Streamlining Your Data Center for Streaming Media

1. Streamlining Your Data Center for Streaming Media How many times have you experienced listener fatigue while listening to your ‘favorite’ playlist on a long trip? You just stick with the same ol’ same ol’ because your media downloads are just not fast enough. Whether you plan to travel by plane, train or automobile for your summer break, an updated playlist, is now on your list of must-haves. And when you want your media to be streamed smoothly, there’s a lot ofstreamlining that goes on in the background. With summer here, many of us are ramping up our music downloads, TV series to stream and the latest blockbuster movies to view for our vacation. Given the surge in data downloads, there is a heightened impetus on your data center responsiveness. This may result in the need for more devices, increased storage capacity or an overhaul of your data center for keeping in tune with the demand. A research by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a Swiss non- profit that represents 1300 record companies worldwide, states digital revenues overall grew by 17.7% to US$7.8 billion, driven by a sharp 60.4% growth in streaming revenue, the largest growth in 8 years. Streaming has been the clear driver of this growth, with revenues surging by 60.4%. With more than 100 million users of paid subscriptions globally, streaming has passed a crucial milestone. According to Digital Music News, streaming music services collectively crossed the 100-million- mark, with Spotify, Sirius XM Radio and Apple Music driving more than 85% of the total. Just recently, Spotify revealed it had crossed 39 million paying subscribers, a subscription that exceeds Apple Music’s estimated 17 million. This translates to a huge demand for high-performing data centers that can consistently handle the load of millions of data requests and large file downloads in a day. Smule is one such social media platform that relies heavily on its high-performing data centers in national and international locations. Smule enables creating and sharing music and is in sync with its customers’ media demands. The Smule user community performs 20 million songs and uploads 2 million recordings to Smule’s servers to share with others, all in a day. As such Smule’s data centers have to be top notch to sustain and satisfy these data demands. Headquartered in San Francisco, Smule has grown almost 70 percent in 7 years. The company’s Sing! Karaoke, Magic Piano and AutoRap products have been used by more than 350 million people. To support this massive volume of data, the company has 2,000 servers running in

2. three data centers. The newest, in Singapore, includes $3.5 million worth of equipment that was shipped from California. Smule’s co-location facility in Singapore includes 12 racks in a 20-foot by 10-foot space. Smule’s data center team was looking for a solution provider with global logistical capabilities, who could consistently handle their huge data demand. Rahi Systems’ expertise as an Importer of Record, having global offices and strong technical know-how, struck the right chords with Smule. Smule has a high-performing data center in Singapore, to enable a harmonious user experience to its music-loving customers. Here’s all the streamlining that goes on in the backend for you to stream your media: WATCH NOW Read the complete case study here.