Akamai

Akamai Technologies, commonly known as Akamai, is an American content delivery network (CDN) and cloud services provider. It operates a globally distributed edge platform that caches content close to users to improve performance and security. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker AKAM.

Founded in 1998 by Tom Leighton, a MIT professor, and Daniel Lewin, the name Akamai derives from the Hawaiian word for intelligent. The company went public in 1999 and developed one of the first large-scale CDNs. It has since expanded into cloud security, DNS services, and media delivery, and has pursued edge computing. Notable acquisitions include SOASTA (2011) for cloud testing and Prolexic Technologies (2014) for DDoS protection.

Key offerings include the Intelligent Edge Platform with CDN, dynamic site acceleration, and media delivery; cloud security products such as Kona Site Defender (WAF and DDoS protection) and Bot Manager; Edge DNS and Real User Monitoring; and EdgeWorkers, a serverless edge computing capability that runs code at the network edge.

Akamai operates thousands of edge servers across many countries, serving major websites, streaming services, and enterprises. It competes with Cloudflare, Amazon CloudFront, Microsoft Azure CDN, and Google Cloud CDN, emphasizing performance, security, and edge computing at scale.