Total Eclipse Off the Charts: Akamai and MobileRider Power NASA TV’s Live Streaming Coverage of Solar Eclipse for Massive Global Audience
12.1 million unique viewers on NASA.gov watched NASA TV’s live streaming coverage of the first total solar eclipse to cross the United States in nearly 100 years
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (25 Aug 2017)
Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the world’s largest and most trusted cloud delivery platform, and its partner, MobileRider Networks LLC, the leader in smart streaming solutions, today announced that NASA TV used technology and services from both companies to deliver its comprehensive live coverage of the August 21 North American total solar eclipse. The combination of MobileRider’s media player with Akamai’s Media Services Live and Adaptive Media Delivery video steaming solutions under InfoZen’s prime contract as the cloud managed services provider, helped NASA TV deliver high-quality video to 12.1 million unique viewers who watched the live stream via the NASA.gov site on connected devices around the world.
“We waited nearly a century for the August 21 total solar eclipse to cross the United States from coast to coast,” John Yembrick, NASA’s chief of digital communications, said of the total solar eclipse coverage, “And now, with live streaming video on NASA.gov, people around the world were able to witness the total solar eclipse through the eyes of NASA.”
“For months, a great deal of planning went into the end-to-end planning, testing, integration, implementation and support to deliver eclipse content to accommodate an unknown number of viewers. We were extremely proud to be architecting, implementing, and orchestrating the technology providers behind an event of this magnitude on a program that helps NASA promote new discoveries, events and services through the web and cloud,” said Raj Ananthanpillai, president & CEO, InfoZen.
As the moon passed in front of the sun during a two-hour period on August 21, 14 states across the U.S. experienced more than two minutes of darkness, while a partial eclipse was visible across all of North America. Powered by Akamai and MobileRider, NASA TV successfully delivered its global broadcast of the event, providing unprecedented footage of the sun, Earth and moon, and their interaction across the total eclipse’s extended trajectory from coast to coast. Coverage featured live reports from Charleston, South Carolina; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Jefferson City, Missouri; Salem, Oregon; and several other U.S. cities in its path.
“NASA TV’s live streaming coverage of the solar eclipse is yet another example of how the internet can make not just the world, but the universe, a smaller place, allowing people worldwide to take part in such a unique experience,” said John Bishop, CTO, Media, Akamai. “To be an integral part of bringing such an unusual event to millions of viewers around the globe is an experience our team won’t soon forget and something we’re incredibly proud to have helped support.”
“Coverage of the eclipse was the largest event that Akamai and MobileRider have helped NASA TV deliver over the several years that we have worked together,” said Noah Hollander, chief operating officer at MobileRider. “It was a huge honor to be part of this, and, remarkably, from an online viewership perspective, the eclipse saw more unique viewers than many of the highest-profile sporting events delivered on the internet. We are already looking forward to streaming the next total solar eclipse April 8, 2024.”
About MobileRider
MobileRider’s mission is to provide businesses with enterprise class SMART-STREAMING-SOLUTIONS. MobileRider offers event owners a complete set of hardware, software, encoding CDN and satellite solutions to share their events from anywhere to anyone, everywhere. Founded in 2006, Mobilerider LLC is headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT. Please visit www.mobilerider.com and follow @Mobilerider on Twitter.
About Akamai
As the world’s largest and most trusted cloud delivery platform, Akamai makes it easier for its customers to provide the best and most secure digital experiences on any device, anytime, anywhere. Akamai’s massively distributed platform is unparalleled in scale with over 200,000 servers across 130 countries, giving customers superior performance and threat protection. Akamai’s portfolio of web and mobile performance, cloud security, enterprise access, and video delivery solutions are supported by exceptional customer service and 24/7 monitoring. To learn why the top financial institutions, e-commerce leaders, media & entertainment providers, and government organizations trust Akamai please visit www.akamai.com, blogs.akamai.com, or @Akamai on Twitter.
About InfoZen
InfoZen is a transformational IT company that provides systems modernization, cloud solutions and DevOps supporting critical national security missions with complex environments. Our employees innovate constantly, thinking about advanced information and process technologies in unconventional ways to produce dramatic improvements. We stay on top of the latest advances – Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things – delivering secure solutions tailored to help customers solve their most challenging business issues. For more information, please visit www.infozen.com and follow @InfoZenCorp on Twitter.