Masses of Irish people who have tuned in or logged on every week recently to watch The X Factor on TV3, and logged on to watch highlights or tweet or post Facebook messages, aren’t aware they are contributing to the cloud computing revolution.
The lean and agile nationwide broadcaster makes prolific use of internet cloud and storage to ensure a ubiquitous experience for viewers via TV, smartphones or PC.
The company deployed a cloud hosting platform in conjunction with SunGard Availability Services, the new owners of Hosting 365.
“We approached TV3 and they said a revamp of the website was something they were looking at in terms of providing content and tailored solution to viewers,” Kevin O’Connor, SunGard, explained.
“We analysed their requirement and looked at web and content services and what we ended up deploying and designing for TV3 was in essence a hybrid cloud solution.”
Peter Clerkin, head of online, TV3, added: “Content is king in this business and from an online side, TV3 is very lucky to have key shows like The Apprentice and The X Factor. From a user perspective, when we look at those shows and bring them to an online environment, we need solutions like the cloud infrastructure to be able to handle sudden bursts of traffic for shows like The X Factor, which would be a high-trafficked show for us.
“Once it gets broadcast on Saturday night or Sunday, or even in terms of getting numbers to vote for particular performers, we need a strong, robust hosting infrastructure in place. That’s why we looked at cloud infrastructure being an ideal solution for that.”
