As part of the deal, Sky News Arabia’s point of presence (PoP) in datamena will be connected directly to the Samacom Teleport and Sky News Arabia’s international network.
Within the datamena transit zone, Sky News Arabia will also be able to connect directly to carriers and partners, which is said to enhance the 24 hour breaking news broadcaster’s capability to bring live news to its viewers.
“Sky News Arabia will enjoy world class data centre and connectivity services from datamena as a result of our new partnership,” said Mahesh Jaishankar, VP, datamena.
“datamena offers state of the art facilities that will provide Sky News Arabia with a solid connection directly to the partners and carriers that add value to their business,” he added.
The move is expected to enhance Sky News Arabia’s level of security and connectivity, strengthening its overall news gathering capabilities. “Sky News Arabia is dedicated to delivering the best possible service to our viewers around the world and in partnering with datamena in this capacity we are reinforcing this commitment,” said Dominic Baillie, CTO, Sky News Arabia.
The news comes just one day ahead of Smart Media Middle East (see page 15),and is further evidence of the Middle East’s push to develop and promote its own content ecosystem.
Sky News Arabia joins a growing number of companies to have struck partnerships with datamena, including the likes of Vodafone Qatar, Cable and Wireless and Level 3.
On Monday, Capacity exclusively revealed that Turk Telekom International had established a PoP at datamena, expanding the company’s reach in the Middle East.
On Tuesday, datamena also announced that it had struck a partnership with China Comservice to provide it with a range of integrated support services in the information sector.
Capacity will be holding a Smart Media event as part of Capacity Middle East 2014 tomorrow (March 6), focussing on content delivery and monetisation across the entire ecosystem.
