HomeNewsEUROVISION saves 20% a year with Colt’s Optimum Managed Networking services

EUROVISION saves 20% a year with Colt’s Optimum Managed Networking services

27th February 2014

Colt, Europe’s leading information delivery platform, today announced that EUROVISION, the media industry’s premier distributor and producer of live sports, news, music and culture, has reduced costs by 20 per cent per year by moving its network to Colt’s Optimum Managed Networking service. Covering more than 60 sites across 20 countries, this move quadruples EUROVISION’s bandwidth capacity, helping the organisation meet the increasing challenge for on-demand, high-quality, live content.
Live event broadcasting is very demanding. The slightest delay or inconsistency in transmission can badly affect the viewing experience and be commercially damaging for broadcasters, especially those charging a premium for sports subscriptions. EUROVISION has continued to innovate as fast, low-cost fibre has increasingly replaced satellite for live transmissions wherever practicable, but the growth in bandwidth-hungry high-definition formats put pressure on its existing network.”We always need to take advantage of the latest in broadcast-quality network technology to remain competitive,” says Graham Warren, Network Director at EUROVISION. “When you operate the world’s largest media contribution network, carrying 45,000 hours of live sports programming and over 80,000 hours of total content transmission every year, there is no room for error. The decision to embark on a network upgrade was major one.”

Having carefully assessed potential suppliers for its European fibre network, EUROVISION chose to migrate to Colt’s pan-European broadcast quality Ethernet infrastructure. EUROVISION can now use Colt’s 10Gbps video transport capability, as well as respond to developments such as ultra-high definition TV, second-screen services and the growth in remote production. Additionally, Colt’s end-to-end control of its European network simplifies network management, giving greater visibility over planned maintenance as well as a faster response to unforeseen issues: both critical in the world of live broadcasting.

“Colt’s Optimum Managed Networking services provide us with the reliability, capacity and flexibility we need to meet both our current and future needs for high-definition transmission,” continues Warren. “We were also confident in Colt’s ability to coordinate such a large complex migration, given their healthy track record with our network. We felt we could trust them to deliver a seamless experience. When it came to the migration, our customers didn’t notice a thing. We are confident that we have a partner who will help us move forward and serve growing demand.”

Hugo Harber, VP of Portfolio & Strategy at Colt, said: “At a time when broadcasters need to invest in new ways of working, they are also under enormous pressure to create cost efficiencies in the way that they operate. Every advance in broadcast technology demands even more from the network. The partnership between Colt and EUROVISION demonstrates the value of Colt’s flexible approach to creating the right technical, commercial and service solution that really works for our broadcast customer’s business needs.”

A case study with EUROVISION is available here.

About Colt

Colt is the information delivery platform, enabling its customers to deliver, share, process and store their vital business information. An established leader in delivering integrated computing and network services to major organisations, midsized businesses and wholesale customers worldwide, Colt operates in 22 European countries with a 46,000km European network and transatlantic network capacity. Colt has metropolitan area networks in 41 major European cities with direct fibre connections into 19,800 buildings and 20 carrier-neutral Colt data centres.

In 2010, the Colt Data Centre Services business was launched to deliver innovative high quality data centre solutions at a Colt or customer site. Our innovative data centres are rapid to deploy, flexible and highly efficient.

In addition to its direct sales capability, Colt has four indirect channels to market; Agent, Franchise, Distributor and Wholesale which includes Carriers, Service Providers, VARs and Voice Resellers.

Colt is listed on the London Stock Exchange (COLT).

About EUROVISION

EUROVISION, operated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), is the industry’s premier distributor and producer of top quality live sport and news, as well as entertainment, culture and music content.

The EUROVISION satellite and fibre network is the largest and most reliable in the world directly connected to public service media everywhere.

EUROVISION’s staff of experienced media professionals acquire and manage media rights on behalf of EBU Members, and provide network, transmission and events services to the broadcasting industry.

www.eurovision.com and www.ebu.ch

Press Contact

Colt
Paula Muezerie
DDI: +44 (0) 20 7947 1035
Mobile: +44 (0) 785 5301 078
Email: [email protected]

Octopus
Katie Potts
DDI: +44 (0)8453 700 655
Mobile: +44 (0)7710 977 249
Email: [email protected]

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