Akamai is Supporting IPv6 Delivery for Major Enterprises and Government Agencies in Advance of World IPv6 Launch

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- 

• As IPv6 is permanently enabled by ISPs, Web companies and home networking equipment manufacturers, Akamai provides unique look at IPv6 traffic on its global platform
• Akamai delivers www.worldipv6launch.org as major Internet milestone nears

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere, announced today its participation in World IPv6 Launch beginning tomorrow, June 6th, when major Internet service providers (ISPs), Web companies, and home networking equipment manufacturers around the world will come together to permanently enable IPv6 for their products and services.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100225/AKAMAILOGO)

Organized by the Internet Society, and building on the awareness of last year's successful World IPv6 Day, the world launch of IPv6 represents a major milestone in the global deployment of the successor to the current Internet Protocol, IPv4.

"IPv6 is critical to the future of the Internet's underlying architecture," said Tom Leighton, chief scientist and co-founder, Akamai.  "For over a decade, Akamai has transformed the unpredictable Internet into a robust and reliable platform for transacting e-commerce, distributing rich media, and delivering enterprise applications.  Akamai is committed to helping our customers with a smooth transition to IPv6 by enabling Web sites to maintain their IPv4 origin sites while facilitating their ability to reach both IPv4 and IPv6 audiences quickly and reliably over the hybrid Internet." 

"The permanent deployment of IPv6 by leading companies around the world as part of World IPv6 Launch ensures the ability to connect billions of people and devices not yet online," said Leslie Daigle, Chief Internet Technology Officer for the Internet Society. "IPv6 is imperative for the future of the Internet and its continued evolution as a global platform for innovation, collaboration, and economic development."

With a rapidly growing shortage in available IPv4 addresses, World IPv6 Launch will serve as a major Internet milestone in the transition to IPv6.  Online businesses are faced with the challenge that they must act quickly to transition to IPv6 or risk limited functionality for Internet users around the globe.  Akamai has joined the Internet Society, and other Internet businesses, to encourage the transition to IPv6.  Akamai's participation includes having IPv6-enabled www.akamai.com during the past year, as well as supporting many of the largest Web companies from around the globe on Akamai's IPv6 technology offerings.

"Akamai's role in the deployment of IPv6 is critical to its customers," said Mark Townsley, Cisco Fellow and former Internet Area Director for the IETF.  "Online for over 25 years, www.cisco.com is one of the more sophisticated websites Akamai serves today.  Cisco and Akamai worked closely to create a solution that met our needs for World IPv6 Day last year, and we have continued our preparations and planning for this year's permanent launch."

The transition to IPv6 is also top of mind for U.S. Government agencies.  They face a September 30, 2012 deadline for ensuring that all public-facing Web sites and services support IPv6. To date more than 20 government agencies representing 715 hostnames have turned to Akamai to help them meet the mandate for their Web sites.  By working with Akamai, it is expected that these agencies will be able to deliver IPv6 content in a secure, efficient and cost-effective way.  

"By mapping out the IPv4 and IPv6 Internets, and by serving end users close to the edge of the network, Akamai strives to mitigate many of the problems associated with bad routing and peering congestion," said Erik Nygren, chief architect, Akamai.  "For example, an origin site hosted in a single location might not have reliable routes across the IPv6 Internet to all end user locations.  Akamai servers, however, are deployed around the globe and have IPv6 connectivity in over 500 locations, making it much more likely that the Akamai mapping system can find a nearby location with a reliable IPv6 path to the end user."

Available at www.akamai.com/ipv6, Akamai is providing a real-time data visualization of IPv6 Web traffic served from its global platform.  The tool is designed to show the global patterns of IPv6 traffic.

For more information, register for the webinar Implementing IPv6: Experiences and Lessons from the Real World or download the Akamai white paper "IPv6: What the Transition Means for Content and Application Delivery" at www.akamai.com/ipv6. 

About Akamai
Akamai® is the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere.  At the core of the Company's solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform™ providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise.  Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud.  To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit www.akamai.com or blogs.akamai.com, and follow @Akamai on Twitter.

Akamai Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
This 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, inability to develop effective IPv6 technology offerings, including IPv6 visualization tools, inability or a decision not to make IPv6 tools available to our customers, a failure of Akamai's network infrastructure, and other factors that are discussed in Akamai's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.

SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.