BanifInvest Leverages Akamai to Accelerate its Retail Brokerage Services

SAO PAULO, Dec. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere, announced today that BanifInvest, a leading retail brokerage company in the Brazilian market, is leveraging the services of Akamai through Exceda, Akamai's distributor in Brazil.

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Akamai offers cloud solutions designed to provide enterprises with consistent global reach, scale and performance. Online brokerages, like BanifInvest, need to deliver a variety of services and content to improve customer acquisition and satisfaction. Consumers expect a rapid sign-up process and fast access to applications that respond without fail. Leveraging the Akamai Dynamic Site Accelerator solution, BanifInvest provides a fast and safe user experience for its customers, whether it is to buy and sell shares or obtain market information.

As the first investment portal in Brazil to use the Akamai Dynamic Site Accelerator solution, BanifInvest has experienced a 40 percent improvement in site speed. Akamai also helps BanifInvest offer a secure experience for its customers. "All transaction activities are conducted in an encrypted manner, which is mandatory in the financial services market," said Brad Rinklin, Vice President of Global Marketing & Alliances at Akamai. "We offer a dynamic and robust platform to BanifInvest, providing users the advantage of performing actions of buying and selling faster."

Having recently deployed Akamai's services, BanifInvest is already a faster retail brokerage company in Brazil.  The company is optimistic and foresees a sharp growth with the advantages gained from Akamai.  "We are very confident with the solution, which will become a BanifInvest competitive advantage from now on.  We hope to grow between 40 and 60 percent with the improvements," said Everson Ramos, IT superintendent at BanifInvest.

"The expectation is to increase the transmission of investment educational videos, considering the possibility of using the Akamai platform for streaming. The service, in addition to being aligned with the interests of the company, is also a great tool to further educate our customers," said Ramos. BanifInvest will also leverage joint support from Akamai, and its local partner Exceda, to pursue continued improvements to its online offerings. "We have defined a schedule together that determines when adjustments need to be made, making the tool even more effective."

About BanifInvest
BanifInvest is the most modern and complete Retail Brokerage Company in the Brazilian market.  It was established in 1999 as EconoFinance, a site dedicated to financial information.  In 2001, it began operations in the Retail Brokerage space, quickly reaching the Top 10 on the Bovespa (Sao Paulo's stock exchange).  In 2001, the Banif Group, a Portuguese institution that acts as a commercial bank, investment bank, asset manager, insurer, brokerage, leaser and offers personal loans, acquired its controlling interest.

BanifInvest is not shy of applications.  BanifInvest offers an easy navigation tool with the richest content on the financial market and a set of unique features such as SharkBroker, which provides interactive charts and technical analysis that can be installed on any computer.  All this to help small, medium or large investors in choosing the best financial investment, and to develop their portfolios.

About Exceda
Exceda is Latin America's leading provider of application acceleration, content distribution and optimization via the Internet.  Since 2002, the company builds its portfolio through representation of leading international companies, with special attention to Akamai, the world leader in this area and responsible, with a network of about 100,000 servers, to deliver 30% of all Internet traffic worldwide.  In Brazil, more than two thousand servers are installed in the major Brazilian cities.

Exceda's products increase the site performance to more than 150 companies in several segments among them: media and entertainment, public sector, e-commerce, and the financial sector, getting more speed, availability and security, reducing investment and increasing business and customer satisfaction.  Besides Brazil, Exceda is also present in Argentina and Chile.  For more information visit: www.exceda.com.

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 and follow @Akamai on Twitter.

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, unexpected termination of BanifInvest's relationship with Akamai or Exceda, failure of BanifInvest or its end users to realize the expected benefits of the solutions described, 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.