AT&T has formed a strategic alliance with Akamai Technologies to deliver a global suite of content delivery network (CDN) solutions to companies.
Under the deal, Akamai will deploy CDN servers at the edge of AT&T’s IP network and in AT&T facilities throughout the United States. AT&T will transfer its existing CDN operations, customers and service to the Akamai platform in 2013. The companies have also agreed to dedicate shared resources including technical support, customer care, marketing and professional services support. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The companies said the combination of AT&T’s network assets with Akamai’s CDN will help enterprises simplify content distribution management and drive higher-performing end user experiences for consumers accessing content on the Internet. They hope to expand their efforts internationally within 12 months.
“The alliance with Akamai positions us perfectly to deliver premier content delivery solutions to our business customers,” said Andy Geisse, Chief Executive Officer, AT&T Business Solutions. “By embedding Akamai’s technology within AT&T’s IP network, our customers now have access to a suite of solutions that more than meet their need for content delivery and support. In an environment where companies and consumers alike are accessing video content and other applications online and from a multitude of devices, I can’t think of a better way to address the explosive growth in content that is sweeping across industries like media and retail.”
“Aligning Akamai’s services with the global reach, scale and product depth of AT&T creates a powerful relationship aimed at helping enterprises optimize their online businesses,” said Paul Sagan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Akamai. “Together with AT&T, we share a common goal of developing solutions to maximize the Web and mobile end user experience, while driving down network-related costs and improving network efficiencies. We believe there will be tremendous value to customers in deploying within AT&T’s robust IP network, and in jointly going to market with leading content delivery and cloud infrastructure offerings.”
Separately, Akamai announced the acquisition of Verivue, a privately-held company based in Westford, Massachusetts that provides licensed content delivery network (CDN) infrastructure solutions for network operators. The combination of the two companies’ technologies and teams is expected to help Akamai accelerate market availability of a comprehensive portfolio of Operator CDN products.
- In November, Akamai announced a partnership with Orange Business Services. Specifically, Orange will begin selling enterprise content delivery network (CDN) services using Akamai Technologies’ optimization and acceleration solution. Orange Business Services will market these solutions initially in France. The companies have formed an innovation steering committee to identify areas of innovation in the field of CDN solutions.
