Akamai Introduces Enterprise-Class Management of Content and Applications Across the Internet.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 10, 2003

For the first time, businesses can achieve the same degree of control and insight over their information outside of a corporate firewall, as they do on their private enterprise networks

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAM), the world's largest on demand distributed computing platform for conducting profitable e-business, today announced the availability of EdgeControl(SM), a suite of tools and services that makes distribution and management of Internet applications and content easier, and more cost effective.

Newly released EdgeControl services offer instant enterprise-class management of a customer's content and applications across the Internet. EdgeControl now seamlessly integrates with existing enterprise management systems, including HP OpenView and IBM Tivoli NetView, allowing customers to manage their distributed content and applications via a common interface. For the first time, businesses utilizing the Internet can achieve the same degree of control and insight over their data outside of their corporate firewalls, as they do on their private enterprise networks -- with less cost and complexity.

According to Giga Information Group, between $7 and $8 billion dollars are spent annually on network and systems management technologies; but the overwhelming majority of this technology is targeted at enterprise networking behind the firewall. As more and more companies turn to the Internet to improve business efficiencies and reach customers, the ability to effectively manage, scale, and control critical Web-based content and applications across a shared medium remains difficult and costly.

"Enterprises require the same level of predictability and control of their information and applications on the Internet as they have on their own networks," said Rich Kennelly, vice president of Network Management Engineering, Akamai. "With Akamai's EdgeControl management tools, customers can manage information and applications with relative ease. Businesses can now gain visibility into the behavior of their information, while avoiding the hardware and operations costs of deploying an e-business infrastructure and management solution. As a result, customers can focus on developing applications, and worry less about the infrastructure and network to deliver them - or the tools to manage them."

Having created one of the industry's first examples of a commercially-proven utility computing platform, Akamai is unique in enabling its global network to be utilized 'on demand,' allowing customers to manage usage, billing, troubleshooting, monitoring, and reporting, based on their individual business requirements.

"Having a broader view into Akamai's network has been very beneficial to us," said David Mottaz, director, Internet Services at Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. "For analyzing network anomalies, troubleshooting last-mile concerns, or proving or disproving suspicions that would otherwise burn through time and resources, Akamai's EdgeControl tools provide us with total visibility and control over our Web applications and content. As we move more and more applications to the 'Edge,' the ability to view and control how many times our applications are being executed, for example, has become critical for maximizing our infrastructure."

With the introduction of the Akamai EdgeComputing(SM) service earlier this year, customers that are deploying Java-based applications across Akamai's distributed network can now benefit from EdgeControl's new functionality. As an industry first, Akamai enables customers to provision, test, and deploy Web-based applications across a global network, with no upfront infrastructure necessary; and to manage, troubleshoot, and diagnose application usage down to the server level. Akamai dramatically simplifies the scale of deploying Web-based applications, and provides customers with a truly on demand enterprise platform that they control.

"Akamai has defined how businesses can 'extend' their infrastructure on demand across a global network, while maintaining a high-level of 'control' over their data," said George Hamilton, senior analyst, Enterprise Computing and Networking, at The Yankee Group. "EdgeControl offers a sophisticated level of management that you can not find elsewhere. With Akamai, an enterprise can plug into an on demand computing utility, monitor it, and tune it, all under their own control. With these new tools, every enterprise should rethink how they are deploying content and applications across the Internet."

As companies deploy more and more of their mission-critical information online, Akamai has responded to customer demand by making EdgeControl's capabilities available across a businesses' existing enterprise management environment, including:

Comprehensive Network Management Tools via the EdgeControl Management Center

The EdgeControl Management Center (ECMC) provides a comprehensive collection of network management tools providing customers instant visibility into their traffic, content, applications, and users, on the Internet. Through the ECMC, customers are provided with tools to perform fault management, configuration, account management, performance monitoring, and security. As a full solution, ECMC includes real-time alerts, real-time monitoring, historical reporting, diagnostic tools, information and application dashboards, and more.

"We have Akamai's management tools up continuously," said Gilbert Morejon, MIS Director at Bankrate.com, the Web's leading aggregator of information on more than 100 financial products. "Their EdgeControl interface provides us with our own network operations center to monitor our Web content and server utilization. For example, if we have an issue with one of our origin servers, Akamai is able to alert us right away. We want to stay hands-on, and Akamai allows us to do just that - with ease and cost efficiency."

Integration with Standard Enterprise Management Systems

Akamai's EdgeControl management features integrate seamlessly with today's leading enterprise management systems including HP OpenView and IBM Tivoli NetView. Customers can integrate real-time monitoring and alerts information directly with their existing third-party tools. As a result, they receive the benefits of integrated management, while reducing the costs associated with deploying multiple management platforms.

Business Process Automation via Web Services

Using Web Services, customers can integrate Akamai's EdgeControl network, content, application, and user management features directly into their business processes. Akamai developed its EdgeControl capabilities based on Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), an open Web Services standard. Because the platform is open, customers and third party applications can integrate the activation, management, and monitoring of services, content, and applications, directly with their own applications, or 3rd party tools.

"We rely on Akamai to deliver course lectures to remote Columbia University students pursuing their Graduate degrees from around the world on a daily basis," said Al Shahjahan, technical lead at the Columbia Video Network (CVN), the degree-granting distance-learning arm of Columbia's School of Engineering & Applied Science. "We have established a high trust level in Akamai's platform through their management tools that provide us with the ability to monitor not only their network, but also the overall Internet in which Akamai servers are deployed. As the bridge between our professors and our students, we can always count on Akamai's services to consistently ensure the uninterrupted delivery of CVN course content anytime and anywhere."

Akamai's EdgeControl capabilities are available today to all customers and partners of the Akamai platform.

About Akamai

Akamai(R) - The Business Internet, is the world's largest on demand distributed computing platform for conducting profitable e-business. Overcoming the inherent limitations of the Internet, Akamai's services ensure a high-performing, scalable, and secure environment for organizations to cost effectively extend and control their e-business infrastructure. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Akamai's industry-leading services, matched with world-class customer care, are used by hundreds of today's most successful enterprises and government agencies around the globe. For more information, visit www.akamai.com.

Akamai Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act 

The release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, lack of market acceptance of our services, the effects of any attempts to intentionally disrupt our services or network by hackers or others, failure to have available sufficient transmission capacity, a failure of Akamai's network infrastructure, and other factors that are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.