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Tata Communications versus Lumen

Easily compare Tata Communications and Lumen for POP locations, products, pricing, features & support. We hope this helps you better understand the similarities and differences between these content delivery networks.

Tata Communications logo Lumen logo

Company

Company Tata Communications Lumen
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. 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.

Products

Yes
Sort of/partially
No
Extra costs
Unknown
Product Tata Communications Lumen
Dynamic content deliveryNon-cacheable content delivery. User login, shopping cart ... Dynamic Site Acceleration CDN Edge Compute
Small file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of small files (file size <1 MB) Whole Site Acceleration CDN and/or CDN Edge Compute
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? Live Streaming CDN and/or CDN Mesh Delivery
Video on demandDelivery of on demand video Video On Demand CDN and/or CDN Mesh Delivery
Image OptimizationAutomatic image transformation/compression/optimization part of CDN Edge Compute
DNSAuthoritative DNS for customer domain
WAFWeb Application Firewall CDN Security WAF
Anti-DDoSDDoS attack protection. Specific product(s) for this. CDN Security Lumen DDoS Hyper (on-demand) and DDoS Mitigation Service
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 Tata Communications and Lumen have in different parts of the world?

Region Tata Communications Lumen
North America 8 28
Latin America 0 11
Europe 4 35
Russia & CIS 0 0
Asia excl. China 10 7
China 0 0
Oceania 1 5
Middle East 1 4
Africa 0 3

Pricing

Pricing & contract duration Tata Communications Lumen
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

Yes
Sort of/partially
No
Extra costs
Unknown
Web acceleration Tata Communications Lumen
Instant setupSign up, configure, start testing. Not yet, but coming soon.
Change propagation delayHow fast do config changes propagate to all POPs? <10 minutes No longer than 15 minutes - Often instant
Apex/root domain OK Blog: Root domain on CDN and performanceNo performance degradation when using http(s)://domain.com Global Anycasted network
tooltip Tata recommends against root domain though, as they may make changes in DNS at any time
Available with Section product for an additional fee
HTTP/2 End of 2017
HTTP/3
WebSockets
IPv6Do the edge servers have IPv6?
Compression CDN Guide: CompressionReduce file size for faster delivery Resend from origin
tooltip 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 Configure specific other Host header
tooltip CDN can also forward client request Host header to origin
Origin ShieldOne POP pulls from origin, other POPs pull from the shield POP Tiered architecture, not single POP shield
tooltip 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 Guide: Serve StaleCDN serves cached but expired content in case origin is in trouble
Purge CDN Guide: PurgeInvalidate or delete cached objects on CDN No longer than 2 mins, often much faster Instant
Purge - capabilities Purge all, purge by directory, not by tag or header Purge all but not purge by directory or tag or header
Analytics Many metrics in the UI
tooltip 2 seconds refresh ('instant') possible at extra charge
Log files Refreshed every 24h. Available via FTP
tooltip 15m refresh possible at extra charge
API Purge, configuration. Not analytics Purge, analytics, configuration
HTTPS & Content Protection Tata Communications Lumen
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.
tooltip 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
tooltip Customer can configure self in UI

Support

Customer support Tata Communications Lumen
Documentation Some documentation, not public Yes, but not public
Humans All customers get 24/7 email and phone support.