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Independent Digital Manages Peaks and Reduces Costs with Akamai EdgeSuite
By outsourcing to Akamai, Independent Digital has consolidated its web infrastructure making it easier to manage and cheaper to run. With EdgeSuite, the Independent sites are able to effectively respond to unexpected increases in site traffic by off-loading the delivery to Akamai's distributed edge computing platform. As a result, Independent Digital estimates that it will reduce web infrastructure costs by 50 percent, as well as improvements in the performance of its web sites.
Independent Digital UK is a wholly owned subsidiary of Independent News & Media Plc. It runs a portfolio of websites including, www.independent.co.uk, www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk and www.sundaylife.co.uk. Prior to utilising the Akamai platform, Independent Digital was running managed servers at selected ISPs to host its web content. However, this system couldn't handle unplanned fluctuations in web traffic without the purchase of additional bandwidth.
"We were in situations where our sites were in danger of going down due to demand," said Richard Withey, managing director of Independent Digital. "With our responsibilities to readers and our advertisers, we simply could not risk this happening."
As with many online news organisations, the news of the September 2001 US terror attacks in New York proved to be an important benchmark. Due to unprecedented traffic levels immediately after the attack, Independent Digital had to strip down the picture content of its main www.independent.co.uk site in order to keep the site fully functioning. After September 11th, page impressions jumped from three million to four million per week.
30 percent of the Independent visitor base is in the US, with another 30 percent from outside the UK. "This proved to us that we needed an infrastructure partner to cope with peaks generated by news, and keep our site available for our worldwide audience," said Richard Withey.
The Akamai EdgeSuite service provides Independent Digital with reliable, secure delivery of dynamic content and the ability to scale cost effectively regardless of traffic spikes. It also guarantees 100% uptime.
"We didn't want long leases or a lot of expensive machinery that we could not afford, and that did not offer reliable performance," said Richard Withey, managing director of Independent Digital. "The Akamai outsourced service is a great alternative and from speaking to some of Akamai's customers, it was clear to us that there were real performance benefits to be had from day one using its EdgeSuite platform."
Customer service was also an important factor in Independent Digital's evaluation of Akamai. The Independent team needed a seamless transition onto Akamai to ensure that no implementation issues were apparent on the public facing site. After initial trials in December 2001, all Independent Digital sites were 'Akamaized' by February 2002.
"The Independent is associated with high quality news and information throughout the world," said Wolfgang Staehle, President of Akamai Europe. "Information is its currency and so its sites have to be 100 per cent available, 24/7, to every visitor, regardless of traffic levels. Akamai has given Independent Digital this guarantee and has reduced its cost base at the same time."
About Independent Digital
Independent Digital Limited (IDL) is the digital publishing arm of Independent News and Media (UK) Ltd., publishers of The Independent and Independent on Sunday. Founded in 1999, IDL Websites regularly feature in the list of top ten UK news content sites, and the IDL network of sites has consistently generated almost 20 million page impressions per month with over half a million unique users.
About Akamai
Akamai is a leading provider of secure, outsourced e-business infrastructure services and software. These services and software enable companies to reduce the complexity and cost of deploying and operating a uniform Web infrastructure while ensuring unmatched performance, reliability, scalability and manageability. Akamai's services give businesses a distinct competitive advantage and provide an unparalleled Internet experience for their customers. Akamai's intelligent edge platform for content, streaming media, and application delivery comprises more than 12,600 servers within over 1,000 networks in 66 countries. With headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Akamai provides services and industry-renowned customer care to hundreds of enterprises worldwide, including dozens of Fortune 500 businesses. For information on Delivering a Better InternetSM, visit www.akamai.com.
