Digital Media & the Mobile Ecosystem:

MEETING HOSTING CHALLENGES & HANDLING USER DEMANDS WITH EASE

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 ACCOMMODATING OFTEN UNPREDICTABLE PEAKS OF USAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 ADDRESSING THE UNIQUE ISSUES OF DIGITAL MEDIA PROVIDERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Data Residency Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Latency Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 PREPARING FOR COMMON MIGRATION CHALLENGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Business Process Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Cultural Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Scaling Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Geographic Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 PARTNERING FOR MIGRATION SUCCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

CARPATHIA.COM | EQUINIX.COM

[ Digital Media & the Mobile Ecosystem:Meeting Hosting Challenges & Handling User Demands with Ease ]

INTRODUCTION
Todays digital media providers have a difficult task on their hands. With an online population of over 2 billion people, content providers in the mobile ecosystem are challenged with delivering their websites and applications to a demanding global audience. Regardless of geography, todays Internet users require a high-quality online experience on a variety of devices -- from computers, to tablets, to mobile phones. That means digital media providers need to ensure consistent uptime and fast speeds 24/7. Anything less jeopardizes revenue growth. Pairing those demands with often unpredictable traffic patterns means that content providers need to be prepared to handle the peaks of customer usage.
They need global infrastructure to support user demands, paired with managed hosting and cloud services designed to support high-transaction, low-latency applications and services. Adding to the complexity of the situation, content providers must also deal with a variety of infrastructure, regulatory and competitive pressures that threaten to hinder performance from natural disasters that can knock out a companys infrastructure, to data privacy laws that can regulate where a company can keep its data. This means that mobile content providers need to be thoughtful in the hosting decisions they make. Decision makers within these organizations need to consider the following key requirements.

10 Key Hosting Requirements for Mobile Content Providers:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Connectivity to service customers and devices around the world Geographic proximity to provide low latency and data connection speeds of approximately 1 millisecond Ability to support hybrid cloud infrastructure to offer elasticity to keep up with storage and compute growth A vast geographic footprint to provide adequate disaster recovery, high availability and low latency A customized solution that will provision and operate various types of equipment An economic model with the ability to scale Business model flexibility to meet unique requirements A strong partner relationship with a provider that has deep expertise in network and storage management A strong reputation and happy existing customers with similar data requirements SAS 70 compliance

For digital media providers looking to meet and exceed these requirements, this white paper will take a deep dive into how cloud computing, in addition to hybrid cloud solutions, will enable mobile content providers to balance the need for dedicated infrastructure for core application infrastructure with cloud used to address burst and scale.

CARPATHIA.COM | EQUINIX.COM

[ Digital Media & the Mobile Ecosystem:Meeting Hosting Challenges & Handling User Demands with Ease ]

ACCOMMODATING OFTEN UNPREDICTABLE PEAKS OF USAGE

Just five years ago, applications and websites tended to have very predictable usage patterns. For example, applications for business users could generally expect a usage bell curve from about 8:00am to 6:00pm each day in the workweek. To meet the needs of these users, infrastructure was scaled to meet the demand at the top of the curve with a small safety buffer factored in for additional headroom. Weekend underutilization and holiday patterns created some inefficiency, but the traffic patterns were predictable enough to make building capacity to accommodate peaks feasible. Over the last few years however, new applications and network delivery capabilities have caused these patterns to change dramatically. Today, we might see a mobile application or news site start with a very small amount of user traffic and then, because of some dynamic event, traffic spikes several orders of magnitude over normal usage.

5 Years Ago

Today
Burstable Cloud Capacity

Traffic

Dedicated Infrastructure

Traffic

Dedicated Infrastructure

8am

6pm

8am

6pm

Planning for these types of usage patterns using traditional infrastructure is nearly impossible, both from a technical and financial standpoint. The result would be an enormous investment in infrastructure in order to have sufficient capacity to cover a massive spike and acres of unused capacity sitting around waiting for the spike. The solution? Cloud computing, or a hybrid approach to hosting that blends managed dedicated and cloud resources in a single solution. New traffic patterns, new forms of content and new applications are key drivers of the cloud computing movement. Content providers need to rent resources that can be dynamically allocated to meet capacity demands while paying for these same resources on a consumption-based usage model. With often massive storage and bandwidth requirements, content providers worldwide can greatly benefit from cloud computing solutions in the following ways: Vastly improved asset utilization across organization, functions and regions Faster system consolidation Near real-time scalability of storage and compute capabilities, so content providers can align their response to peaks in usage Higher productivity from IT staffs, who can now focus on higher skill-level tasks like developing applications instead of configuring servers Accelerated development, piloting and launching new applications in a controlled and replicable fashion, while providing a more open platform for sharing innovations across companies

CARPATHIA.COM | EQUINIX.COM

[ Digital Media & the Mobile Ecosystem:Meeting Hosting Challenges & Handling User Demands with Ease ]

A background bridge for IT systems undergoing technology refreshes, reducing potential impacts to users while keeping vital systems available A change in IT success metrics, from managing assets to delivering services Better alignment of information infrastructure to a mobile workforce, along with a virtualized workplace no longer bound to a desk, facility or department Improved procurement flexibility to align computing and storage assets with program needs Free-market pricing that promises a well-defined and commoditized service.

