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Akamai Technologies | Largest Provider of Content Delivery Network Services | ITEK

Company Description

Akamai Technologies Inc (AKAM), is the largest provider of content delivery network (CDN) services, which increase the speed of e-commerce transactions, business software downloads and video streaming to mobile devices. The goal of a CDN is to serve content to end-users with high availability and high performance. Headquartered in Massachusetts, United States, the company operates a network of servers around the world and rents out capacity on these servers to customers who want their websites to work faster by distributing content from locations close to the user[1].

When a user navigates to the URL of an Akamai customer, their browser is redirected to  a Akamai replica of the website. The company’s content delivery network is one of the world's largest distributed computing platforms, responsible for serving between 15% and 30% of all web traffic [2].

Akamai Clients

  • BBC iPlayer uses Akamai to stream its recorded and live programs
  • China Central Television Website (CCTV.com) uses the company for streaming video 
  • Hulu uses video hosting services 
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) utilises Akamai's EdgeSuit for its content delivery network

 

Other customers include:

Adobe Systems, Airbnb, AMD, AutoTrader.com, COS, ESPN, The Great Courses, Hewlett-Packard, Hilton Worldwide, IBM, J. C. Penney, MTV Networks, NASA, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, NBC Sports, Pearson Education, Red Bull GmbH, Red Hat, Sony PlayStation and Yahoo![3].

Further, in 2017, Nintendo launched its new game console and mobile gaming application simultaneously around the world via Akamai's Media Delivery Solutions[4]. 

Cloud Computing and Security

With a solid understanding and appreciation of cyber-security, Akamai is increasingly focused on cloud security. Showing clear signs of sustainable growth in the security market, the company is aggressively moving its traditional content delivery expertise into the security field, where the same basic technologies can help both smaller companies and global enterprises battle denial-of-service attacks. It has reaped the benefits of an aggressive push to cloud security and its business of speeding up media content delivery stabilised.

This commitment to security is why Akamai is trusted by the most security-conscious industries, including 18 of the largest asset managers, 12 of the top insurers, and 8 of the top financial technology companies[5].

With the unparalleled scale and resiliency of more than 240,000 servers in over 130 countries, clients get uninterrupted customer experiences, intelligence to optimise devices, and capacity to move huge volumes of data and content.

Akamai is leveraging the demand for cloud security solutions as the segment witnessed a 37% surge in revenues in 2018. Given the increasing adoption of cloud services and Akamai's exceptional growth in the segment, the company seems well positioned to benefit[6]. 

The Akamai Intelligent Platform is a distributed cloud computing platform that operates worldwide. It is a network of over 240,000 servers deployed in more than 120 countries. These servers reside in more than 1,500 of the world's networks gathering real-time information about traffic, congestion, and trouble spots. Each Akamai server is equipped with proprietary software that uses complex algorithms to process requests from nearby users, and then serve the requested content.

Summary

Akamai secures and delivers digital experiences for the world's largest companies. Top brands globally rely on Akamai to help them realise competitive advantage through agile solutions that extend the power of their multi-cloud architectures. Akamai keeps decisions, apps and experiences closer to users than anyone. Akamai's portfolio of edge security, web and mobile performance, enterprise access and video delivery solutions is supported by unmatched customer service, analytics and 24/7 monitoring.

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