Key Impacts
- Increased number of subscribers
- Successfully delivered high-quality streams
- Handled traffic peaks of 400% over daily average
- Reinforced ability to limit content to subscribers
- Avoided infrastructure buildout
Globo.com is the Internet service provider/portal operator arm of Globo, Brazil's largest media conglomerate with holdings in television, cable television, newspapers, magazines, and entertainment parks. Currently, the Globo.com portal has more than 350,000 subscribers and receives between four to five million visitors per day. In 2006, TV Globo was granted the rights to broadcast FIFA World Cup™ soccer in Brazil, and Globo.com planned to simultaneously broadcast all 64 games of the FIFA World Cup to its subscribers. Globo.com needed to deliver streaming video concurrently to thousands of users and needed to be prepared for traffic peaks up to 400% greater than its daily average.
Having considered other distribution solutions offered by Brazilian telecom companies Globo.com decided to choose Akamai for its global network capacity and its tradition in Web content distribution for leading TV networks. One of the strengths of the Akamai solution was its open approach, which simplified integration with existing services, including user authentication, media and quality selection, infrastructure monitoring, and audience control systems. "Akamai's rich feature set and open approach offered us the ability to respond quickly to market needs and technical requirements." Less than two months after signing its contract with Exceda/Akamai, the solution was ready.
"Because of Akamai's global network capacity, its tradition in Web content distribution for leading TV networks including BBC and RAI, and its capacity to support audience peaks, we knew it was the right solution."
—Antônio Maia, Technology Manager, Globo.com
