Easily compare Lumen and Tata Communications 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 | Lumen | Tata Communications |
|---|---|---|
| Short profile | Lumen (formerly known as Centurylink or Level 3) owns and operates a global Tier-1 network and - logically - their CDN runs on top of it. Lumen CDN has POPs on many continents and their product focus is on video, large object delivery and edge computing. | 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. |
Products
| Product | Lumen | Tata Communications |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamic content deliveryNon-cacheable content delivery. User login, shopping cart ... | CDN Edge Compute | Dynamic Site Acceleration |
| Small file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of small files (file size <1 MB) | CDN and/or CDN Edge Compute | Whole Site Acceleration |
| Large file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of large files (file size >1 MB) | Large Object Rapid Delivery | |
| Live videoDelivery of live video. RTMP? Transcoding/transmuxing? | CDN and/or CDN Mesh Delivery | Live Streaming |
| Video on demandDelivery of on demand video | CDN and/or CDN Mesh Delivery | Video On Demand |
| Image OptimizationAutomatic image transformation/compression/optimization | part of CDN Edge Compute | |
| DNSAuthoritative DNS for customer domain | ||
| WAFWeb Application Firewall | WAF | CDN Security |
| Anti-DDoSDDoS attack protection. Specific product(s) for this. | Lumen DDoS Hyper (on-demand) and DDoS Mitigation Service | CDN Security |
| Private CDNDedicated edge resources & custom configs | CDN Mesh Delivery for Enterprise | |
| Edge ComputeRun your code on CDN edge servers | Edge Compute |
Network
How many POP locations do Lumen and Tata Communications have in different parts of the world?
| Region | Lumen | Tata Communications |
|---|---|---|
| North America | 28 | 8 |
| Latin America | 11 | 0 |
| Europe | 35 | 4 |
| Russia & CIS | 0 | 0 |
| Asia excl. China | 7 | 10 |
| China | 0 | 0 |
| Oceania | 5 | 1 |
| Middle East | 4 | 1 |
| Africa | 3 | 0 |
Pricing
| Pricing & contract duration | Lumen | Tata Communications |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum contract term | Unknown | Unknown |
| 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 | Lumen | Tata Communications |
|---|---|---|
| Instant setupSign up, configure, start testing. | Not yet, but coming soon. | |
| Change propagation delayHow fast do config changes propagate to all POPs? | No longer than 15 minutes - Often instant | <10 minutes |
Apex/root domain OK  No performance degradation when using http(s)://domain.com |
Available with Section product for an additional fee |
Global Anycasted network
Tata recommends against root domain though, as they may make changes in DNS at any time
|
| HTTP/2 | End of 2017 | |
| HTTP/3 | ||
| WebSockets | ||
| IPv6Do the edge servers have IPv6? | ||
| Compression Reduce file size for faster delivery |
Resend from origin, or compress on edge |
Resend from origin
Always fetch compressed from origin
|
| Origin pull - protocolHTTP only or HTTPS possible too? | HTTP and HTTPS. | HTTP and HTTPS |
| Origin pull - Host headerUse client > edge value? Set specific value? |
Configure specific other Host header
CDN can also forward client request Host header to origin
|
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 | ||
| Push / uploadStore your content directly on CDN, no customer origin | FTP, SFTP, rsync. Storage costs apply | |
| 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 |
Instant | No longer than 2 mins, often much faster |
| Purge - capabilities | Purge all but not purge by directory or tag or header | 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, analytics, configuration | Purge, configuration. Not analytics |
| HTTPS & Content Protection | Lumen | Tata Communications |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Lumen | Tata Communications |
|---|---|---|
| Documentation | Yes, but not public | Some documentation, not public |
| Humans | All customers get 24/7 email and phone support. |