Akamai Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
The release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, general economic conditions, the dependence on Akamai's Internet content delivery service and technology products, any inability of the company's services to meet the needs of governmental agencies, a failure of Akamai's network infrastructure, our ability to protect our intellectual property rights and inventions from third party challenges, and other factors that are discussed in the Akamai's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.
| Contacts: |
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| Felicia Spagnoli Media Relations Akamai Technologies, Inc. (617) 444 - 2525 spagnoli@akamai.com |
EdgeSuiteSM provides Independent Digital with 100 percent uptime and reduces infrastructure costs
London, UK - 2nd May, 2002 - Akamai Technologies, Ltd. (NASDAQ: AKAM), a leading provider of secure, outsourced e-business infrastructure services and software, today announced that Independent Digital, the online subsidiary of Independent News and Media Plc., has implemented EdgeSuite to manage visitor peaks and improve performance of its portfolio of consumer websites.By outsourcing to Akamai, Independent Digital has consolidated its web infrastructure making it easier to manage and cheaper to run. With EdgeSuite, the Independent sites are able to effectively respond to unexpected increases in site traffic by off-loading the delivery to Akamai's distributed edge computing platform. As a result, Independent Digital estimates that it will reduce web infrastructure costs by 50 percent, as well as improvements in the performance of its web sites.
Independent Digital UK is a wholly owned subsidiary of Independent News & Media Plc. It runs a portfolio of websites including, www.independent.co.uk, www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk and www.sundaylife.co.uk. Prior to utilising the Akamai platform, Independent Digital was running managed servers at selected ISPs to host its web content. However, this system couldn't handle unplanned fluctuations in web traffic without the purchase of additional bandwidth.
"We were in situations where our sites were in danger of going down due to demand," said Richard Withey, managing director of Independent Digital. "With our responsibilities to readers and our advertisers, we simply could not risk this happening."
As with many online news organisations, the news of the September 2001 US terror attacks in New York proved to be an important benchmark. Due to unprecedented traffic levels immediately after the attack, Independent Digital had to strip down the picture content of its main www.independent.co.uk site in order to keep the site fully functioning. After September 11th, page impressions jumped from three million to four million per week.
30 percent of the Independent visitor base is in the US, with another 30 percent from outside the UK. "This proved to us that we needed an infrastructure partner to cope with peaks generated by news, and keep our site available for our worldwide audience," said Richard Withey.
The Akamai EdgeSuite service provides Independent Digital with reliable, secure delivery of dynamic content and the ability to scale cost effectively regardless of traffic spikes. It also guarantees 100% uptime.
"We didn't want long leases or a lot of expensive machinery that we could not afford, and that did not offer reliable performance," said Richard Withey, managing director of Independent Digital. "The Akamai outsourced service is a great alternative and from speaking to some of Akamai's customers, it was clear to us that there were real performance benefits to be had from day one using its EdgeSuite platform."
Customer service was also an important factor in Independent Digital's evaluation of Akamai. The Independent team needed a seamless transition onto Akamai to ensure that no implementation issues were apparent on the public facing site. After initial trials in December 2001, all Independent Digital sites were 'Akamaized' by February 2002.
"The Independent is associated with high quality news and information throughout the world," said Wolfgang Staehle, President of Akamai Europe. "Information is its currency and so its sites have to be 100 per cent available, 24/7, to every visitor, regardless of traffic levels. Akamai has given Independent Digital this guarantee and has reduced its cost base at the same time."
About Independent Digital
Independent Digital Limited (IDL) is the digital publishing arm of Independent News and Media (UK) Ltd., publishers of The Independent and Independent on Sunday. Founded in 1999, IDL Websites regularly feature in the list of top ten UK news content sites, and the IDL network of sites has consistently generated almost 20 million page impressions per month with over half a million unique users.
About Akamai
Akamai is a leading provider of secure, outsourced e-business infrastructure services and software. These services and software enable companies to reduce the complexity and cost of deploying and operating a uniform Web infrastructure while ensuring unmatched performance, reliability, scalability and manageability. Akamai's services give businesses a distinct competitive advantage and provide an unparalleled Internet experience for their customers. Akamai's intelligent edge platform for content, streaming media, and application delivery comprises more than 12,600 servers within over 1,000 networks in 66 countries. With headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Akamai provides services and industry-renowned customer care to hundreds of enterprises worldwide, including dozens of Fortune 500 businesses. For information on Delivering a Better InternetSM, visit www.akamai.com.
Akamai Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
The release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, general economic conditions, the dependence on Akamai's Internet content delivery service and technology products, any inability of the company's services to meet the needs of governmental agencies, a failure of Akamai's network infrastructure, our ability to protect our intellectual property rights and inventions from third party challenges, and other factors that are discussed in the Akamai's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.
