ITV

Tag: Parimal Pandya

  • Akamai names Parimal Pandya as MD-APJ to drive growth & innovation

    Akamai names Parimal Pandya as MD-APJ to drive growth & innovation

    NEW DELHI: Akamai Technologies has appointed Parimal Pandya as managing director for Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ), in addition to his current role as VP of media and carrier sales, APJ. Pandya assumed this additional role on 1 October 2020.

    In his expanded role as MD for APJ, Pandya will lead the business across the region in support of the company’s growth and innovation goals. As a seasoned leader with a keen focus on innovation and digital transformation, he has overseen the growth of some of the largest gaming and social media platforms, and facilitated Akamai’s collaboration with the biggest technology companies in the world. 

    Pandya began his career at Akamai in 2003 as a product manager at the company’s Cambridge office in the U.S., where he was instrumental in the launch of Akamai’s web performance product line. He moved to Bengaluru in 2009, where he led the expansion of the company’s India operations and global mid-market go-to-market teams. Pandya extended his focus to Akamai’s business in APJ by setting up the company’s carrier strategy group, subsequently delivering key strategic partnerships with major telecom operators across Asia Pacific and Japan which paved the way for future growth and expansion.

    Covid2019 has disrupted the smooth functioning and streamlined workflow of many companies, says Pandya. “Individuals and enterprises across a spectrum of industries have been compelled to quickly transform the ways they work and conduct day-to-day business—and the Akamai platform is playing a key role in this new work paradigm.”

    Akamai Technologies co-founder and CEO Tom Leighton called Pandya a proven leader who is known for bringing teams together and delivering results. “Parimal’s successful track record of driving growth for our media and carrier business in the region make him an ideal choice for the post,” he added.

    Prior to joining Akamai, Pandya founded and operated an e-commerce venture in New York City, and worked for a period in venture capital. He holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, New York. Currently, he is based in Hong Kong.

  • Hotstar and Akamai create internet history

    Hotstar and Akamai create internet history

    MUMBAI: Hotstar, India’s leading premium streaming platform, leveraged Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the world’s most trusted and largest cloud delivery platform, to create streaming history on 22 May 2018 during the first qualifier match of VIVO IPL 2018. The match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings attracted an unprecedented 8.26 million peak concurrent viewers tuning in simultaneously to witness the nail-biting finish, thereby breaking all previous records in online video streaming across the world. Over four hours, more than 26 million viewers tuned into Hotstar to watch the match.

    The previous record is believed to have been established by YouTube when Felix Baumgartner’s space jump in 2012 saw a peak of just over 8 million concurrent viewers tuning in to watch the event.

    Hotstar’s steady march into the record books started in 2017, when it recorded a peak concurrency of 4.8 million simultaneous viewers during the India-Pakistan ICC Champions’ Trophy final match, the highest in APAC at the time. The opening week of Vivo IPL 2018 upended this record with 5.5 million concurrency recorded on 10 April, followed by the next peak of 7.1 million on 25 April. The peak seen during the ICC Champion’s Trophy Final was nearly doubled during the VIVO IPL 2018 match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings. With all sports streaming records broken, the next frontier was to go beyond just sports and raise the bar on streaming as a whole.

    Commenting on the historic development, Hotstar, CEO, Ajit Mohan added, “Four years ago, when we started streaming IPL, 8 million viewers would have been a big deal for the whole tournament. Crossing 8 million simultaneous users is a testimony to the power of VIVO IPL and evidence of the abiding passion of cricket fans. It is not just about the scale, however. It is about reinventing the sports experience online and constantly raising the bar. Our objective is to create the future of social TV. And we are proud that the tech that we are building is expanding the frontiers of online video.​”

    Akamai Technologies, Vice President, Media, APJ, Parimal Pandya commented, “Over the past year and a half, Hotstar has broken several online viewing records at the regional level. A contributing factor was technology from Akamai playing a role in bringing down the latency drastically so users can enjoy the live action almost as well as people watching it on their television. This is a clear indicator of the fact that, driven by technology from Akamai, live sporting action can be enjoyed on a smartphone which is the new frontier for audience engagement and growth.”

    VIVO IPL 2018, now in its final week, to be concluded on Sunday 27 May 2018, is the fifth year that Hotstar is streaming the tournament. The current edition of the tournament marks a sharp upgrade in viewing experience, with additions like WatchN’Play, a skill based game that tests the cricket fans’ knowledge as they watch, VR to really immerse the viewer in the on-field action, and feeds available in 8 languages.

  • Hotstar, powered by Akamai, establishes high online viewership during India-England series

    MUMBAI: Hotstar, one of India’s leading premium video streaming platform, leveraged Akamai Technologies, Inc., a global leader in content delivery network (CDN) services, to establish several new online viewership records on its platform for live sporting events during the recently concluded India-England series. On the second One-Day International (ODI) held on the 19thof January, more than 25 million users watched the match on the platform, accounting for a majority of the Internet traffic from India on that day. The viewership peaked at more than 3 million concurrent viewers on the platform during the final T20 match of the England series, establishing a new high in the Asia Pacific region.

    India’s emergence as the world’s second largest smartphone market[2] is reflected in the dramatic growth in traffic witnessed by Hotstar, backed by Akamai’s Intelligent Platform, which saw more than 75 percent of viewers streaming the match from mobile networks.

    Hotstar, an Akamai customer since its launch in February 2015, delivers millions of hours of sporting and general entertainment content backed by Akamai’s Media Delivery Solutions every week.

    “We are seeing dramatic growth in our viewership every month, including in cricket. As millions of new users embrace Hotstar as a way of life, the platform is seeing new highs in sports viewership as well. As data costs fall dramatically, and users increasingly look to their mobile as the primary screen, we are starting to see the emergence of Hotstar as the primary destination in cities with more than a million in population. This trend will accelerate in the next few months, especially during IPL, and we rely on Akamai’s solutions to ensure that we are able to scale in line with this vertical growth in demand,” said Ajit Mohan, CEO, Hotstar.

    “Globally, the smartphone is becoming a key instrument to viewing live sporting events. We saw a significant majority of users accessing content via mobile for this ODI between India and England, making it the largest audience for a sporting event on the Akamai Platform, in Asia. Hotstar is truly leading the change in this paradigm shift in India, and we are proud to partner with Hotstar to bring new features and innovations to provide an unparalleled end user experience,” said Parimal Pandya, Vice President, Media, APJ, Akamai Technologies.

    As the Internet becomes faster and more accessible in India, brands can expect app downloads and usage to surge. Per a recently released App Annie report[3], Android users in India spent close to 150 billion hours on apps in 2016, leading app usage in the world. Indian users also downloaded apps over six billion times, surpassing America, the previous world leader.