Switch Media invests in IPTV future
Switch Media invests in IPTV future
February 23, 2009: Switch Media is securing its position in the growth of IPTV in Australia with a major hosting deal with Macquarie Hosting.
Under the deal, Macquarie Hosting will provide a high availability hosting solution to support Switch Media’s video-on-demand and video content management applications.
Switch Media is handling the delivery of rich content such as video, webcasts and e-learning applications for Fairfax Media, The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the Australian Government and INSEAD, the International Business School.
For the ABC, content is captured and edited by Switch Media before being uploaded for consumer access via the ABC’s iView program. Upload can occur within minutes of the content appearing on free-to-air TV.
The Macquarie hosted servers act as a digital content vault for Switch Media, allowing the company to both store content and manage peaks in traffic to it while maintaining a secure, low latency download experience for customers.
The Macquarie Hosting partnership forms part of Switch Media’s plans to grow its services in the Australian and Asia Pacific markets and capitalise on increased take-up of Internet TV services.
According to a report from the Australian Communications and Media Authority, industry experts believe IPTV or Internet TV, the primary channel through which video-on-demand is delivered, will become a mainstream reality in as little as 18 months to three years time. Switch Media recognised that to maintain high network reliability for its existing customers and prepare for the inevitable growth in data volume that future customers would create, it required a more robust end to end hosted communications solution.
The solution Macquarie Hosting developed met these needs, providing proactive monitoring and management from the TV aerial to the servers and Internet pipes. Having grown fourfold in the last year alone, Switch Media also needed a solution that would be up and running quickly.
“There is no question that Internet TV will become ubiquitous as electronics manufacturers, broadcasters and content providers all scramble to develop the means for audiences to access and consume this content as quickly and comfortably as possible,” said Christopher Stenhouse, Chief Executive, Switch Media.
“A significant market opportunity exists for Switch Media to be the provider of choice in this space but only if we can deliver the guaranteed smooth and reliable viewing experience our customers’ audiences expect.
“We chose Macquarie Hosting for its proven experience working with digital media companies and because it had the accredited, scalable infrastructure we need to support our business growth in the region. The Macquarie Hosting team also provides us with a very personal relationship and truly understands our business, which is critical to ensure that we get the timely support we need,” Stenhouse said.
The Switch Media servers will be housed in Macquarie Hosting’s ISO 27001, PCI and DSD Certified data centre, the Intellicentre.
“With clients across a breadth of sectors and the IPTV and video-on-demand markets exploding, we expect Switch Media’s business to continue to grow at a rapid rate and look forward to supporting this growth in future,” said Aidan Tudehope, Managing Director, Hosting Macquarie Telecom.