Tata Supports VICE’s Video Ambitions With Cloud Content Platform

Tata Communications is building a completely cloud-based platform for VICE Media, whose recent focus on video has seen it launch linear television channels in a number of countries.

The new platform will allow journalists and editors in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Toronto and London to store and distribute content across the world.

It is supported by ‘Video Connect’ – a 10Gbps global area network for video contribution and IP connectivity for VICE employees – enabling the rapid transfer of video files across the world.

Global platform

“We need a powerful, well connected platform that enables us to collaborate as if we were together in the same location,” said Ariel Rubio, Vice President of IT at VICE Media. “We need to be able to operate seamlessly across all platforms to reach a global audience with our content.

“Working with Tata Communications, we are able to get a LAN experience in a WAN environment, underpinned by the company’s global network.”

A big part of the platform will be its cloud storage capabilities, providing secure and reliable cloud-based media storage for read-write access and the archival of data-intensive video files.

All media files will be replicated in multiple private cloud locations around the world for real-time backup and disaster recovery, an essential component for protecting against cloud outages that are still commonplace.

Tata’s other major customers include Formula One, which holds races in countries around the world.

Brian Morris, Vice President and General Manager for Global Media and Entertainment Services at Tata Communications, commented on the importance of having “an infrastructure that is completely integrated across media asset management, storage, content contribution and distribution”.

Cloud content platforms are becoming increasingly commonplace among media organisations and firms in other sectors.

Box, for example, recently added 100,000 students and staff at five UK universities including Kingston University and the London Metropolitan University, as it looks to position itself as the glue that facilitates digital transformation. Competing with Box is of course Dropbox, which recently became the fastest SaaS firm ever to hit $1 billion in revenue run rate.

Quiz: The world of cloud in 2017