Akamai Technologies yesterday introduced its new distributed edge and cloud platform for computing, security, and content delivery along with new cloud services for developers to build, run, and secure highly-performant workloads closer to wherever businesses and users connect online.
The new Akamai Connected Cloud and the new cloud services will be available across Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) in 2023.
“Akamai is building the cloud the next decade needs. Building on 25 years of experience scaling and securing the internet, we're taking a fundamentally different approach to cloud."
Akamai Technologies co-founder and CEO of Dr. Tom Leighton
In building out Akamai Connected Cloud, Akamai is adding core and distributed sites on top of the same underlying backbone that powers its edge network today — spanning more than 4,100 locations across 134 countries.
More specifically, Akamai is placing compute, storage, database, and other services closer to large populations, industry, and IT centres. The result is designed to be a continuum of compute, from core to edge, enabling companies to more efficiently build, deploy, and secure performant workloads that require single-digit millisecond latency and global reach. Industries such as media, gaming, SaaS vendors, retail, and government are examples where these requirements are in high demand today.
“ We scale everything we touch. We scale content, putting digital experiences closer to users than anyone. We scale cybersecurity, keeping threats farther away from business and people. Our customers know us and trust us for this scale. Now we plan to scale cloud computing, to provide customers with better performance at a lower cost,” said Leighton.
What the announcement entails
Akamai Connected Cloud is under the leadership of Adam Karon, chief operating officer, and general manager of Akamai’s Cloud Technology Group, where he has led teams focused on enabling media, gaming, and software companies to deliver the best possible experiences — at scale — to their customers on any device, anywhere, and helping carriers operate high-performing and cost-efficient networks.
“Our distributed scale is designed to deliver highly-performant cloud computing everywhere our customers’ business connects online, empowering them with the speed, flexibility, performance, and connectivity they need to grow without compromise, innovate without friction, and delight customers without fail,” said Karon.
The Akamai Connected Cloud announcement includes the following:
- Four new enterprise-scale core cloud computing sites across APJ in 2023, in Chennai, Osaka, Jakarta, and Auckland. Like Akamai’s existing 11 core sites, including core sites in Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Mumbai, the new regional sites will plug into the Akamai backbone — connecting them to the most distributed edge network on the planet. The new sites will contain cloud computing services acquired from Linode, and will become the template for additional core sites that Akamai plans to roll out across the globe.
- More distributed sites. In addition to the planned new core sites, Akamai has identified more than 50 cities globally in which it plans to begin rolling out distributed sites this year, to bring basic cloud computing capabilities into difficult-to reach-locations currently underserved by traditional cloud providers.
- Aggressive new cloud egress pricing. The new pricing structure is able to use the power of Akamai’s network to drive the cost of cloud egress by bringing CDN-like economics to cloud data transfer. The new egress pricing model is designed to result in significantly discounted egress rates relative to the hyperscalers and alternative cloud providers.
- New ISO, SOC 2 and HIPAA standards compliance, available immediately. The new standards compliance reflects Akamai’s focus on the security of its cloud computing services and customer data within, and allows customers to move workloads among Akamai and other public clouds.
- Akamai Qualified Computing Partner Program. This new technology partner program is designed to provide Akamai customers with solution-based services that are interoperable with Akamai Connected Cloud. The services will be provided by Akamai technology partners that complete a thorough qualification process, ensuring they are readily available to deploy and scale across the globally distributed platform.
“The launch of Akamai Connected Cloud comes at a time where the Asia Pacific & Japan region continues to experience rapid advancements in digital transformation. As organizations look to address the diverse infrastructure and network capabilities across markets, while decreasing costs and increasing agility through multi-cloud and open-source architectures, there are tremendous growth opportunities with the cloud,” said Parimal Pandya, senior vice president, sales, and managing director, Asia-Pacific.
APAC public cloud services market to soar
According to IDC, the public cloud services market in Asia Pacific is forecasted to reach USD$165.2 billion in 2026, and one in three companies has been predicted to generate more than 30% of their revenues from digital products and services in 2023.
“The cloud’s next phase requires a shift in how developers and enterprises think about getting applications and data closer to their customers. It redefines how the industry looks at things like performance, scale, cost, and security as workloads are no longer built for one place but are delivered across a wide spectrum of compute and geography,” said Dave McCarthy, research VP, IDC.
“Akamai’s innovative rethinking of how this gets done — and how it is architecting the Akamai Connected Cloud — puts it in a unique position to usher in an exciting new era for technology and to help enterprises build, deploy, and secure distributed applications.”
Dave McCarthy, IDC
