Akamai Technologies
Akamai Technologies, Inc. is an American company that provides content delivery network[3] (CDN), cybersecurity, DDoS mitigation, and cloud services.[4][5] Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it operates a worldwide network of servers whose capacity it rents to customers running websites and other web services, with the goal of providing end users with greater speed and availability via Akamai-owned servers located closer to them.
Company type
1998
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
US$3.81 billion (2023)
US$637 million (2023)
US$548 million (2023)
US$9.90 billion (2023)
US$4.60 billion (2023)
c. 10,250 (2023)
History[edit]
The company was named after akamai, which means 'clever,' or more colloquially, 'cool' in Hawaiian. Lewin found the term in an Hawaiian-English dictionary after a colleague's suggestion.[6]
Akamai Technologies entered the 1998 MIT $50K competition with a business proposition based on their research on consistent hashing,[7] and was selected as one of the finalists.[8] By August 1998, they had developed a working prototype, and with the help of Jonathan Seelig and Randall Kaplan, they took steps to incorporate the company.[9] Akamai Technologies was incorporated on August 20, 1998.[10]
In late 1998 and early 1999, a group of business professionals and scientists joined the founding team—most notably, Paul Sagan, former president of New Media for Time Inc., and George Conrades, former chairman and chief executive officer of BBN Corp. and senior vice president of US operations for IBM. Conrades became chief executive officer of Akamai in April 1999.[11][12][13] The company launched its commercial service in April 1999 and was listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market from October 29, 1999.[14]
On July 1, 2001, Akamai was added to the Russell 3000 Index and Russell 2000 Index.[15]
On September 11, 2001, co-founder Daniel M. Lewin died in the September 11 attacks at the age of 31 when he was stabbed by one of the hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center. He was seated closest to the hijackers and may have tried to stop them.[16]
In 2005, Paul Sagan was named chief executive officer of Akamai, taking over from Conrades. Sagan worked to differentiate Akamai from its competitors by expanding its breadth of services.[13] Under his leadership, it grew to $1.37 billion in revenue.[17]
In July 2007, Akamai was added to the S&P 500 Index.[18]
In 2013, co-founder Tom Leighton was elected chief executive officer, replacing Sagan.[19]
On February 9, 2021, Akamai announced it would reorganize into two internal groups, Security Technology and Edge Technology. It also re-established the role of chief technology officer, and named Robert Blumofe to that role.[20] Long-time chief security officer (CSO) Andy Ellis announced he would leave in March 2021.[21]
Akamai's headquarters are in Kendall Square. It started in Technology Square and later expanded to multiple buildings in Cambridge Center. It consolidated its offices in a purpose-built building at 145 Broadway in December 2019.[22]
Technologies[edit]
Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform[edit]
The Akamai Intelligent Platform[23] is a distributed cloud computing platform that operates worldwide, a network of over approximately 365,000 servers in more than 135 countries.[24] These servers reside on roughly 1,350 of the world's networks, gathering real-time information about traffic, congestion, and trouble spots.[24] Each Akamai server is equipped with proprietary software that uses complex algorithms to process requests from nearby users.[23]
Customers[edit]
On July 21, 1999, at Macworld Expo New York, Apple and Akamai announced a strategic partnership to build Apple's new media network, QuickTime TV (QTV), based on QuickTime Streaming Server.[44] Both companies later announced that Apple had made a $12.5 million investment in the company the previous month.[45] Apple continues to use Akamai as their primary CDN[46] for a wide range of applications, including software downloads from Apple's Website, QuickTime movie trailers, and the iTunes Store.[47]
In September 1999, Microsoft and Akamai formed a strategic relationship to incorporate Windows Media technology in Akamai's FreeFlow service, and to facilitate the porting of the FreeFlow product to the Windows platform; this relationship exists to this day.[48] Microsoft Azure offers Akamai (along with Verizon) as options for its "standard" CDN service.[49]
Arabic news network Al-Jazeera was an Akamai customer from March 28, 2003 to April 2, 2003, when Akamai decided to end the relationship,[50] which the network's English-language managing editor claimed was due to "political pressure".[51]
In June 2008, The NewsMarket teamed with Akamai to accelerate dynamic content and applications to global media ahead of the Beijing Olympics.[52]
The BBC iPlayer uses Akamai to stream its recorded and live programs, focused through an XML playlist.
The entire China Central Television website, including its streaming video, has been hosted on Akamai's edge servers since late 2009.[53][54] Hulu uses Akamai for hosting video.[55] MIT OpenCourseWare utilizes Akamai's EdgeSuite for its CDN.[56]
Trend Micro uses Akamai for their Housecall antivirus application.
Valve's Steam service uses Akamai's CDN for storing screenshots and icons uploaded by users.
Akamai provided streaming services to ESPN Star (India) during the course of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.[57]
Rackspace's Cloud Files use Akamai's CDN for storing its customer's files.
Akamai's other customers include Adobe Systems, Airbnb, AMD, AutoTrader.com, COS, ESPN, The Great Courses, Hewlett-Packard, Hilton Worldwide, IBM, J. C. Penney, Jehovah's Witnesses, MTV Networks, NASA, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, NBC Sports, Pearson Education, Red Bull GmbH, Red Hat, Sony PlayStation and Yahoo!.[58]
Nintendo uses Akamai's Media Delivery Solutions for the Nintendo Switch Online service, and in their mobile apps such as Super Mario Run.[59]
Controversies[edit]
In 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged a former executive at Akamai Technologies for illegally tipping non-public information about the company's financial predicament as part of the insider trading scheme operated by now-imprisoned Galleon Management hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam.[101]
The National Security Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation have reportedly used Facebook's Akamai CDN to collect information on Facebook users.[102] This report appears to show intelligence analysts intercepting communications between Facebook and its CDN provider, but does not indicate Akamai as being complicit in this process.
According to researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and California-Berkeley, University College London, and International Computer Science Institute-Berkeley, Akamai has been blocking access to web sites for visitors using Tor.[103][104] This feature, known as 'network lists,' is optional for and implemented by customers of Akamai, and is a feature common to many major IT vendors that provide network security feeds, such as Emerging Threats, which provides such a feed for free.[104]
These papers in scientific conferences and journals describe Akamai's technology in greater detail:
