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Scenario
$100 million dollars is the average cost to produce, distribute, and market a major studio movie. $467,000 dollars is the cost to air a 30-second television commercial during the #1 ranked prime time show. With those investments at stake, it’s no wonder that decision-makers in the entertainment industry rely on viewership data to help them shape their business decisions.
The Rentrak Corporation (rentrak.com) offers those in the entertainment industry the insights they need to better understand their audiences and compete effectively. By collecting and analyzing this data, as well as data about the emerging Internet TV and handheld device entertainment market, Rentrak provides content measurement, analytical services, and unique insight to the most recognizable names in the entertainment industry. The company then collects and interprets audience data to help drive businesses and the industry forward.
Business Challenge
When Rentrak was planning the launch of its box office data reporting product—which is now the global standard for worldwide box office data reporting—the product’s success depended on an uninterrupted availability of data. Rentrak leaders calculated the costs to build the redundant systems necessary to ensure 100% data availability in their existing in-house data centers, and they were shocked by the results: in addition to all the redundant systems they’d have to buy--a second cooling system, a second set of transformers and the like—a redundant power source wasn’t even available at their existing data center. Rentrak knew making its own data center 100% redundant was a losing proposition. At the same time, Rentrak experienced tremendous growth due to its diverse product set. They needed the freedom of an infrastructure that could handle the influx while still performing at peak efficiency.
Solution
Rentrak’s leadership came to ViaWest for a solution. Our flexibility in providing a solution helped Rentrak grow in the way it wanted to, without huge fees from the beginning. Since then, Rentrak’s corporate leadership has reported a tenfold increase in its business. ViaWest’s dedicated account team members and executives fostered close working relationships with Rentrak’s leadership to help ensure the success of Rentrak’s box office reporting product. We designed a fully customized colocation solution that provides Rentrak with a level of redundancy, reliability, and recoverability that was unattainable via the company’s in-house solution. Now Rentrak’s TV processing servers are located in a ViaWest colocation facility in Hillsboro, Oregon and process and manage over 120 billion transactions annually.