Akamai, Sky Italia Address Rising Consumer Expectations for Online Video
Akamai Contacts Chris Nicholson
Media Relations
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cnichols@akamai.com
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Tom Barth
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Aura MCDN enables Sky to achieve maximum control and highest quality of its content and manage traffic peaks of 100s of Gbps and beyond
Milan - February 5, 2015 - Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), a leading provider of cloud services for delivering, optimising and securing online content and business applications, today announced that Sky Italia has selected Akamais Aura Managed Content Delivery Network (MCDN) solution to achieve maximum control and the highest quality of service of its online content including live and on-demand video. With the Aura MCDN, which provides Sky with dedicated CDN capabilities that are maintained by Akamai, Sky can flexibly scale to support its capacity needs of 100s Gbps and beyond. The new content delivery architecture has allowed Sky to also improve download speed by 25 percent and reduce bandwidth cost by 10 percent.
With the biggest over-the-top video audience in Italy, Sky Go (2.35 million users) and Sky on Demand (1.4million) are included with Skys subscription services. Because of the growing importance of its online channel, Sky adopted an architecture based on multiple Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to obtain maximum control over its delivery capabilities at all times, even during high on-line traffic peaks, such as major sports events.
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.
Integrated with Akamais Media Delivery Services, the Aura MCDN provides Sky the architectural infrastructure it sought. Because the Aura MCDN delivers more than 30 percent of traffic on behalf of Sky, the company is able to manage traffic peaks that have reached up to 250Gbps. At the same time, Sky has noticed a 25 percent average improvement in the download speed of its content. This translates into a higher quality of service for its subscribers. In addition, Sky has reduced its bandwidth costs by 10 percent because of the ability to direct portions of its traffic to less expensive telecommunication networks.
To feed demand and address the reality of rapidly growing online traffic, media companies are finding that a CDN solution is no longer an option but a requirement to remain competitive, said Doug Tilford, senior vice president & general manager, EMEA, Akamai. Thanks to Aura Managed CDN, Sky Italia is now able to deploy a highly scalable, turnkey media CDN that leverages the same CDN techniques used by Akamai, but on servers that are dedicated to Sky Italias services.
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, concludes Bertolotti.
About Sky Italia
Sky Italia is the Italian media company controlled by Sky plc. Since it started in 2003, its customer base has rapidly grown up to 4,7 million subscriptions recorded in September 2014. Sky is presently offering more than 160 dedicated theme and pay per view channels, with a rich offering including feature films, sport, news, entertainment and childrens programmes. Sky is the first Italian television to broadcast a HD and live 3D content, offering a package of more than 60 High Definition channels and a channel fully dedicated to 3D programmes. Moreover, thanks to My Sky HD it is possible to record ones own favourite programmes and access the Sky On Demand service, while Sky Go offers mobile viewers a wide range of channels and on demand content. Further information available on: www.sky.it.
About Akamai
Akamai is the leading provider of cloud services for delivering, optimising and securing online content and business applications. At the core of the Companys solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise. Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud. To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit www.akamai.com or blogs.akamai.com, and follow @Akamai on Twitter.
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Akamai, Sky Italia Address Rising Consumer Expectations for Online Video 
