Akamai’s Global Backbone Expansion: Introducing Edge Cloud Hosting Services

Global CDN technology firm, Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM), has disclosed its plan to incorporate cloud computing features into its extensive global edge network. Akamai’s Generalized Edge Compute (Gecko) aligns with the company’s ambition of being the preferred cloud computing platform for businesses looking to improve user experiences by placing workloads closer to users, devices, and data sources.

Akamai’s latest initiative is part of its ongoing multi-year strategy to position itself as a vital platform in multicloud business configurations. This move contributes to the company’s aspiration of creating a unique cloud that meets the needs of modern applications requiring genuine global scale, reduced latency, and superior performance—qualities not intended to be offered by existing cloud architectures.

According to Akamai, the timing of this launch is fortuitous. A 2023 worldwide survey conducted by ClearPath Strategies revealed that two-thirds of IT decision-makers expect to use more distributed cloud services within the next year. Over a third of participants acknowledged the benefits of distributed cloud, including the ability to efficiently process and analyze AI and machine learning data, as crucial components of their IT strategy.

Akamai has conducted preliminary testing of Gecko with several of its corporate clients. The company posits that the greatest beneficiaries of Gecko’s capabilities will be those in the AI inferencing, multiplayer gaming, social media, and streaming media sectors. Akamai also anticipates future applications possibly arising in data analytics, immersive shopping, spatial computing, and both consumer and industrial IoT.

According to Akamai, cloud and edge networks are considered differently in today’s industrial architectures. The use of Gecko permits the implementation of generic computing atop Akamai’s extensive global edge network. This makes use of the existing infrastructure in terms of tools, measures, and observability to offer a uniform experience from cloud to edge. Gecko allows the relocation of heavier, traditional computing usually confined to centralized data centers to the edges of Akamai’s network. The availability of full-stack computing in hundreds of otherwise inaccessible regions would enable customers to shift their workloads closer to their users.

The need for developers to cater specifically for the cloud or the edge is eliminated due to the introduction of cloud computing in areas that have traditionally been out of reach for regular cloud providers. Akamai aims to promote the convergence needed to deliver cloud computing capability at the edge. This convergence, previously unachievable before Gecko, is set to unlock opportunities for innovation across the entire computing continuum as developers require more from their cloud and edge providers.

Akamai’s CEO and co-founder, Dr. Tom Leighton, hailed Gecko as the most thrilling development in the cloud over the past decade. “This is the next phase of our strategy for a more interlinked cloud, which we outlined when we acquired Linode to extend our suite of cost-effective cloud-native computing capabilities. We began achieving that objective with the launch of Akamai Connected Cloud and the rapid expansion of additional primary computing regions worldwide. The unique amalgamation of efficiency and proximity of the edge with our cloud platform’s processing power enabled by Gecko helps us bring workloads closer to users than any other cloud provider. This embodies our commitment to operating on a global scale.”

Akamai’s network, featuring 4,100 points of presence worldwide, is set to make Akamai Connected Cloud one of the most decentralized cloud platforms globally. Over the past year, Akamai has increased its core computing regions and incorporated Linode into its network. This renders Akamai Connected Cloud as one of the most extensive cloud computing platforms worldwide. Akamai asserts that its capacity to harness the power of both the cloud and edge will provide a competitive advantage. This edge, combined with Akamai’s extensive mastery of distributed networking, should provide users access to a more resilient, flexible, budget-friendly, and user-friendly cloud, the company further states.

As reported by Dave McCarthy, Research Vice President, Cloud and Edge Services at IDC, Akamai has successfully integrated compute into its security and delivery mix following its acquisition of Linode. This is a notable example of how the current demand for moving compute and data closer to the edge is leading us to a more distributed cloud world, which is currently reflected in Akamai’s operation with Gecko.

Akamai plans to release a Gecko roadmap. By the end of this year, it is expected that Akamai will meld computing with support for virtual machines (VMs) into 100 locations as revealed in its first phase.

Several new Gecko-conceived regions have already been deployed by Akamai in the year of 2024. These regions include cities like Johannesburg in South Africa; Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Querétaro, Mexico; Bogotá, Colombia; Denver, Colorado; Houston, Texas; Hamburg, Germany; and Marseille, France. These cities were selected due to their insufficient presence of concentrated hyperscalers. By the end of the first quarter, it is intended to deploy a tenth Gecko area in Santiago, Chile.

In the upcoming years, Akamai will further expand its global cloud computing footprint by hundreds of cities, along with the 10 new Gecko sites and 25 existing core computing zones.

Akamai has plans to incorporate containers in the upcoming second phase of Gecko, expected to kick off later this year. To support developers in creating applications throughout numerous distributed locations, Akamai plans to include automated workload orchestration in the third phase of Gecko. The end goal is to deliver a consistent user experience across all primary computing sectors and the edge.

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