Akamai Technologies and Apple have announced that they’ll continue to work together to deliver high quality streaming video and audio over the Internet. Akamai’s EdgeSuite Service will provide the worldwide infrastructure to support content delivery for Apple.com and Apple’s software downloads, and will continue to serve as the worldwide backbone for QuickTime TV.
In July 1999 Apple invested US$12.5 million in Akamai, for approximately 5 percent of the shares of the company. Apple and Akamai made a “strategic agreement” that centered on the integration of Apple’s QuickTime player and streaming server technology with Akamai’s global Internet content delivery service to provide Mac and Windows users worldwide with one-click access to high-quality streaming video content. In addition to Akamai’s integration of QuickTime servers into its network, Apple has selected Akamai as its exclusive network provider for QuickTime TV.
“We’re thrilled to continue working with Apple, one of Akamai’s charter customers, to support Apple’s worldwide content delivery needs,” said Akamai Chairman and CEO George Conrades, in a statement. “Apple uses the Web to drive their business, and has developed the Internet as an information and entertainment medium with QTV, and our technologies and services help bring the performance of those products to a new level.”
Apple and Akamai’s partnership over the past two years has seen the companies work together on such successful events as the record-setting webcasts of Steve Jobs’ Macworld Expo keynote presentations. At Macworld Expo San Francisco 2001, the keynote webcast set Internet records for streaming media on the Web, with more than 250,000 people watching various parts of the keynote, and more than 35,500 simultaneous viewers generating 5.3 gigabits of peak streaming traffic.
Fortunately, the content delivery service provider has been doing better financially than many other technology firms — though not well enough to prevent losses. Revenue for the quarter was US$40.2 million, compared to revenue of $37.2 million for the previous quarter, and represents a 456.8 percent increase compared to revenue of $7.2 million for the first quarter of 2000.
First quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, equity related compensation, and other non-cash charges was a loss of $36.5 million, lower than the fourth quarter loss of $45.1 million.
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