Contact Information: Media Contacts: Mari Mineta Clapp BitGravity Christina Hwang Terpin Communications + 1 310-821-6100 x104 Janice Goveas Tata Communications +91 92233 94575 Kristen Massaro STC Associates +1 347 272 8162
Tata Communications, Member of the $62.5 Billion Tata Group Invests $11.5 Million in Award-Winning CDN Company
Tata Communications Launches Global Content Delivery Network Service Powered by BitGravity
| Source: BitGravity
MUMBAI, INDIA and BURLINGAME, CA--(Marketwire - September 8, 2008) - Tata Communications, a
leading provider of a new world of communications, and BitGravity, Inc., a
next-generation Content Delivery Network (CDN) for interactive
broadcasting, announced today the worldwide launch of Tata Communications'
CDN service powered by BitGravity. With more than 300 points of presence
worldwide, Tata Communications now offers the first truly global CDN
service on a state of the art, single ASN global IP network throughout
Europe, Asia, North America and India.
Tata Communications, which announced a strategic partnership with
BitGravity in March, 2008, has also invested $11.5 million in convertible
debt in BitGravity, validating the company's content delivery platform as a
key benefit in Tata Communications' value-added services offering. In turn,
BitGravity has named Tata Communications' Chief Technology Officer, John
Hayduk to its Board of Directors. Tata Communications' financial backing of
BitGravity confirms Tata Communications' commitment to develop and offer
innovative technology solutions to its global customers.
"The launch of Tata Communications' CDN service is a major milestone in our
strategic roadmap to offer unparalleled managed services globally. We chose
to work with BitGravity because it has the best architecture and technology
to deliver high quality content and video," said Vinod Kumar, Chief
Operating Officer, Tata Communications. "Together, Tata Communications and
BitGravity's capabilities are a formidable force to deliver high quality
content and video."
Tata Communications' next-generation CDN service, powered by BitGravity's
technology, delivers the highest performance and reliability in the
industry while providing immediate access to content, including
High-Definition Video, without delay or jitter, and the highest levels of
throughput for end users. Fast forwarding, cache clearing, resolution
switching and rate throttling are just a few of the features that enable
customers to build a robust and engaging application into a Flash Player.
"Video will soon become over 80% of the traffic on the Internet and content
delivery will become strategic for every carrier. Carriers without a CDN
strategy will inevitably become insignificant and will lose the economy of
scale required to be competitive. This is a strategic endeavor for both
Tata Communications and BitGravity and sends a bold message to the global
CDN market," said Berge Avayzian, Chief Strategy Officer of Yankee Group.
"Global reach will be table stakes for content delivery and we are excited
to receive funding and support from a strong strategic investor like Tata
Communications that will enable us to effectively integrate our CDN
architecture with their worldwide backbone and provide an unmatched user
experience. Tata Communications' extensive relationships within and outside
of the communications industry will accelerate the deployment and
penetration of our innovative platform," said Perry Wu, CEO and co-founder
of BitGravity.
Tata Communications' Tier 1 IP presence worldwide combined with
BitGravity's leading technology provides an offering that is unmatched in
user experience, performance, quality and reach around the world. Tata
Communications is uniquely positioned to offer quality global delivery and
support, which enables companies to outsource distribution of Video,
Downloads, Music, Games and Multimedia without degradation from Paris to
Hong Kong, Bangalore and the Silicon Valley.
"Two essential ingredients of a superior CDN service include a strong IP
network providing higher performance, and an efficient, scalable file
distribution technology," said Genius Wong, Tata Communications' Senior
Vice President of Global IP and VPN Services. "The design of Tata
Communications' CDN service has taken into account these key factors to
come up with the industry's highest performance and reliable IPv4 and IPv6
CDN service."
Tata Communications' suite of offerings include Tata Communications CDN, a
next-generation CDN designed for a wide range of applications providing the
highest performance and reliability on a global scale; Tata Communications
CDN Plus and CDN Secure, add value designed for the distribution and
protection of media assets; and Tata Communications LiveBroadcast, a high
quality, flash-based streaming service for broadcasters of live events.
