Sounds like they can either 'pre-populate' AKAM's servers or done on a per request basis.
October 1, 1999
A NETWORK'S ANATOMY|Akamai Technologies
By Sarah L. Roberts-Witt
If content is king, Akamai Technologies wants to become the official online court messenger.
Cambridge, Mass., newcomer Akamai--like competitors such as SandPiper Networks and Mirror Image--makes a business trying to speed content between server and user. Part of the emerging caching, or content-distribution, market [see "The Caching Question," Sept. 15, p. 72], Akamai's solution for balky Internet performance is simple: Put the content--particularly the bulky, slow-to-download content--closer to the end users who want it. Akamai does this by placing copies of large files like GIFs and JPEGs on servers scattered throughout the Internet in various provider networks and data centers. Internet traffic research firm the HTRC Group estimates that content distribution will grow to a $2.2 billion market by 2002.
"We've found that as much as 70 percent of a Web page's bytes are these embedded objects like image files," says Kieran Taylor, senior product manager at Akamai. "[We] put those files where they need to be, which is as close to the user as possible." Currently, Akamai has 900 servers in 25 service provider networks in 15 countries around the world.
Founded in September 1998 by a group of MIT scientists and mathematicians, Akamai and its FreeFlow service have garnered several heavy-duty endorsements--even if its financials look like a typical early-stage startup. Its customers include Yahoo, CNN, Apple Computer, and InfoSeek Corp. Akamai has received more than $43 million in funding from several venture capital firms, including Baker Communications Fund, the TCW Group, and Polaris Venture Partners. And in mid-August, Cisco Systems made a $49 million investment. Filings for Akamai's imminent IPO show revenue through June 30 was $404,000, while operating expenses were approximately $10 million.
The Network When a business decides to use Akamai's FreeFlow service for its Web site, it gets a copy of the FreeFlow Launcher software. FreeFlow Launcher goes through a Web site, identifies objects that can be served via Akamai's network, and tags them with an Akamai resource locator, or "ARL." Later, when a user requests the page, the ARL tells the requesting browser to pull the tagged object from one of Akamai's servers instead of the original source server. This approach ensures that the first hit always goes to the origin server so that an accurate hit tally can be kept and cookies can be placed in the browser.
Web site operators can prepopulate Akamai's network with files of their choosing. Alternatively, and more commonly, the first request (after Akamai is on the job) for a tagged object will pull a copy of the file down to an Akamai server, and subsequent requests will facilitate the copying of the file throughout the network. To update objects, site operators simply alter or change the already tagged files on their servers, and the previously described process of file propagation starts again. In addition, as an object ages, it eventually is deleted from the Akamai servers.
But the real magic of FreeFlow lies in Akamai's dynamically generated network maps. These maps, updated as often as every 20 seconds via a proprietary form of DNS, help FreeFlow determine the most efficient path to fill user requests. Decisions are based on a user's location, the condition of the Internet, and the optimal FreeFlow server. Homegrown agents comb the Internet, assessing server and network availability, bottlenecks, and outages to generate this information.
Each of Akamai's 900 servers has two 100Base-T interfaces--one for connectivity to the Internet and one to the local provider network. According to Taylor, Akamai's network currently has approximately 12 Gbps of capacity. "We like to keep 50 to 60 percent open capacity, which allows us to handle special events, bursts, and streaming media traffic." The servers themselves are all equipped with standard Intel hardware running Linux, 450-MHz processors, 15-Gbyte hard disks, and 1 Gbyte of DRAM, which enables requests to be served out of RAM.
Customers and Pricing Besides the customers mentioned above, Akamai is used by J.Crew.com to put the bulk of its mail order catalog online. All the images are served from the Akamai network. Apple Computer, on the other hand, uses the service for its QuickTime TV. To date, the company has used FreeFlow to serve the "Star Wars Phantom Menace" trailer and two of Steve Jobs' recent keynote speeches.
Akamai is now gearing up for the Oct. 9 NetAid Foundation concerts to be held in London, the Meadowlands (New Jersey) Arena, and Geneva. Cisco Systems and the United Nations Development Program are the primary sponsors of the event, benefiting the Foundation's effort to eliminate extreme poverty throughout the world. Taylor said he expects Akamai's network to serve about 60 million hits per hour and somewhere in the neighborhood of 125,000 simultaneous live video streams during the events, which feature such performers as Quincy Jones, Bono, and David Bowie. Individuals will be able to pledge contributions online. Akamai plans to have 1,200 servers in place when the concerts air.
Akamai charges all its customers according to the number of megabits per second. To maintain an available flow of 1 Mbps costs $2,000 per month, and volume discounts are available. Customers can burst above their allocated bandwidth, and are billed for that at a premium of 25 percent more than the negotiated monthly rate.
Among the challenges ahead for Akamai are to continue building out its network and to evangelize the virtues of content distribution.
Peter Christy of Collaborative Research, however, sees other, more difficult challenges ahead. "Putting stuff out on the edges of the network is a great idea--it's simple and not a very expensive proposition in Internet terms," says Christy. "But now Akamai has helped open the eyes of the market, and they're going to have lots of people coming after them. And there's a good chance their partners, the provider networks, will start demanding more from them, especially if the IPO goes well."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keywords:
Date: 19991001
|
