Later this week, Akamai is introducing a whole host of interesting updates to solutions for edge computing, media delivery and security. The new features and services really help us respond to current changes – lockdowns, quarantines and other protective measures from government agencies and in companies have led to, at times, major shifts in user behaviour, media usage and the desire for secure cloud connectivity.
We describe some of what we consider to be the most stimulating new developments, with particular interest in media delivery solutions and related features from the disciplines of edge computing, web performance and cloud security.
Details on the services used can also be found in our partner portfolio.
With central services for media delivery – such as Adaptive Media Delivery or Download Delivery – Akamai has been recording very strong growth in traffic and user numbers for some time now. This is accompanied by the high-level expectation regarding delivery quality, i.e. lowest latency and highest performance. A few figures from recent months illustrate this development:
|
„Peak traffic on the Akamai platform exceeded 100 terabits per second every day in the second quarter. It was only in October 2019 that traffic exceeded the 100 Tbps threshold for the first time in company history. The enormous capacity of the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform has provided unparalleled scale and industry-leading performance and reliability for billions of people around the world as they deal with the pandemic. During this time, Akamai has supported numerous large over-the-top service launches, game and software releases, helped organizations advance their digital transformation, adapt to remote work and more. The Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform remains the most pervasive CDN in the world, which has grown to include more than 300,000 servers in 4,000 locations and nearly 1,500 networks around the globe, to remain closer to audiences for the lowest latency and highest quality.“ |
„Next year is shaping up to be a BIG one for live streaming. With this in mind, Akamai has used much of 2020 to prepare new capabilities that will help customers be ready for this surge. As part of this platform update, Akamai is announcing several capabilities for live streaming, including support for low-latency HLS. The emerging specification is intended to provide users end-to-end latency of three seconds or less and backward compatibility across the Apple video player ecosystem. It's expected to help drive overall adoption of low latency in live streaming for the most popular streaming formats. The new developer-friendly Media Services API automates the process of configuring live streaming workflows on the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform. Akamai's Access Revocation is core to Akamai's "prevent-discover-enforce" content security posture, providing content rights owners the power to stop unauthorized video streams. The newest version boasts improved scale to serve larger audience sizes as well as quicker revocation response times to provide highly-scalable enforcement of fraudulent or shared streams. Akamai is ready to handle the upcoming surge in live streaming and is committed to driving success for our customers.“
Reference architecture: The Edge Platform
More updates will be presented here over the next few days.
Developers are recommended to have a look here.
|
Our team of certified Akamai specialists will be happy to provide you with further details on the extensive innovations in play, and advise you on all questions regarding integration into your individual system landscape. We’re happy to be there for you. |