ADDRESSING THE UNIQUE ISSUES OF DIGITAL MEDIA PROVIDERS

Because the mobile ecosystem is often unique in terms of usage, IT leaders within digital media organizations should plan for the following challenges unique to the content business.

Data Residency Issues

Due to privacy regulations around the world, many organizations are required to house their data in the country in which it will be accessed. This presents an issue for many content providers due to the fact that they have user bases around the world. Because business information is generally subject to the commercial law of the country it is held in, content providers need to evaluate their options to find the location(s) that best suits their needs.

Latency Issues
Similar to the data residency issues mentioned above, latency is another challenge digital media providers have to face. While IT tends to focus on performance within the cloud environment, one often-overlooked area of concern is the performance and reliability of the overall application and content delivery chain from the cloud environment to the end user. In todays fast-paced world, every millisecond counts, and end users tend to be fairly unforgiving. If something doesnt load almost immediately, a majority will click away, thus impacting customer satisfaction, top line revenues and ultimately the bottom line. The reason behind slow or unresponsive applications and websites? Latency. Generally speaking, geography and network distance play a key role in determining latency. The further the cloud environment is from your internal network systems or the end user, the greater the latency across the network. Thats why its essential to keep location in mind when deploying a cloud solution to ensure a low-latency solution.

CARPATHIA.COM | EQUINIX.COM

[ Digital Media & the Mobile Ecosystem:Meeting Hosting Challenges & Handling User Demands with Ease ]

PREPARING FOR COMMON MIGRATION CHALLENGES

While content providers will see clear advantages in migrating to the cloud, there are four common changemanagement issues they should prepare to face:

1 . Business Process Implications

Some processes require transformation to fit the new virtual environment; organizations must conduct fit analyses to prioritize those functions to migrate first, as well as determine resources to maintain legacy applications and data environments. Other processes will arise exclusively within the cloud; these opportunities will be difficult to foresee, as IT teams may still be working with a dedicated-infrastructure mindset. Fortunately, both cloud and dedicated environments share the same user expectations for availability, confidentiality and scalability. Cloud will make it easier to achieve these expectations by providing a flatter and simpler data sharing platform that can be defined in advance as part of the organizations plan, then rapidly scaled up when the need arises.

2 . Cultural Implications
As digital media IT moves from being system administrators to service administrators, this will change the checkbox theyre charged with, as the focus moves from system metrics to business metrics. IT leadership will need to develop fair and accurate performance measures to share with stakeholders in a supportive team environment. IT staff may have issues with losing physical dominion over infrastructure; leadership will need to underscore that proximity is not the same as trust, and SLAs are a better way to maintain trust. Cloud migration also requires IT to plan for, deploy and support applications and data in a mixed infrastructure, with new quality-of-service challenges. IT will need to employ a higher level of development and support expertise, probably from external sources well versed and proven in the migration process. IT leadership will also need to proactively dispel key myths about the cloud, to set the right expectations. One is that cloud is inherently less secure than dedicated infrastructure. In fact, the clouds complexity and uniform security structure actually adds security. Another is that cloud is always cheaper. In fact, IT needs to conduct an apples-to-apples comparison to determine which legacy applications or storage should move to the cloud, and then, which cloud configuration best meets the organizations security, performance and cost goals. In many cases, organizations will have to find a balance between security, performance and cost, as not all may be practically achievable at the same time. All these changes will require not just IT, but overall leadership to demonstrate a high level of commitment to migration. Maintaining this discipline in the face of everyday demands may be especially challenging; leadership should be prepared to support proactive change management across the entire organization, not just IT. Leadership will also need to integrate the change process with other socioeconomic goals, in some cases without any precedent from enterprise.

CARPATHIA.COM | EQUINIX.COM

[ Digital Media & the Mobile Ecosystem:Meeting Hosting Challenges & Handling User Demands with Ease ]

3 . Scaling Implications
Given the immediate benefits of migration, IT leaders may want to focus on large-scale migrations with high visibility. However, organizations without prior migration experience should actually start with small migrations, like relatively simple and non-critical functions, to build the experience and process needed to tackle key organizational functions.

4 . Geographic Implications
While some applications are used from a single location, others are used from multiple locations or even worldwide. When migrating to a cloud, content providers need to consider the locations from which their applications will be accessed to ensure low delays in users ability to access the applications. When selecting a cloud solution, it is important to consider these factors and make sure that geographic access can be monitored, controlled and optimized and that the cloud provider is offering the solution on a low-latency network.

