Akamai Review

Akamai Still Reigns As A Legendary CDN

In the world of content delivery networks (CDNs), there’s hardly a more well-known name than that of Akamai. In the late 1990’s, the service was a pioneer of CDN technology, pushing the boundaries of what was possible for the end-user and the consumer. Thankfully, they’re unique dedication to innovative hardware sets, improved mathematics, and sheer, grandiose size makes the every bit as effective now as they were ten years. Akamai is one of our favorites solutions for any and all content delivery needs, making it practical and cost-effective to bring your media to the masses with reduced lag and increased satisfaction.

Content Delivery Where You Need It

We like Akamai for a number of reasons, but first and foremost, we’re extremely appreciative of the provider’s expansive network. With a grand total of more than 56,000 servers, Akamai’s EdgeNetwork is one of the largest point-of-presence based networks in existence, providing single-handedly the most area out of any other CDN provider we can name. This, of course, goes hand-in-hand with their 1,000 subsidized networks that span a total of 70 countries the world over. To sum it all up, if you have a viewer in some obscure portion of the planet, Akamai has a server nearby that will provide the same end-user satisfaction to that user as to one located in a large metropolitan area. This kind of assurance, security, and market breadth is something we value very highly, and one of the various reasons why we recommend Akamai.

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In addition to the company’s prodigious size, though, we also value Akamai’s services because of their unique dedication to research, development, and efficiency. One would be hard pressed to find a provider more focused on improving their routing algorithms. Akamai staff are constantly refining their routing methods to provide the best possible end-user experience, regardless of the requests point of origin. With such a large server network, the company carries plenty of experience in replicating and delivering content on a by-need basis to users all over the world. Their dedicated hardware set removes the need for central data centers that increase load times and require lengthy IP routes. Instead, Akamai’s densely situated and regionalized networks can provide the utmost in lightning fast content reproduction, making the most of cached content to satisfy the end-user.

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Mapping a Path to Your Success

Because of the complexity of the Akamai EdgeNetwork, those who choose to sign with the provider also benefit from the company’s detailed mapping policies. When a request is made for content, the provider’s processors immediately layout a course for the request, ensuring through advanced mathematics that the content is delivered through the various Web byways with the maximum in efficiency.
The provider also bears a unique focus on the consumer, which we rarely see in other CDN providers. Akamai’s industry-leading EdgeControl customer portal is often copied by the company’s competition, but can never quite be replicated in its full glory.
The panel provides an unprecedented look at each individual consumer’s content management. Through this panel, users are free to monitor and manage almost every aspect of their content delivery experience, including complex analytical data. The EdgeControl panel makes it simple and effective for consumers to locate peak areas, determine periods of high load, or simply keep an eye on how much data has been moved across their portion of the delivery network. Where most CDN providers would leave the consumer in the dark, Akamai has instead thrown open the windows and invited the sunlight in.

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And just as Akamai offers the potential for its consumers to view, monitor, and modify their server loads, so does the company itself keep an eye on its networks. Akamai carries an unwavering dedication to monitoring its EdgeNetwork at all times, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Should any unexpected anomalies or blackouts appear, Akamai’s technicians are standing by to immediately resolve the issue, reducing downtimes and ensuring the maximum amount of up-time.

All in all, Akamai is a brilliant example of what dedication, industry leading software, rock-solid hardware, and a little focus on the consumer can accomplish. There is no better way to provide the world with your content than Akamai: Period.
PS: I would like to thank Yejun Yang for comparing some popular commercial CDN’s global latency.
Stay tuned, more CDN reviews coming soon!