The MF post certainly caused a stir among NTAP investors, but not to worry, AKAM is not a competitor to NTAP. AKAM is a service provider to ISPs, not a product company. In fact, NTAP and AKAM are strategic partners, with NTAP adding capabilities to their web caching product to support the AKAM network.
In a nutshell, AKAM has its own 1200 server network which ISPs and others may use to host some of their most frequently accessed objects, such as logos, so that these objects are served from an AKAM server closer to the user than the ISPs servers, including their web cache servers.
Here are some tidbids that I found for your edification:
fool.com
To say that folks are expecting a lot from the year-old Akamai would qualify as the understatement of the information age. The company's main claim to fame is its FreeFlow Internet content delivery system, which uses a network of 1,745 servers across 55 telecommunications networks in 24 countries to speed up the flow of Web-based content. With FreeFlow, website owners can use Akamai's servers inside points of presence (POPs) close to the end user to serve varying amounts of content. For instance, the local Akamai server could take care of serving thousands of bytes of embedded information on a page -- such as banner ads, logos, and graphics images -- while allowing the site's own Web server to handle the text-based content that goes along with that embedded data to make up a typical Web page.
The end result is faster and more reliable delivery of Web-based content for Akamai customers, which include cyberspace bigshots like Yahoo! (NYSE: YHOO) and Disney's (NYSE: DIS) GO Network, and even Web small-fries such as a little site called the The Motley Fool. The list of the firm's technology partners is even more impressive, including the likes of Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), RealNetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK), Network Appliance (Nasdaq: NTAP), and Vignette (Nasdaq: VIGN).
The company's main competitor in content delivery services is Sandpiper Networks, a firm initially backed by Web heavyweights America Online (NYSE: AOL) and Inktomi (Nasdaq: INKT) that was acquired earlier this week by Digital Island (Nasdaq: ISLD) for about $625 million in stock. Even with the benefit of only a few days' worth of hindsight, that seems like a bargain given Akamai's surge today. It also goes a long way in explaining why Digital Island's stock jumped another $9 5/16 to $67 1/2 today and has nearly tripled in the past five trading days.
akamai.com
How FreeFlow Works
While FreeFlow is the world's most powerful content delivery system, it is also extremely easy to implement. FreeFlow forms a transparent layer on the Internet that fits between an eBusiness' Web site and users accessing that site. For the user, no plug-ins or other browser modifications are necessary to achieve enhanced performance delivered by FreeFlow.
For the Web site owner, adopting FreeFlow is similarly non-intrusive. Companies can migrate all or selected portions of content to be served by the FreeFlow network with an easy-to-use software utility called FreeFlow Launcher. Simply put, FreeFlow Launcher tags objects within a Web page that are to be served over the FreeFlow network. When customers request those objects, the FreeFlow network delivers them from the closest-available, highest-performing server rather than from some distant or overloaded server
akamai.com
Akamai has formed technology relationships with leading caching vendors to enhance interoperability between caches and Akamai's content delivery service, FreeFlow.
Caching Partners
Cisco San Jose, CA www.cisco.com
Cacheflow Sunnyvale, CA www.cacheflow.com
InfoLibria Waltham, MA www.infolibria.com
Network Appliance Sunnyvale, CA www.networkappliance.com
Novell Provo, UT www.novell.com
akamai.com
AKAMAI AND NETWORK APPLIANCE TO INTEGRATE CACHE INTERFACE STANDARD
Companies partner to enhance interoperability between NetCache and Akamai's Internet content delivery service and to facilitate scalable streaming media distribution
CAMBRIDGE, MA, September 22, 1999 -- Akamai Technologies, which operates a global Internet content delivery service that speeds up Web performance, announced today that it has formed a technology relationship with Network Appliance, Inc (NASDAQ:NTAP). Key to the relationship is the development of specialized software that facilitates communications between Network Appliance's NetCache appliances and Akamai's global network of servers. Building upon the interoperability agreement, Akamai and Network Appliance are also announcing their intention to cooperate on the development of software that will leverage Network Appliance's NetCache in Akamai's global network to facilitate scalable streaming media distribution.
Akamai is teaming with Network Appliance to achieve interoperability between the NetCache appliances and value-added services such as Akamai's Internet content delivery service, FreeFlow. The added functionality will be derived from the development of a new standard for communications called the Cache Interface Protocol. The protocol enables caches to store content currently carried on the Akamai network and report on their performance - such as the number of hits served - to Web site owners, through Akamai's content delivery services. This development will expand the level of functionality in the caching market, long-awaited by ISPs and Web site owners.
"Network Appliance is excited to be part of this important industry initiative that will offer our customers the combined benefits of our market-leading caching technology with Internet content delivery," said Larry Kubo, vice president of marketing at Network Appliance.
"We are impressed by the scalability of Network Appliance's caching architecture and look forward to working on the interoperability between NetCache and Akamai's Internet content delivery service," said Danny Lewin, chief technology officer and co-founder of Akamai. "In addition, Akamai will work with Network Appliance to explore combining caching and Internet content delivery to facilitate scalable streaming media distribution."
About Akamai
Akamai Technologies is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Akamai provides a global Internet content delivery service that improves Web site speed and reliability and protects against Web site crashes due to demand overloads. Currently, Akamai has 900 servers deployed in 15 countries across 25 telecommunications networks, providing Akamai's customers with guaranteed global Internet content delivery service. Akamai (pronounced AH kuh my) is Hawaiian for intelligent, clever and cool.
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