Akamai and IBM Introduce E-Business Infrastructure Services

📅 October 4, 2001 - Akamai Technologies, Inc. (akamai.com) and IBM (ibm.com) announced next-generation Internet infrastructure services that will combine IBM's WebSphere e-infrastructure software, Web-hosting and content delivery for enterprises that use Akamai's globally distributed network of nearly 12,000 servers at the Internet's edge.

Specifically, Akamai and IBM plan to collaborate on ways to use IBM'sWebSphere e-infrastructure software to manage high-volume transactions andspeed deployment of e-business applications on Akamai's global network. Thecompanies will also provide customers with e-business infrastructuresolutions, including Akamai EdgeSuite, through IBM Global Services.
IBM's WebSphere software will be enabled to interoperate with the AkamaiEdgeSuite service by leveraging Edge Side Includes, a simple mark-uplanguage and proposed standard for the dynamic assembly of Web pagefragments, such as stock quotes and individual catalog prices. By using theESI-enabled WebSphere Edge Server and Akamai EdgeSuite, customers will beequipped to build, deploy, and manage highly dynamic Web sites andapplications that capitalize on the performance and cost benefits of edgecomputing. For example, a retail site could construct Web pages by linkingindividual fragments, including a promotional graphic or sale price,targeted and delivered from Akamai's global network.
"Web operations are rapidly evolving from centralized to highlydecentralized architectures," said Rob Batchelder, research director atGartner. "Critical to this evolution is the ability to dynamically migratethe application elements of Web systems to points where they can mosteffectively be executed. Technologies which enable this migration areessential to realizing the potential of a massively distributed, WebServices computing model."
In addition, Akamai and IBM will collaborate to provide distributedapplication processing from the Akamai network to enterprises and developersusing WebSphere software. This will move the burden from the customer'scentralized origin server to a globally dispersed network of servers, closerin proximity to end users. Pushing distributed application processing deeperinto the network infrastructure will improve performance and reduce costs byallowing enterprises to develop and deploy mission-critical e-businessapplications that take advantage of WebSphere and Akamai's global network,without customers having to own or manage all the elements of theinfrastructure.
"The centralized model of Web serving has made way for a more efficientmethod of distributed computing," said George Kurian, vice president,product marketing, Akamai. "Together, IBM and Akamai are enabling businessesto outsource critical infrastructure through a unified source for costsavings, significant performance increase, on-demand scalability andworldwide reach. Given IBM's leadership in e-business infrastructureservices, our complementary technologies will enable both companies tofurther assist Web-enabled enterprises."
IBM Global Services will certify consultants to support the implementationof Akamai's services, and establish a Project Office to further thecompanies' joint efforts in meeting the e-business infrastructure needs oftoday's Fortune 1000 companies. IBM's e-business infrastructure includesconsulting, integration, and Web hosting services that provide a significantadvantage in accelerating the adoption of the companies' joint offerings foroutsourced infrastructure. IBM will also become an Akamai preferred providerof Information Technology and Services, including IBM iSeries servers,storage systems, server integration/installation services, and DB2 UniversalDatabase.
The WebSphere Edge Server will benefit customers served by the Akamainetwork due to its ability to execute high-volume transactions and itssupport of Web services, which enables the linking and integration ofbusiness applications across a wide spectrum of different computing systems.In addition to ESI, the WebSphere family of products supports all major openInternet standards, including J2EE, XML and all of its derivativetechnologies such as UDDI and SOAP.
Recently published as a W3C Note, ESI is an open markup language created todefine Web page fragments for dynamic aggregation, assembly, and delivery atthe Internet's edge. As a result, businesses can now develop highly dynamicWeb-based applications that are assembled at the edge of the data center, orat the edge of the Internet, for improved performance and simplifiedinfrastructure requirements. IBM is slated to have beta availability of theESI-enabled WebSphere software by Q1 2002. In the meantime, customers usingWebSphere Edge Server today also can benefit from the implementation ofAkamai EdgeSuite for dynamic content assembly at the edge. Akamai intends tobegin pilot projects using WebSphere in its global network in Q1 2002.