International Tennis Federation serves up the Davis Cup live over the net with NTT Europe Online

Secure web architecture provides performance and scalability for the ITF

 

London, 19 February 2008 – The International Tennis Federation (ITF) used NTT Europe Online to provide secure and scalable hosting for the live online coverage of the 2008 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas which began on 8 February.

Live point-by-point scoring and statistics were available from all eight World Group first round ties, played throughout the world on 8-10 February, via the Official Davis Cup website, daviscup.com, together with a full news and results service.

NTT Europe Online’s Smart Content Delivery service allows huge volumes of traffic for the Davis Cup website to be effectively managed via a global network of caching servers which evenly distribute the bandwidth load, ensure availability, and increase the speed of delivery of the website content to its audience.

With 205 member federations and millions of visitors from around the world, the ITF requires a web presence robust enough to cope with huge influxes of traffic and the bandwidth and networking capabilities necessary for global content distribution.

Mat Pemble, ICT Manager at the ITF, said: “Having a secure and scalable web presence is crucial for a global organisation such as the ITF. With exclusive up-to-the-second coverage of all Davis Cup World Group matches available on the official website we are taking tennis further into the digital age. We are confident that in 2008 daviscup.com will help take the tournament to an even bigger audience and give more people access to world quality sport.

“It is crucial that we can rely on our web hosting and network infrastructure to scale up rapidly and effectively to cope with the huge peaks in demand created by Davis Cup. We’ve seen how NTT Europe Online has managed other major sports events and online broadcasting so they were a natural choice.”

Damian Skendrovic, UK Regional Director at NTT Europe Online, added: “This project is proof of the new demands for online content delivery, especially for sport. People are hungry for live sports content and the web is a fantastic medium for delivering it to audiences who otherwise wouldn’t be able to access it. With Davis Cup, the ITF is taking an ideal approach to using technology to spread the reach of tennis.”

NTT Europe Online’s experience in developing and managing web hosting solutions for large sporting organisations is vast, with sports organisations such as FIFA, UEFA and the IAAF part of NTT Europe Online’s growing online portfolio.

About NTT Europe Online

NTT Europe Online provides managed hosting, security and application management services to businesses globally.  These services provide the reliability, availability, security and scalability needed to underpin business success online.
 
NTT Europe Online is certified to ISO27001 for Information Security Management and, as part of NTT Communications, has the global reach and scale to support businesses of all sizes. NTT Communications is the global data and IP services arm of the Fortune Global 500 telecom leader, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation (NTT). For further information visit www.ntteuropeonline.com

About the Davis Cup

Davis Cup by BNP Paribas is the largest annual international team competition in sport with 127 nations entered in 2008. The title sponsor is BNP Paribas, the Official Bank of Davis Cup. International sponsors are Rolex (Official Timekeeper), Turismo Madrid (Official Tourist Destination of the Davis Cup), Hugo Boss (Official Men's Fashion Clothing Sponsor), Kia Motors (Official Car) and NH Hoteles (Official Hotel). International partners are NTT Communications (Official Managed Hosting Partner), Wilson Sporting Goods (Official Ball) and TTK (Official Licensing Partner).

About the International Tennis Federation

The ITF is the world governing body of tennis, responsible for the Rules of Tennis. In addition to its administrative role, the ITF is the owner and international rightsholder of the two largest annual international team competitions in sport, Davis Cup by BNP Paribas and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas. The ITF also organises the Olympic Tennis Event on behalf of the IOC. Through its Technical Department, the ITF closely monitors both equipment and technology and, through its Officiating Department, the education and advancement of officials worldwide. The ITF organises over 650 weeks of professional tournaments in Men’s and Women’s Circuit Events. Through its Tennis Development Department that oversees the development of tennis worldwide, the ITF manages the ITF Junior Circuit and Team Competitions for elite juniors as well as international tennis events and programmes for wheelchair and senior players.

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For further details, please contact:
Joseph Thomas / Josh Turner
Brands2Life 
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