For more information on Tata Communications CDN Service powered by
BitGravity visit
www.tatacommunications.com
About Tata Communications
Tata Communications, a member of the $62.5 billion Tata Group, is a leading
global provider of a new world of communications. The emerging markets
communications leader leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and
domain expertise across its global and pan-India network to deliver managed
solutions to multi-national and Indian enterprises, service providers and
Indian consumers.
Tata Communications' range of services include transmission, IP, converged
voice, mobility, managed network connectivity, hosting and storage, managed
security, managed collaboration and business transformation for global
enterprises and service providers, as well as Internet, retail broadband
and content services for Indian consumers. The Tata Global Network
encompasses one of the most advanced and largest submarine cable networks,
a Tier-1 IP network, with connectivity to more than 200 countries across
300 PoPs, and more than 1 million square feet of data center and
co-location facilities.
Tata Communications' unique emerging market depth and breadth of reach
includes a national fiber backbone network and access to network in over 60
cities and 125 PoPs in India, strategic investments in South African
converged services operator, Neotel, Sri Lanka and Nepal and, subject to
fulfillment of conditions precedent, a 50% ownership in China Enterprise
Communications (CEC) providing full country VPN coverage in China.
Servicing customers from its offices in over 80 cities in 40 countries,
Tata Communications is the number one global international wholesale voice
operator and number one provider of international long distance, enterprise
data and Internet services in India, the Company was named "Best Wholesale
Carrier" at the World Communications Awards in 2006, "Best Pan-Asian
Wholesale Provider" at the 2006 and 2007 Capacity Magazine Global Wholesale
Telecommunications Awards and was awarded "Best Progress in Emerging
Markets" at the 2008 Mobile Communication Awards.
Tata Communications Limited along with its global subsidiaries, (Tata
Communications), is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National
Stock Exchange of India and its ADRs are listed on the New York Stock
Exchange. (NYSE : TCL )
www.tatacommunications.com
About BitGravity
BitGravity has built the first CDN for Interactive Broadcasting, which is
optimized to deliver affordable, HD-quality video on demand, live
broadcasts, and interactive applications for massive audiences on the
Internet. BitGravity's patent-pending CDN is Tier 1, highly scalable, and
delivers the performance that consumers want and expect, including
streaming videos that play instantly, and live video with no buffering.
BitGravity is an award-winning technology provider in the content delivery
space. The company has won numerous awards including DemoGod,
LightReading's Service Company of the Year, Digital Hollywood 100,
RedHerring 100 and AlwaysOn Hollywood 100. Built on top of BitGravity's
patent-pending routing architecture, BitCast, BitGravity's services include
BitGravity's High-Definition Content Delivery Service, BG Secure and BG
LiveBroadcast, the Internet's first affordable, high-quality, massively
scalable live product. The company is based in Burlingame, Calif., and is
privately funded by Allen and Company, Tata Communications and other
investors.
www.BitGravity.com
Forward-looking and cautionary statements
Certain words and statements in this release concerning Tata Communications
and its prospects, and other statements, including those relating to Tata
Communications' expected financial position, business strategy, the future
development of Tata Communications' operations, and the general economy in
India, are forward-looking statements. Such statements involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including financial,
regulatory and environmental, as well as those relating to industry growth
and trend projections, which may cause actual results, performance or
achievements of Tata Communications, or industry results, to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. The important factors that could cause actual results,
performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking
statements include, among others, failure to increase the volume of traffic
on Tata Communications' network; failure to develop new products and
services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins;
failure to successfully complete commercial testing of new technology and
information systems to support new products and services, including voice
transmission services; failure to stabilize or reduce the rate of price
compression on certain of the company's communications services; failure to
integrate strategic acquisitions and changes in government policies or
regulations of India and, in particular, changes relating to the
administration of Tata Communications' industry; and, in general, the
economic, business and credit conditions in India. Additional factors that
could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ
materially from such forward-looking statements, many of which are not in
Tata Communications' control, include, but are not limited to, those risk
factors discussed in Tata Communications' various filings with the United
States Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at
www.sec.gov. Tata Communications is under no obligation to, and expressly
disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking
statements.
Copyright © 2008 Tata Communications and BitGravity, Inc. All Rights
Reserved. BitGravity, Bitcast, and BG LiveBroadcast are trademarks of
BitGravity, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective
owners.