Category: Akamai

Akamai today announced the acquisition of Blaze Software, a front end optimization (FEO) company that specializes in the optimization of website content for the purposes of accelerated website delivery. Blaze’s cloud-based technology complements Akamai’s website acceleration portfolio by providing it with tools to optimize the delivery of rich, complex website content. Because websites increasingly feature rich content across a number of media, Blaze’s technology helps Akamai deal with the varied challenges specific to the optimized delivery of website content to PCs, tablets and smartphones. Michael Weider, CEO of Blaze, explained Blaze’s contribution to Akamai by noting: “Our technology is aimed at reducing the number of requests required to load a page, reducing the size of each request, and improving the browser rendering experience for our customers. Combining our technology with the global Akamai platform is a big win for customers who are increasingly looking to take performance optimization to the next level.” Blaze was founded in 2010 and is based in Ottawa, Canada. Akamai’s acquisition of Blaze builds upon its December acquisition of competitor Cotendo for $268 million. The terms of Akamai’s acquisition of Blaze were not disclosed save for the detail that the deal was a cash transaction.

Akamai will acquire competitor Cotendo for $268 million according to an announcement on Thursday from both companies. Akamai provides an infrastructure for enterprise grade content delivery over the internet to any web-enabled device. Cotendo specializes in the acceleration of content delivery in the internet and mobile spaces to customers such as Facebook, Zynga, Digg and Answers.com. Because Akamai and Cotendo both work in the field of application and content delivery acceleration, Akamai’s acquisition of Cotendo removes a competitor, gives it access to an expanded customer base and enables a synergistic combination of the technological platforms of both companies. That said, part of the challenge for Akamai will consist of working with former Cotendo customers that had selected Cotendo precisely out of a desire not to work with Akamai. Cotendo competed in the web acceleration space with aggressive pricing and highly competitive technology in the dynamic site acceleration and mobile acceleration verticals. Akamai’s purchase of Cotendo makes it the clear leader in market share in the application acceleration industry alongside competitors such as Level 3 Communications and Limelight Networks. Shares of Akamai Technologies rose 18.6% to $31.63 upon news of the acquisition as investors recognized the power of a consolidated Akamai-Cotendo entity.