Let the Games Begin: Akamai To Speed Olympic Video Downloads

Having tackled the Super Bowl, Akamai Technologies is setting its sights on a more global stage—the summer Olympics in Beijing. Back in January, we reported that the Cambridge, MA-based company, which specializes in online content distribution and networking, was helping the New England Patriots and the NFL get ready for the biggest game of the year (turns out the Pats could have used more help with their offensive line and Tom Brady’s ankle).

Now Akamai (NASDAQ:[[ticker:AKAM]]) has announced that it is teaming up with New York-based The NewsMarket, an online video delivery and marketing firm, to enable journalists covering the summer games in China to view and download Olympic-related video clips more quickly and reliably than before. The NewsMarket, which has some 16,000 media subscribers across 193 countries, has set up a dedicated “Beijing 2008” video channel: the company says it is already being used by the International Olympic Committee and companies like Adidas, Samsung, and Volkswagen (presumably for advertising).

The NewsMarket clearly needs Akamai’s technology for its Beijing channel to handle the huge demand for video of the summer games. Akamai, for its part, may see this not just as a good short-term deal, but also as a way to gain a larger footprint in China, which, according to Akamai’s recent “State of the Internet” report, will soon be connected to the United States by a new “Trans-Pacific Express” undersea cable carrying up to 5 terabits of data per second.

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.