Akamai.. Cacheflow.. Inktomi
(C/NET)Info about Akamai / Inktomi
But one services company not using Inktomi's technology is
Akamai. Instead, Akamai is using its own technology and
aligning itself to be interoperable with other cache technology
providers, including Cisco Systems, Novell Networks, Network
Appliance, CacheFlow, and InfoLibria.
And Akamai's allies are nothing to sneeze at. They include
investors Apple Computer, Cisco Systems, and Microsoft, as
well as customers like Yahoo and Disney's Go Network.
"The ascendancy of Akamai creates at least confusion on the
part of investors who have long viewed Inktomi as the sole and
preeminent provider of Internet infrastructure," said Chris
Tuttle, analyst with SoundView Technology Group in
Stamford, Connecticut. "Before Akamai, service providers like
Sandpiper and Exodus used Inktomi technology at their core.
But Akamai is the first viable service provider with their own
proprietary core."
Another caching provider with its own technology is
CacheFlow, which today gained Netscape cofounder Marc
Andreessen as a board member and investor. In the
commercial caching arena, Inktomi will encounter competition
from CacheFlow.
A direct competitor?
But Tuttle said there is some question about whether
Akamai's service offering and Inktomi's technology are
competitive or complementary.
"In my opinion, they are complementary, but as the
companies evolve, they may view themselves as competitors,"
Tuttle said. "That could in effect lead to more direct
competition from a product standpoint."
Tuttle has a "buy" rating on Inktomi.
One of Inktomi's biggest customers, America Online, is
experiencing 3.3 billion hits per day on its service,
Inktomi's Pierce said. Although AOL does not pay
Inktomi on a per-hit basis, it does buy licenses based
on the traffic volume.
Still, there is skepticism about Inktomi's strategy.
Inktomi last week released quarterly earnings that were
in line with analysts' expectations, but the company's
stock fell by 14 percent after Merrill Lynch analyst
Henry Blodget lowered his intermediate-term rating on
Inktomi to "neutral" from "accumulate" and said it
would incur wider losses, according to Bloomberg.
Blodget projected that Inktomi would lose $24 million
this fiscal year. Inktomi attributed projections of
increased losses to the WebSpective acquisition,
Bloomberg said.
Other analysts reiterated their Inktomi ratings last
month. Goldman Sachs reiterated its "recommend list"
rating on the company, and Volpe Brown Whelan
reiterated its "buy" rating.
There's a reason why some companies has gone from a mkt cap of 14B to 17B and others are still stuck in a 5 to 7B mkt cap range.
SCMR & AKAM, these 2 are MORGAN STANLEY'S HOTTEST IPO THIS YEAR.
Maybe CFLO will join these 2 later on.
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