Akamai Acquires Velocius Networks

Akamai Technologies, Inc. has announced that it has acquired Velocius Networks, a provider of quality of service (QoS) technology for optimising application traffic across enterprise networks, in a cash transaction. The acquisition is expected to complement Akamai’s hybrid cloud optimisation strategy for optimising IP application traffic across the Internet for remote and branch end-users.

As organisations expand globally, their employees, partners, and customers are using the Internet to access critical IP-enabled applications anywhere, anytime, and over a wide range of devices. These include, but are not limited to, core applications accessed over SSL VPN (Secure Sockets Layer Virtual Private Network), real-time interactive Web conferencing, virtualised applications and desktops, secure large file transfers and Web applications. Poor performance or spotty availability of these applications can lead to lost revenue, low adoption and high support costs. For remote and branch end users accessing multiple applications over a shared network connection, traffic prioritisation and shaping becomes critical to ensuring performance regardless of network conditions.

The Velocius Networks QoS technology is expected to be integrated into Akamai’s existing technology to provide traffic prioritisation and shaping capabilities for IP traffic accessed over Akamai’s Intelligent Platform. This plan is designed to enable Akamai to offer enterprise-class service levels for customers accessing IP applications over the Internet.

“We see this acquisition as an important investment in engineering talent and technology that is intended to complement our hybrid cloud optimisation strategy,” said Tom Leighton, CEO of Akamai. “We believe Velocius Networks’ QoS technology will further enable us to bring enterprise class of service to IP applications accessed over the Internet – an area where we have seen increased demand from our enterprise customer base.”

Velocius Networks, a privately-funded company with five employees, was established in 2011. The entire team will be integrated into Akamai’s engineering group in India. The acquisition is not material to Akamai’s financials.