Easily compare Tata Communications and Akamai for POP locations, products, pricing, features & support. We hope this helps you better understand the similarities and differences between these content delivery networks.
Company
Company | Tata Communications | Akamai |
---|---|---|
Short profile | Tata Communications is a full service, carrier grade, global CDN that has been in operation since their acquisition of BitGravity in 2012. The CDN rides on Tata’s global infrastructure which is the largest Tier 1 network in the world. Tata’s ownership of the network and peering relationships enable it to be very competitive when it comes to price. | Akamai is one of the oldest CDNs and generally considered to be the largest global CDN. They have 'servers everywhere' and a wide range of products and services. The company is actively involved in Let's Encrypt and is pushing HTTP/2 adoption. |
Products
Product | Tata Communications | Akamai |
---|---|---|
Dynamic content deliveryNon-cacheable content delivery. User login, shopping cart ... | Dynamic Site Acceleration | Dynamic Site Accelerator |
Small file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of small files (file size <1 MB) | Whole Site Acceleration | Ion |
Large file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of large files (file size >1 MB) | Large Object Rapid Delivery | Download Delivery |
Live videoDelivery of live video. RTMP? Transcoding/transmuxing? | Live Streaming | Adaptive Media Delivery |
Video on demandDelivery of on demand video | Video On Demand | |
Image OptimizationAutomatic image transformation/compression/optimization | Image & Video Manager | |
DNSAuthoritative DNS for customer domain | Edge DNS | |
WAFWeb Application Firewall | CDN Security | Web Application Protector |
Anti-DDoSDDoS attack protection. Specific product(s) for this. | CDN Security | Kona DDoS Defender |
Private CDNDedicated edge resources & custom configs | ||
Edge ComputeRun your code on CDN edge servers | EdgeWorkers |
Network
How many POP locations do Tata Communications and Akamai have in different parts of the world?
Region | Tata Communications | Akamai |
---|---|---|
North America | 8 | ? |
Latin America | 0 | ? |
Europe | 4 | ? |
Russia & CIS | 0 | ? |
Asia excl. China | 10 | ? |
China | 0 | ? |
Oceania | 1 | ? |
Middle East | 1 | ? |
Africa | 0 | ? |
Pricing
Pricing & contract duration | Tata Communications | Akamai |
---|---|---|
Minimum contract term | Unknown | 12 months |
Minimum monthly costs | Unknown | Unknown |
Requests costsCustomers pay for client to CDN requests | Unknown | Unknown |
Ingress costsCustomers pay for origin-to-CDN bytes transferred | Unknown | Unknown |
NA/EU traffic (low volume) | Unknown | Unknown |
APAC traffic (low volume) | Unknown | Unknown |
LATAM traffic (low volume) | Unknown | Unknown |
Features
Web acceleration | Tata Communications | Akamai |
---|---|---|
Instant setupSign up, configure, start testing. | Can't sign up and get started. Must talk to sales. | |
Change propagation delayHow fast do config changes propagate to all POPs? | <10 minutes | |
Apex/root domain OK No performance degradation when using http(s)://domain.com |
Global Anycasted network
Tata recommends against root domain though, as they may make changes in DNS at any time
|
If you also use their Fast DNS for your domain |
HTTP/2 | End of 2017 | |
HTTP/3 | HTTP/3 announcement | |
WebSockets | WebSockets docs | |
IPv6Do the edge servers have IPv6? | ||
Compression Reduce file size for faster delivery |
Resend from origin
Always fetch compressed from origin
|
Resend from origin, or compress on edge |
Origin pull - protocolHTTP only or HTTPS possible too? | HTTP and HTTPS | HTTP and HTTPS |
Origin pull - Host headerUse client > edge value? Set specific value? | Can't configure specific other Host header | |
Origin ShieldOne POP pulls from origin, other POPs pull from the shield POP |
Tiered architecture, not single POP shield
Tata support is needed to enable/configure this
|
|
Waiting RoomDuring peak traffic, route users to a virtual waiting room | Virtual Waiting Room | |
Push / uploadStore your content directly on CDN, no customer origin | ||
Cache control - CDN caching | Full and granular control | |
Cache control - client caching | Full and granular control | |
Serve Stale CDN serves cached but expired content in case origin is in trouble | ||
Purge Invalidate or delete cached objects on CDN | No longer than 2 mins, often much faster | |
Purge - capabilities | Purge all, purge by directory, not by tag or header | |
Analytics |
Many metrics in the UI
2 seconds refresh ('instant') possible at extra charge
|
|
Log files |
Refreshed every 24h. Available via FTP
15m refresh possible at extra charge
|
|
API | Purge, configuration. Not analytics |
HTTPS & Content Protection | Tata Communications | Akamai |
---|---|---|
CDN domain HTTPSUse the CDN's domain, like cloudfront.net | ||
Customer domain HTTPSYour domain in the CDN's certificate | ||
Customer cert HTTPSYour certificate on the CDN |
SNI. Pricing is custom.
Update cert via UI or API
|
|
Token authentication | ||
Geo blocking | ||
Hotlink protectionThird parties cannot deeplink to your content | Their support team is needed | |
Basic authenticationUser logs in on the CDN to get content | ||
IP white/blacklisting |
White or black listing. IP addresses and CIDR blocks
Customer can configure self in UI
|
Support
Customer support | Tata Communications | Akamai |
---|---|---|
Documentation | Some documentation, not public | Akamai techdocs |
Humans | All customers get 24/7 email and phone support. |