Akamai Technologies
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| Akamai Technologies, Inc. | |
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| Type | Public (NASDAQ: AKAM) |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Founder | Tom Leighton Daniel M. Lewin |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States |
| Key people | George H. Conrades, Chairman Paul L. Sagan, President & CEO |
| Industry | Internet hosting services |
| Products | Content delivery |
| Revenue | ▲$636.41 Million USD (2007) |
| Net income | ▲$100.97 Million USD (2007) |
| Employees | 1,058 [2006] |
| Website | www.akamai.com |
Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) is a company that provides a distributed computing platform for global Internet content and application delivery, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded in 1998 by then-MIT graduate student Daniel Lewin, along with MIT Applied Mathematics professor Tom Leighton and MIT Sloan School of Management students Jonathan Seelig and Preetish Nijhawan. Leighton still serves as Akamai's Chief Scientist, while Lewin was killed aboard American Airlines flight 11 which was crashed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Akamai is a Hawaiian word meaning smart or intelligent.
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[edit] Content delivery to a user
Akamai transparently mirrors content (usually media objects such as audio, graphics, animation, video) stored on customer servers. Though the domain name is the same, the IP address points to an Akamai server rather than the customer's server. The Akamai server is automatically picked depending on the type of content and the user's network location.
In addition to image caching, Akamai provides services which accelerate dynamic and personalized content, J2EE-compliant applications, and streaming media to the extent that such services frame a localized perspective.
[edit] Customers
Akamai's customers include many large internet, media and computer companies including the BBC.[1]
Arabic news network Al-Jazeera was a customer from 28 March 2003 until 2 April 2003, when Akamai decided to end the relationship.[2] The network's English-language managing editor claimed this was due to political pressure.[3]
[edit] Acquisitions
In March 2005, Akamai signed an agreement to acquire Speedera Networks for 12 million shares of Akamai common stock, valued at $130 million at that time.[4] Both companies also agreed to halt pending lawsuits involving trade secrets and patent infringement.[5] The acquisition was completed in June 2005.[6]
On April 12, 2007 Akamai acquired Red Swoosh in exchange for 350,000 shares of Akamai common stock.[7] The acquisition of Red Swoosh was valued at approximately $15 million, net of cash acquired.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ (Partial) list of Akamai customers
- ^ Akamai ends Al Jazeera server support
- ^ Al Jazeera Denied Akamai Services
- ^ Akamai to Acquire Speedera Networks. Press Release. Akamai Technologies, Inc. (2005-03-16).
- ^ Akamai snaps up rival Speedera. CNET News (2005-03-16).
- ^ Akamai Completes Acquisition of Speedera Networks. Press Release. Akamai Technologies, Inc. (2005-06-13).
- ^ Form 10-Q for Akamai Technologies Inc. Retrieved on 2007-09-18.
[edit] External links
- Akamai home page
- Traffic Cops Of The Net (BusinessWeek article)
- Akamai: In the Broadband Internet Sweet Spot (article)
- The Motley Fool's analysis of Akamai
- The Akamai Story: From Theory to Practice
- Yahoo! Finance "Akamai Technologies, Inc." Company Profile
- Washington Post profile of the company
- Why do CDNs peer with ISPs?
- 'Akamai & The CDN Price Wars
- How Akamai Built its Caching Servers
- Globally Distributed Content Delivery
