Akamai Ups the Tempo of peoplesound.com.

Business/Technology Editors

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 12, 2000

Akamai Technologies Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leading Content Delivery Service Provider (CDSP), today announced that peoplesound.com, Europe's largest free music download Internet site, has implemented Akamai's FreeFlow(SM) service to build customer loyalty through improved web site performance. Since becoming `Akamaized' last month, peoplesound.com has experienced a threefold increase in download speeds of artist MP3 files and images as well as a 20 percent increase in the total number of downloads from its site.

Using proprietary technology to profile music lovers and provide record labels with crucial consumer data, peoplesound.com relies on fast site and digital content download times to reduce site abandonment, attract new customers and increase repeat visits. "By optimising the performance of the web site, especially MP3 download times, Akamai's FreeFlow service helps ensure that all of peoplesound.com's customers have a first rate online experience and keep coming back," said Paul Levett, vice president of technical operations for peoplesound.com.

Delivering content to consumers as fast as possible is a critical consideration for any e-business wanting to grow internationally. Akamai's technology is easily integrated into existing systems with zero downtime and no disruption to even the most complex of web sites. "We initially thought we would have to deploy our own download servers throughout Europe, mirroring content to get as close as possible to consumers outside of the UK. The ability to deliver our rich content from Akamai's widely distributed network of servers has eliminated the need for us to do this, whilst the quick implementation and large Capex saving made Akamai the obvious choice," added Levett.

"Our work with peoplesound.com is designed to improve the end-user experience and therefore generate higher revenues. With no upfront expenditure on infrastructure, peoplesound.com has the ability with Akamai's FreeFlow service to scale and maintain optimal site performance as more rich content becomes available and its user base grows," said Ian King, managing director of Akamai for Northern Europe.

The FreeFlow service utilises Akamai's vastly distributed global network of servers to push content to the edge of the Internet, close to end-users. By intelligently routing requests across the network to the optimal server for each end-user, Akamai's FreeFlow service dramatically improves the speed at which users can download content-rich Web pages.

About peoplesound.com

peoplesound.com is Europe's leading website for high quality music from new and emerging artists which uses a revolutionary technology to "learn" about consumers music tastes and ensure that consumers always get quality music that meets their particular interests. Consumers can select from, and instantly play, thousands of tracks across all major music genres. Tracks that consumers like can be downloaded in MP3 format and played at CD quality on PCs, portable MP3 players or via their hi-fi equipment. Consumers can also buy custom produced audio CDs of their favourite artists. peoplesound.com also brings artists and talent scouts together creating a new selection process that broadens the way record labels sign new acts.

peoplesound.com also provides a range of business-to-business services to the music industry and marketing world. These services range from market testing and performance reports on artists and specific tracks; track licensing; and publishing.

Founded in the UK in June 1999 by Ernesto Schmitt, Martin Turner, Paul Levett and Bruno Heese, peoplesound.com has more than 100 employees. peoplesound.com has subsidiaries in Germany and France and the website is accessible in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Dutch.

About Akamai

Akamai is the leading Content Delivery Service Provider, serving over 2,800 customers worldwide. Akamai has the broadest deployment of servers for content, streaming media, and applications delivery with more than 6,000 servers in 54 countries directly connected within 335 different telecommunications networks. Akamai Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and has European subsidiaries in London, England, Paris, France, and Munich, Germany - which also serves as Akamai's European headquarters.

Further information is available at 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, the dependence on Akamai's Internet content delivery service, a failure of its network infrastructure, the complexity of its service and the networks on which the service is deployed, the failure to obtain access to transmission capacity and other factors that are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.