Microsoft customers to receive access to Akamai's market-leading CDN as part of Microsoft Azure cloud platform

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the global leader in content delivery network (CDN) services, and Microsoft Corp. have announced a partnership in which access to the Akamai CDN will be fully integrated into Microsoft Azure. The forthcoming Azure CDN offering is designed to optimize performance of content and applications deployed and delivered on Azure. 

As part of the companies' expanded relationship, Microsoft is also bringing to market a series of first-party services that include Akamai's market-leading CDN, acceleration and security solutions. Microsoft enterprise customers will be able to purchase any Akamai offering as "self-select" options through the Azure portal or as part of their organization's Microsoft enterprise agreement. In addition, customers will receive integrated, one-stop service and support from Microsoft and Akamai.

"Through this strategic partnership, Microsoft and Akamai are helping usher in the next generation of content delivery tailored for cloud platform customers of all sizes," said Bill Staples, Corporate Vice President, App Platform, Microsoft Azure. "The Azure CDN combines the intelligent cloud services of the Azure platform with the delivery advantages of Akamai's world-class and massively-distributed CDN. Further, Azure customers can leverage Akamai's unique CDN, acceleration and security product portfolio that can be managed and purchased through a single enterprise agreement."

The relationship between Microsoft and Akamai is long-standing. Microsoft is one of the largest content delivery consumers on the planet, with decades of experience in delivering large software packages to big, globally dispersed audiences.  Akamai and Microsoft have also collaborated on major software downloads as well as some of the world's largest, highest-profile online events.

"We believe the power of the Azure platform combined with the reach and scale of Akamai's CDN opens a wealth of new possibilities for building and delivering highly-effective, cloud-based solutions for a host of applications," said Tom Leighton, CEO of Akamai. "From start-ups to established enterprises, businesses need the assurance of scale, performance, and security as more and more applications and workloads move to the cloud.  We look forward to collaborating with Microsoft Azure and being a part of their open and flexible cloud strategy."

Microsoft customers are expected to be able to purchase an Azure CDN offering and deploy onto the Akamai Network architecture via the Azure portal in early 2016. In addition, a managed roll-out of Microsoft first-party services for CDN, acceleration and security based on Akamai will be available to targeted enterprises next month.

About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

About Akamai
As the global leader in Content Delivery Network (CDN) services, Akamai makes the Internet fast, reliable and secure for its customers. The company's advanced web performance, mobile performance, cloud security and media delivery solutions are revolutionizing how businesses optimize consumer, enterprise and entertainment experiences for any device, anywhere. To learn how Akamai solutions and its team of Internet experts are helping businesses move faster forward, 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, the effects of any attempts to intentionally disrupt Akamai's services or network or Microsoft's platform by hackers or others, the inability of Akamai's CDN and the Azure platform to operate together as expected or to continue to be interoperable, inability of customers to realize the expected benefits of the combined solutions, a failure of Akamai's network infrastructure, unexpected delays in the timing of releases of solutions 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.

Contacts:
Jeff Young
Media Relations for Akamai
[email protected] 

Alex Vaught
Media Relations for Microsoft
[email protected]

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SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.

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