NTT Communications
Case Study: Global Content Delivery Network & Golf.com
Improving real-time information exchange & enhancing the interactive experience:
Golf.com and Elements of the Signature NTT Communications system for and SP Marterials Tee up Golf to the Masses
Since 1988, Golf.com has been the premier provider of PR materials, and SP materials is online golf content, commerce andbelow. The company’s shown services. The chart below shows the basic interactive content and tools allow golf enthusiasts to standards for indicating the Corporfollow the professional tours, improve and manage their variate Brand Mark together with game, track and analyze their elements including the marketous online handicap, search for ing logotype, so as equipment courses in the U.S. and Canada, purchase golfto more effectively express the consistency of the and much more.
The signature system used for ads,
NTT Communications brand and the features of the Corporate Brand Mark. Golf.com distributes its online content to hundreds of sites
across the Internet, including their flagship site, Golf.com, among others. A wide distribution list and user database, Golf.com counts on a secure, fast, and reliable Internet In company’s the base color o service capable of supporting the principle, growing the corporate color global traffic. During the U.S. Open, the demand for (cobalt b tournament information increases significantly. The popularity of the event for the 106th US Open in 2006 was expected to generate a heavy demand on Golf.com.
Full Color Version
NTT Communications’ Smart Content Delivery™(SCD) X 0.1X 0 was chosen as Golf.com’s best solution. SCD gave Golf.com the ability to eliminate bottlenecks inherent to the Internet since content is cached & load balanced globally on multiple SCD servers that reside at the Internet edge & private peering points. Golf.com no longer needed to invest in the additional hardware to mitigate the erratic and unpredictable nature of Golf.com viewers on event days – SCD served content from the most optimal SCD server, relieving the overloaded Full Color Version – Positive Type Web servers and avoiding Internet delays.
www.ntt.com
Challenges
High-Volume Traffic Demand: More than 1,500,000 visitors were expected to turn to Golf.com for play coverage and tournament information during the week of the 2006 U.S. Open. Real-Time End-User Expectations: Viewers expected to see hole-by-hole scoring posted to the site virtually real-time. Server Operating Deficiency: Golf.com’s online user membership program, GolfServ Advantage, lacked the optimal operations which could allow users to track their performance metrics and USGA handicap proficiently.
Solutions
High-Volume Traffic Support: A powerful content delivery service worldwide, NTT Communications’ Smart Content DeliveryTM (SCD) solution enabled Golf.com to ensure optimal performance and high availability of its web site during heavy load activity. Real-Time Experience Enhanced: Golfers could track virtually every golf statistic through the GolfServ Advantage program. Efficient Server Tracking: SCD server accurately monitored user metrics so that the optimal cache server for each end-user’s request could be easily recognized.
Results
Server Management: During the 2006 U.S. Open, the Golf.com servers had to handle less than 10% of the heavy site activity, with SCD serving the rest of the demand. Increased Customer Loyalty: NTT Communications’ SCD managed and distributed rich media and static content in a manner that strengthened Golf.com’s brand with increased customer loyalty which led to greater satisfaction. Effective Content Delivery: Reliable content delivery system insured Golf.com of the level of site performance it constantly needed to maximize its site operations.
2006 U.S. OPEN
SCD SERVER
Golf.com’s servers only handled less than 10% of the heavy activity
Increased Customer Loyality
Reliable delivery of content during peak times
Elements of the Signature system for Ads, P Why NTT Communications?Marterials and SP
“Smart Content DeliveryTM enables Golf.com to enhance its growing site capabilities and the interactive experience for their customers. Our global content delivery network ensures the smooth delivery of Golf.com’s content during peak traffic without the need to invest in additional expensive hardware and network capacity.” Wayne Lambert Director, Product Engineering NTT America “NTT Communications’ Smart Content DeliveryTM allows us The signature system used for ads, to focus on providing quality PR materials, and SP materials is content to our customers rather shown below. than worrying about whether or The chart below shows the basic not our servers can handle an standards for indicating the Corporunexpected jump in demand. By ate Brand Mark together with varipurchasing SCD, our total investous elements including the marketment in content delivery is lower ing logotype, so as to more effecthan if we purchased additional tively express the consistency of the hardware and maintained it year NTT Communications brand and the round, thus lowering our TCO.” features of the Corporate Brand Michael Caspar Mark. Chief Technology Officer Golf.com
Global Content Delivery Network & Golf.com
In principle, the base color of the c the corporate color (cobalt blue) .
Full Color Version
About Golf.com With an average of 1.3 million unique visitors per month, GOLF.com offers extensive coverage of news and developments from the PGA, LPGA Champions’ and Nationwide tours, including hole-by-hole leaderboard results, as well as extensive content for recreational players. In addition to its free content, the web site offers Golf.com Advantage, a feebased membership program that allows golfers to establish and track their USGA handicap and playing performances. GOLF.com was acquired by GOLF MAGAZINE’s parent company, Time Inc., in 2006, adding the leading URL in the game of golf to GOLF MAGAZINE’s online business unit, which includes GOLFONLINE and Golfcourse.com. GOLF MAGAZINE is published by Time4 Media, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Time Inc. To learn more about Golf.com, visit HYPERLINK “http://www.golf.com” http://www.golf.com. About NTT America NTT Communications is the global data and IP services arm of the Fortune 500 telecommunications leaders: NTT. Leveraging global Tier 1 IP backbone networks and rich engineering resources, NTT Communications provides a wide range of services including private networks, Internet networking, enterprise hosting, and security & IT management solutions in Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas. The company is the recipient of the “World Communication Awards (WCA) Best Customer Care - 2005.” NTT Communications consists of over 30 operations and affiliates worldwide. The company’s wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, NTT America, Inc. (www.nttamerica.com), is North America’s natural gateway to the Asia-Pacific with strong capabilities in the U.S. market.
X
0.1X 0.06X
NTT A
Full Color Version – Positive Type
NTT A
www.ntt.com