Akamai announces new plan, codenamed Gecko, to incorporate cloud computing into edge networks

Akamai's new Gecko plan will accelerate the creation of a globally distributed cloud computing platform

February 21, 2024 – Akamai Technologies, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as: Akamai), a cloud service provider responsible for supporting and protecting online life, recently announced plans to incorporate cloud computing capabilities into its large-scale edge network plan. The Generalized Edge Compute (Gecko) program is a key step in Akamai's strategy to advance its cloud computing platform, enabling enterprises that want to run workloads closer to users, devices and data sources to provide a better user experience.

Akamai’s move comes at a good time for the tech industry. According to a global study conducted by ClearPath Strategies in 2023, two-thirds of IT decision-makers said their use of distributed cloud services is expected to increase significantly in the next 12 months. More than one-third of respondents said that the benefits of distributed cloud, such as the ability to process and analyze AI and machine learning data quickly and efficiently, are an integral part of their IT strategy.

This new initiative is the latest step in Akamai's multi-year strategy to become the dominant cloud platform in enterprise multi-cloud environments. This initiative is another step towards realizing the company’s vision of creating a new cloud platform designed to meet the needs of modern applications for higher performance, lower latency and true global scalability, while currently Cloud architecture alone is ill-equipped to meet these needs.

Akamai has already conducted early trials of Gecko with several enterprise customers. The company expects customers in the areas of AI inference, multiplayer gaming and social media and streaming to be best suited to take advantage of Gecko's strengths. Akamai anticipates future use cases in areas such as immersive retail, spatial computing, data analytics, and consumer IoT and industrial IoT.

Cloud computing and edge networks exist independently within the current industry architecture. Gecko will enable customers to deploy generalized computing on Akamai's existing global edge network, leveraging existing tools, processes and detection capabilities to deliver a consistent experience across the entire computing continuum from cloud to edge. Gecko moves larger workloads of traditional computing, often confined to centralized data centers, to the edge of the Akamai network. This will extend full-stack computing to numerous locations that were previously difficult to reach, allowing customers to move workloads closer to their users.

By extending cloud computing to places that are difficult to reach by traditional cloud providers, developers no longer need to consider whether this cloud computing is built for the cloud or for the edge. As developers increasingly demand more from their cloud and edge providers, Akamai plans to unlock solutions across the entire computing continuum by driving the convergence required to deploy cloud computing capabilities to the edge, enabled by Gecko. opportunities for innovation.

"Gecko is the most exciting initiative in cloud computing in a decade," said Dr. Tom Leighton, CEO and co-founder of Akamai. "When Akamai acquired Linode to add cost-effective, cloud-native computing capabilities to its portfolio, we This initiative is the next phase of our roadmap for a more connected cloud platform. We are beginning to implement that roadmap with the release of Akamai Connected Cloud and the rapid rollout of new core compute regions around the world. Currently , we are moving towards this vision by combining the computing power of the Akamai cloud platform with a more efficient edge network that is closer to users through Gecko, enabling workloads to be deployed closer to users than other cloud providers can. A step forward. This is also Akamai's practice of covering global operations."

Akamai Connected Cloud: The world’s most widely distributed cloud platform

The Akamai network consists of 4,100 points of presence around the world, making Akamai Connected Cloud the most widely distributed cloud platform in the world. Akamai has 25 years of experience managing widely distributed, fully automated, efficient, and extremely reliable networks, making it irreplaceable among the world's leading cloud providers. Hyperscale providers dominate the market by relying on a decade-old centralized cloud model that scaled computing power vertically, often at the expense of coverage. Smaller edge and CDN providers are focused on scaling out coverage to make up for the lack of computing power. Akamai has transformed Akamai Connected Cloud into a globally distributed cloud computing platform by integrating Linode into its network and creating additional core computing regions over the past year. The industry faces increasing demands to deliver higher cost performance, lower latency, and more reliable security for applications and data built and deployed across the broader computing continuum. In this case, Akamai hopes to leverage the power of the cloud and edge to give it a competitive advantage. This advantage, combined with Akamai's deep experience in distributed networking, gives customers access to a cloud that is more powerful, more portable, easier to use, and less expensive.

"Akamai is delivering on the promise it made when it acquired Linode by rapidly integrating compute into its security and delivery portfolio," said Dave McCarthy, research vice president of cloud and edge services at IDC. Closer to the edge, they launched Gecko. This is definitely another step towards a more distributed cloud world."

Akamai's Gecko roadmap: Deploy computing to locations that are difficult to reach with traditional clouds

Akamai is rolling out a fast-paced but pragmatic roadmap for Gecko. Akamai today announced a first-phase goal to bring VM-enabled computing to 100 cities by the end of the year. In 2024, Akamai is available in Hong Kong SAR, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Queretaro, Mexico, and Johannesburg, South Africa, as well as in cities where no centralized hyperscale provider operates (e.g., Bogotá, Colombia, Denver, CO, U.S., Texas, U.S. Houston, Hamburg, Germany, and Marseille, France) have deployed new Gecko architecture zones. The company plans to deploy its 10th Gecko region in Santiago, Chile, by the end of the first quarter. In addition to these 10 new Gecko locations and the existing 25 core computing regions, Akamai plans to expand its global cloud computing capabilities to hundreds of cities over the next few years.

Gecko's second phase is expected to launch later this year, in which the company plans to add containers to the mix. In the third phase of Gecko, Akamai plans to add automated workload orchestration to make it easier for developers to build applications across hundreds of distributed locations, ultimately enabling a consistent user experience across every core computing region and edge.

Akamai Statement Compliant with the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act

This press release contains statements that are not historical facts and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding Akamai's projected future performance, future expectations, plans and Outlook statement. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements due to various important factors. Such factors include, but are not limited to: the failure of our investments in innovation to result in market-accepted solutions; the inability to grow revenue at the same rate as in the past and avoid expense growth exceeding revenue growth; the impact of competition, including pricing pressure and changing business models; the impact of macroeconomic trends, including economic uncertainty, financial services industry turmoil, inflation, rising and volatile interest rates, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, securities market volatility and money supply fluctuations; the geopolitical environment conditions and uncertainties, including sanctions and disruptions arising from the ongoing Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars; ongoing supply chain and logistics costs, limitations, changes or disruptions; defects or disruptions in our products or IT systems, including disruptions due to cyberattacks, data breaches or malware; failure of any of our acquisitions or restructuring initiatives to realize expected benefits; changes in U.S. and international economic, political and regulatory conditions; our ability to attract and retain key personnel; new Delays or failures in the development of service products or functions, and when such service products or functions are developed, they fail to be fully accepted by the market, or such solutions fail to operate as expected; and the Company's annual performance in 10-K and other factors discussed in reports, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other filings with the SEC.

In addition, the statements in this press release represent Akamai's expectations and beliefs as of the date of this press release. Akamai anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause these expectations and beliefs to change. Although Akamai may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Akamai hereby expressly disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Akamai's expectations or beliefs as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.