PARTNERING FOR MIGRATION SUCCESS

As a mobile content provider, keeping your focus on the end-user experience will strengthen customer relationships and secure revenue streams as you innovate and grow. Thats why content providers should partner with established, expert and proven services providers like Carpathia Hosting and Equinix who can ensure their cloud migration, implementation and operations and maintenance fulfill their promises. If youre looking to engage with a hosting provider, its important to evaluate the provider and its solutions using the following checklist. Checklist for Evaluating Hosting Solutions: 5 A worldwide data center footprint that allows content providers to keep their data exactly where they need it to meet both latency requirements and privacy regulations 5 Professional services that go beyond technical proficiency 5 A sophisticated team with strong processes and smart people that have experience deploying hosting solutions on a massive scale 5 A partner with a proven track-record providing services to the mobile ecosystem, including mobile ad networks and mobile content providers 5 The ability to provide truly flexible and custom solutions to meet any list of hosting requirements 5 Capability to move fast to meet tight customer deadlines and ensure environment is up and running on time 5 An ability to work seamlessly with other vendors, as well as plug-into existing programs (or frame new ones) with minimal start-up efforts 5 An appropriate infrastructure with true physical isolation, from hardened facilities to data vaults and environmental services 5 An environment that supports not just cloud services, but colocation and managed service requirements and can provide hybrid options 5 Multiple facility fail-over provisions that supports the organizations plan across jurisdictions, regions and missions 5 Continuous monitoring, including operational and security staffing thats 24x7x365 as threats dont keep a schedule

CARPATHIA.COM | EQUINIX.COM

[ Digital Media & the Mobile Ecosystem:Meeting Hosting Challenges & Handling User Demands with Ease ]

Together, Carpathia and Equinixs roster of content and digital media providers includes companies such as Spotify USA, inMobi and Urban Airship, which benefit from a data center footprint that includes more than 690+ network providers, ranging from backbones to ISPs and mobile data providers. With the ability to scale on-demand, content companies, advertising networks and content delivery services working with Carpathia and Equinix see improved performance while still controlling costs and complexity. With Platform Equinix, content providers benefit from: Deep expertise in global managed hosting and cloud solutions with an emphasis on managed high-transaction, low-latency networks and massive storage requirements Direct access to end-user networks including MSOs, ISPs and mobile data providers Specialized ecosystem including 485+ content providers for direct connection to partners, including the top social media and ad networks Diverse choice among all of the top CDNs and leading Internet transit providers Proximity to end users in 13 countries across 5 continents Over 6.5 million square feet and continuously investing to ensure consistent availability for expansion Carpathias suite of services offered inside Equinix data centers worldwide is designed for organizations seeking scalable, secure, robust and enterprise-grade hosting solutions that can be quickly provisioned or tailored to meet unique requirements. From fully managed environments, to cloud solutions, to colocation services, Carpathias comprehensive solutions portfolio helps mobile content providers of all sizes meet their application performance and operational support requirements. Deliver your content to 90% of the population of North America, Western Europe, top markets in the Asia-Pacific region and Brazil in 10ms or less. For more information, visit www.carpathia.com/digital-media or contact a Carpathia Hosting or Equinix account executive today.

THROUGH PLATFORM EQUINIX, MOBILE CONTENT PROVIDERS HAVE DIRECT ACCESS TO:
8 of the top 10 websites 10 of the top 10 video sites 5 of the top 5 social network sites 8 of the top 10 advertising networks

BY DEPLOYING WITH CARPATHIA WITHIN AN EQUINIX DATA CENTER, YOU CAN GAIN:
15% faster page load times 27% fewer network hops for more consistent performance 80% reduction in downtime 40% less variability in end-to-end transit times

sales@carpathia.com | Phone: 703.840.3900 | Toll Free: 1.888.200.9494 | Fax: 703.997.5577

ABOUT CARPATHIA HOSTING

Carpathia Hosting is a leading provider of managed hosting services, providing secure, reliable and compliant IT infrastructure and management for some of the worlds most demanding enterprises and federal agencies. Founded in 2003, Carpathia is a growing, profitable business run by a seasoned management team with deep experience in delivering enterprise hosting solutions including colocation, managed services and cloud computing. Carpathias suite of services is designed for organizations seeking scalable, secure, robust and enterprise-grade hosting solutions that can be quickly provisioned or tailored to meet unique requirements. Backed by its E3 Promise, Carpathia consistently delivers an experience that exceeds customers expectations. Carpathia was named to the Inc. Magazine 500|5000 list in 2011 as one of Americas fastest-growing companies. Contact Carpathia at 1.888.200.9494, or visit Carpathia.com for more information. 21000 Atlantic Boulevard Suite 500 Dulles, VA 20166 703.840.3900 | 888.200.9494

ABOUT EQUINIX
Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) connects businesses with partners and customers around the world through a global platform of high performance data centers, containing dynamic ecosystems and the broadest choice of networks. More than 3,275 enterprises, cloud, digital content and financial companies connect to more than 625 network service providers and rely on Platform Equinix to grow their business, improve application performance and protect their vital digital assets. Equinix operates in 35 strategic markets across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific and continually invests in expanding its platform to power customer growth. One Lagoon Drive 4th Floor Redwood City, CA 94065 650.598.6000 | 888.892.0607

CARPATHIA.COM | EQUINIX.COM