WorldSpace's requirement was unique in many ways. A SAS 70 II certified vendor in India, a data center up and running ASAP, and a vendor who would give them excellent customer service. Could the leaders in global satellite radio find a Data Center in India that met their stringent requirements?

Company Profile

Headquartered in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, WorldSpace, Inc. is the only global media and entertainment company positioned to offer a satellite radio experience to consumers in more than 130 countries with 5 billion people, driving 300 million cars. WorldSpace delivers the latest tunes, trends and information from around the world and around the corner. WorldSpace subscribers benefit from a unique combination of local programming, original WorldSpace content and content from leading brands around the globe including the BBC, CNN International, Virgin Radio UK, and RFI.

WorldSpace is a pioneer of satellite-based digital radio services (DARS) and was instrumental in the development of the technology infrastructure used today by XM Satellite Radio.

Challenge: Need to host a Customer Care application in India

Started primarily to educate school children in Africa, WorldSpace was soon looking at other countries that could enjoy their product. As Mike Berkley, Chief Information Officer, WorldSpace, recalls "We were going public in August 2005 and we were putting in a new Customer Care and Billing application but we had no infrastructure or hosting facility available to run our systems. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act mandated that we have our applications hosted in a secure, SAS 70 Type II fully-equipped facility".

Implementation: Personalized Service for WorldSpace

Mike Berkley says that they were aggressively looking at vendors, but even some of the big names didn't impress them. "We approached a leading conglomerate who were known for their hosting solutions, although their solution was strong, we weren't impressed with their personalized service. We did not feel like we really mattered to them as they had many large customers and we were deemed a smaller customer. At about the same time, Siemens India (SISL), our system integrator, recommended NetMagic, and we prepared a list of requirements and visited them". Impressed with their approach Mike said, "they had a terrific data center and they gave us a solid personal experience: all that we were looking for. We felt NetMagic really wanted our business and they made us feel important".

The Test...

The critical aspect of this project was the demanding timelines. NetMagic and WorldSpace had exactly six months to get the data center up and running. It also had to be fully tested within this time frame.

Mike is impressed when he says, "NetMagic did not have prior experience with the CRM application we had procured, so it was a demanding implementation in many ways, and they helped us at various levels to become our data center".

Satisfaction Unlimited!

Post implementation, WorldSpace is very satisfied with the execution of the project and ecstatic about the data center hosted within timelines. Says Mike, "We have discovered that NetMagic is a very willing partner who is ready to work with us in any which way. At various points of the implementation we had to change the architecture, and they were always willing to sit with us, put their heads together to find the right solution".

A Relationship For Keeps!

WorldSpace is looking at hosting their website with NetMagic and are absolutely certain about the support they will receive. Mike Berkley puts it in a nutshell when he says: "We consider them our premier hosting associate, for everything we want to do within India".