Forward-looking, cloud-based business continuity solution deployed at software-centric Indian TV channel

Imagine Communications, empowering the media and entertainment industry through transformative innovation, has delivered a compact, cloud-native disaster recovery (DR) solution to leading global content company ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL). The business continuity solution utilizes the built-in redundancy capabilities of virtualized and geo-dispersed environments to provide ZEEL with improved protection of its playout operations for considerably less than the cost to build and maintain duplicate facilities.

ZEEL has rolled out a state-of-the-art cloud-based business continuity solution in its DR facility in Mumbai using Imagine Communications’ Versio™ playout solution and the company’s D-Series™ automation solution. The backup site supports 15 ZEE channels running on Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) servers across a virtual platform that mirrors the main site. Any changes made to the main system are immediately reflected on the DR system.

“Imagine Communications’ cloud-native business continuity solution helps to ensure that our live channels never go off the air, no matter the unforeseen circumstances we may face during the day-to-day running of our facility,” said Amitabh Kumar, Head of Broadcasting for Zee Network, the parent company of ZEEL. “The virtualized nature of the solution has already allowed ZEEL to realize savings on rack space and power consumption. In addition, the installation’s remote management capabilities help us to reduce resources at the DR site, keeping our opex low.”

A cloud-native approach to DR provides private or public cloud-based restoration of broadcast and video playout operations. More affordable, reliable and easier to manage than traditional business continuity solutions, cloud-native disaster recovery is growing in popularity, with Imagine Communications supporting customers on multiple continents through its Versio solution. Versio is at the heart of ZEEL’s remote facility in Mumbai. Versio, among the industry’s most comprehensive playout solutions, is 100% software running on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) IT platforms. The cloud-native solution is portable to all deployment environments, including premise-based appliance approaches.

In Mumbai, Versio works in tandem with the D-Series playout automation system, a highly scalable solution that provides device control for linear playout channels and manages the movement of file-based media to multiple delivery platforms. The D-Series Remote Schedule Synchronization (DRSS) feature enables both the primary and backup ZEEL sites to run in sync.

“ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Limited enjoys a long history with Imagine Communications and is one of the most innovative media companies in the region, and among the first to transition operations to a fully software-centric model utilizing COTS equipment,” said Brick Eksten, Chief Product Officer, Imagine Communications. “It is no surprise that ZEEL is one of the first media companies operating in the Indian subcontinent to recognize the cost and efficiency benefits of cloud-native solutions and to identify business continuity operations as a starting point for the adoption of a next-generation architecture.”

Some media companies are adopting cloud-native disaster recovery operations as a first step in the transition of mission-critical operations to virtualized environments, with plans to use the virtualized facilities for launching new channels or hosting existing ones after gaining the proper level of comfort in the performance and reliability of the cloud.

Additional information about these solutions and Imagine Communications can be found at www.imaginecommunications.com.

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About Imagine Communications
Imagine Communications empowers the media and entertainment industry through transformative innovation. Broadcasters, networks, video service providers and enterprises around the world rely on our optimized, futureproof, multiscreen video and revenue enablement solutions every day to support their mission-critical operations. Today, nearly half of the world’s video channels traverse our products, and our software solutions drive close to a third of global ad revenue. Through continuous innovation we are delivering the most advanced IP, cloud-enabled, software-defined network and workflow solutions in the industry. Visit www.imaginecommunications.com for more information, and follow us on Twitter @imagine_comms.

About Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL):
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited is one of the leading global content companies. With an extensive content library housing over 222,000+ hours of television content and rights to more than 3,818 movie titles from foremost studios and of iconic film stars, ZEE entertains over one billion viewers across 171 countries. ZEE has a strong presence across the media and entertainment value chain, including Broadcasting, Films, Digital, Theatre, LIVE Events & Talent.