browser type, cookies, and other parameters.
Nimbus Communications
Ease of Implementation and Migration
By working together, Tata Communications’ Product Management team and Nimbus’
web developers easily implemented the CDN solution—with full migration from
traditional streaming to Tata Communications’ CDN platform within a record 15
days. The solution was easily integrated with Nimbus’ advertising network and with
the cricket portal. According to Jose Felix, Vice President of New Media for Nimbus
Communications, “We switched to Tata Communications’ CDN solution from another
CDN player in record time and that wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication
that their team has shown toward our account. Tata Communications has been
resourceful in providing excellent advice that is critical to our business.”
Robust Telecom Infrastructure
“We switched to The strength of Tata Communications’ network far surpasses most CDN competitors.
Tata Communications’ As a leading, global, telecommunications provider with a Tier-1 backbone, Tata
CDN solution from Communications provides a technology infrastructure ideally suited for the large file
another CDN player downloads that Nimbus needed to deliver rich media content concurrently to thousands
in record time and of users. Said Jose Felix, “Tata Communications’ brand is why we initiated discussion
that wouldn’t have about their CDN solution. The trust factor associated with Tata Communications was
been possible without key in our decision-making.”
the dedication that
their team has shown After successfully implementing the CDN platform, Nimbus Communications has
successfully streamed various cricket series like India –South Africa , India-Sri Lanka-
toward our account.
Bangladesh, India –Sri Lanka and the Asia Cup on www.cricketnirvana.com, using Tata
Tata Communications Communications’ CDN platform. The matches received more than eight million page
has been resourceful views per match and concurrent users increased by almost 15 times, compared to
in providing excellent last season.
advice that is critical
to our business.”
Positioned for Growth
Jose Felix,
Vice President of New Media Tata Communications’ CDN has helped Nimbus future-proof operations with a
for Nimbus Communications platform that will enable the company to deliver rich media content for additional web
properties as the company grows and adds subscribers. Stated Jose Felix, “Our cricket
content is available globally but out live, streaming service is restricted to India. Since
India is a key market for Nimbus, it is critical that we work with a strong player with
wide reach.”
About Tata Communications
Tata Communications, a member of the $62.5 billion Tata Group, Tata Communications’ range of services include transmission,
is a leading global provider of a New World of Communications. IP, converged voice, mobility, managed network connectivity,
The emerging markets communications leader leverages hosting and storage, managed security, managed collaboration,
advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across and business transformation for global enterprises and service
its global and pan-India network to deliver managed solutions providers, as well as Internet, retail broadband, and content
to multinational and Indian enterprises, service providers, and services for Indian consumers
Indian consumers.
For more information please visit CDN.TataCommunications.com or email [email protected].
