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In the first project of its kind in the UK, Premium TV, a specialist digital rights company, has deployed a new IP infrastructure across its two Greater London data centres to stream live digital content across broadband and mobile networks.  The infrastructure was designed and implemented by network services specialists, Telindus.

 

Working with clients such as The Football League, the World Rally Championship, ITV, Cricket Australia and Orange, Premium TV provides an end-to-end, multi-platform digital service that enables content owners to generate revenue from streaming media to customers.  With its clients generating more and more digital content – the company streams over 6,000 live events per year – Premium TV turned to Telindus in late 2006 to design a robust, load balancing network infrastructure that could expand with its growing business.

 

“Traditional broadcasting has changed dramatically in the last 10 years, with consumers demanding more from content producers”, said Howard Kitto, head of technology at Premium TV.  “The humble TV is no longer the king of castle – the way consumers access content is rapidly changing the Internet and mobile phones are taking over.  Our technology platform enables clients to reach audiences through multiple channels and leverage the revenue streams offered by these media [such as on-demand TV].  With over 150 million web page impressions a month, Premium TV has a duty to its clients to ensure that content is available 24/7 so our network infrastructure has to be able to sustain this demand.”

 

Premium TV’s existing infrastructure was performing adequately, but it realised that it would quickly reach capacity and in such a highly competitive market, the company knew that it had to be upgraded to maintain its clients’ business models.  Following a period of consultation, Telindus designed a new network platform based on Cisco’s Catalyst 6500 Series Switch (incorporating the latest control cards and Application Control Engine (ACE) blades) to provide Premium TV with the highest levels of availability and scalability. 

 

The main part of the project took place in a single night, with Premium TV’s team of engineers working with Telindus and Cisco to replace over 300 network connections in a matter of hours.  In total, the organisation completely overhauled both its data centres (comprising of 70 servers) by replacing blades, fans and load balancers while simultaneously increasing bandwidth from two 1Gb connections to four 4Gb connections.  As part of the project, Telindus is providing ongoing support across both data centres.

 

“Telindus and Cisco exceeded our expectations by delivering on everything they said they could, and more.  Even after replacing so many connections in such a short space of time, everything worked at the first time of asking and our clients didn’t notice a thing,” concluded Kitto.

 

“The way we access digital content is changing and companies are striving to find new and innovative ways of delivering information to the consumer,” said Mark Hutchinson, UK managing director at Telindus UK.  “Telindus and Cisco are pioneering the way companies achieve this, and Premium TV is an example of how the broadcasting industry is evolving.  The potential for content owners is staggering and they should follow the example set by Premium TV’s clients or risk being left behind.”

 

About Telindus
Telindus is a group of companies offering ICT Solutions and Services. Telindus serves business and public market needs as a solution and sourcing partner, delivering secured converged networking, and secured systems & applications underpinned by management and support services.

 

With over 36 years experience in ICT, Telindus is investing considerably in expertise to service modern IT and telecommunications infrastructures throughout their life cycle. Telindus' enviable track record and longstanding partnerships with leading equipment suppliers offers a safe route for enterprises, telecom operators and government bodies looking to deploy long-lasting ICT solutions.

 

In January 2006, Telindus joined the Belgacom Group to become the IT Services Branch of a new business leader in the market. Belgacom SA/NV [Euronext Brussels:BELG] is the leading telecommunications company in Belgium and a market leader in a number of areas, including retail and wholesale fixed-line telephony services, mobile communications services, broadband data and Internet services. Together, Belgacom and Telindus are building a Belgian champion in the European IT landscape, presenting the market a unique offering, uniting Connectivity and IT Services. www.belgacom.be

 

Telindus posted a turnover of EUR 618 million in 2005. With a highly skilled international team of 2.750 employees, Telindus is present in 14 countries in Western Europe, Hungary, China and Thailand.   Telindus is headquartered in Belgium. www.telindus.com

About Premium TV
Premium TV is a specialist digital rights company. It generates revenue for sports, entertainment and publishing companies through the production, delivery, management and syndication of broadband and mobile content. Premium TV hosts and manages Internet sites, broadband subscription products and mobile services for entertainment and sports companies. Each year PTV streams over 6,000 live events for its clients, manages over 100,000 paying broadband subscribers for its clients and generates over £20 million of digital rights revenue for the sports industry.