Channel Ten buys direct fibre access to Amazon

Channel Ten will connect its private cloud infrastructure directly to Amazon Web Services' newly launched Sydney facility under a new managed services arrangement.

Linked gallery: Photos: Equinix opens phase two of SY3 data centre

The broadcaster, currently undertaking several cost-cutting initiatives, has negotiated a deal whereby its “base load” of web site traffic is hosted with managed service provider Bulletproof Networks for a predictable monthly fee, while spikes in traffic burst onto the new Amazon Web Services availability zone launched in Sydney last week.

The television network's web sites are likely to experience these spikes during crucial episodes of interactive shows such as Masterchef.

Channel Ten will be taking advantage of a feature of Amazon Web Services called ‘Direct Connect’, which enables customers to use a direct fibre connection into the cloud computing service and avoid transit over the public internet.

Equinix last week announced that it would re-sell direct links to the Amazon cluster within its new Sydney data centre, as did Bulletproof Networks – whose infrastructure sits within the neighbouring Sydney Global Switch data centre. Channel 10 is using the latter under a managed services deal signed with Bulletproof.

A ‘direct fibre’ link to the Amazon EC2 cloud saves on bandwidth costs and offers higher throughput from private to public cloud infrastructure.

Equinix chief technology officer Lane Patterson told iTnews the service could prove crucial to attracting organisations reticent to dive straight into the public cloud.

Customers could host their own private cloud at Global Switch or Equinix for the “base” of their IT load and burst onto the Amazon public cloud – all across a small piece of fibre from within the same facility.

“This is the biggest game changer for hosting in Australia, ever,” said Lorenzo Modesto, COO at Bulletproof Networks.

“This allows us to connect to AWS at gigabits per second – to be an extension of a single digit latency network.”

Modesto said he was not concerned that organisations could buy Direct Connect from AWS. Nor that Equinix, which markets itself as an independent data centre operator, is reselling Direct Connect in competition with its hosting customers.

Corporate and government customers will continue to choose managed service suppliers, he said, as “someone has to manage mission critical deployments.”

“It’s the classic outsourcing argument. It comes down to whether a customer needs management," he said.

"Do they have the skills, the money and time? Many don't want to fund their own 24x7 incidence response.”