Akamai Drives a Fiat, Level 3 Chases a Triathlon

Akamai Drives a Fiat, Level 3 Chases a Triathlon
April 17th, 2012 by Robert Powell
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Two interesting items this morning from NAB coming out of two very different CDN operators whose paths have been diverging further lately. Obviously both companies still target many of the same opportunities, but lately they have chosen to emphasize different aspects of their offerings.

Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) followed up yesterday’s CDN expansion announcement with one of its bread-and-butter niche sporting event wins. The International Triathlon Union has selected them to provide both live broadcast and streaming services for the ITU World Triatlon Series. The first event will be in Sydney, with later ones to follow in San Diego, Madrid, Kitzbuhel, Hamburg, Stockholm, Yokohama, and Auckland. It’s the kind of deal that simultaneously leverages both their Vyvx division’s strengths and their global CDN footprint. And after detailing the latter’s recent expansions and future plans yesterday, Level 3 did the same thing today for the Vyvx side of things. They plan to expand HD transmission and JPEG2000 compression services beyond sports venues to other customers such as TV stations and production companies.

Meanwhile, Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM, news, filings) chose to emphasize a new corporate contract with Italian car maker Fiat. Fiat has implemented Akamai’s site and application acceleration and mobile optimization services for both its corporate and brand sites across multiple devices. They’re seeking to reduce abandonment rates by making pages load faster, succeeding with Alfa Romeo to the tune of 66% and their CRM application by up to 300%. Akamai has been directing most of its efforts toward a move up the food chain where its core CDN underlies a wider range of cloud and managed services. Akamai’s announcements for the past several quarters have been focused on either this type of deal (e.g. Dolce&Gabbana) or on new, tightly focused products & services.



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Colorado's Tech Industry Takes a Hit!

Colorado lost 5,300 tech industry jobs in 2010, mostly as telecommunications and engineering services companies cut back, according to the TechAmerica Foundation annual census.

The Washington D.C.-based trade group released its Cyberstates report at 10:01 p.m. MDT Tuesday.

TechAmerica, formerly known as AeA, has measured technology industry employment using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data for 14 years.

Colorado’s high-tech workforce totaled 156,900 in 2010, down 3.2 percent from the 162,200 counted in 2009, the report said. The average private sector tech worker in Colorado earned $90,800 in 2010, which is 96 percent more than the average private sector wage in the state.

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