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  • Akamai Expands Business Operations in Canada

    Akamai Expands Business Operations in Canada

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    Akamai, one of the world’s biggest providers of Content Delivery Network (CDN) services, is expanding its business operations in Canada. The company has just announced the opening of its Toronto sales and services office.  The new office will support employees focused on sales, services, engineering, and security, and will complement Akamai’s existing Ontario location in Ottawa.

    Akamai’s growth in Canada has expanded in the areas of financial services, media & entertainment, manufacturing, health care, public sector, and commerce, with Ontario being the province with the Company’s largest customer base.

    Akamai is hiring in both Toronto and Ottawa for engineering roles in the areas of Web Performance and Enterprise solutions.

    Canada boasts 33 million internet users, with nearly 95 percent of its total population being internet-connected. Over the last five years, the country’s high broadband (connections greater than 10 Mbps) adoption rate has increased by 589 percent. During that same period, Canada’s 4K readiness rate (connections greater than 15 Mbps) has increased by 710 percent.

    Akamai is currently serving and protecting the online presence for the six largest banks in Canada, many ofCanada’s most successful retailers, and has served as a force behind major online events for several of the national media broadcasters such as CBC/Radio-Canada during the Olympics, the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, and for the upcoming 2015 Pan Am games in Toronto.

    SHOP.CA is becoming Canada’s leader in online shopping, providing “a unique Canadian experience that combines an authoritative selection of products, unparalleled service and a social loyalty program that rewards members on every purchase.” Launched in July 2012, SHOP.CA has become the fastest growing retail site in Canada and a top 10 most-visited, Canadian-owned ecommerce site.

  • Akamai Brings HDTV-Like Experience Online

    Akamai Technologies has launched the Akamai HD Network, its next generation video delivery offering and the first platform to deliver HD video online to viewers using Adobe Flash technology, Microsoft Silverlight, and to the iPhone, at broadcast-level audience scale.

    The new HD Network combines Akamai’s patented HD EdgePlatform, adaptive bitrate streaming and DVR technology. It supports live and on-demand HD streaming.

    It was designed as one, comprehensive HD network reaching multiple playback environments and devices (including Flash, Silverlight, and the iPhone) especially for large-scale broadcasters and film distributors.

    According to the press release, the network leverages the following functionalities:

    • Adaptive Bitrate Streaming – a streaming process that is designed to enable uninterrupted playback at HD bitrates that seamlessly adjusts to fluctuations in available bandwidth
    • Instant Response – Immediate response to viewer interactions with the video player, including sub-second time-shifting (such as pause, rewind, seek and play commands) video startup times, and seamless stream switching
    • HD Video Player – Open, standards-based video player for faster time to market
    • HD Player Authentication – Authenticates player for all three environments ensuring only authorized players access content

    What makes this new HD network unique is that it delivers video from HTTP servers located closest to end users (over 50,000 in 900 networks in 70 countries) minimizing packet loss and maximizing streaming.

    “We’re entering a different online world, where many content owners and publishers need to deliver HD-quality video to a much wider online audience, with a higher level of interactivity for consumers. Delivering ‘web-quality’ content to ‘web-sized’ audiences is one thing, but delivering HD-quality content to broadcast-scale audiences is another," said Paul Sagan, President and CEO of Akamai.

    The firm says, two key trends have made it necessary to now evolve how streaming media is delivered on the internet. First, online audiences have grown to broadcast scale. Second, those viewers are demanding higher quality content. Studies show that when higher quality video content is offered, viewer engagement time increases. According to Jupiter Research, 60% of regular online video users are less likely to return to a site for video content if the viewing experience is poor.

    Supporting this level of traffic requires a global network that can manage millions of simultaneous users streaming very high bitrate content, they claims.

    "We are excited to see Akamai’s commitment to HTTP adaptive streaming as the future of online video delivery, as we have worked closely over the past year to build a robust end-to-end media delivery platform with IIS Smooth Streaming and Silverlight," said Steve Sklepowich, director for Silverlight at Microsoft Corp.

    "Together, we’ve proven that these true HD experiences can dramatically increase online viewing times for broadcasters,” he added