Akamai Wins Streaming Media Reader's Choice Award
The winner of the Streaming Media Reader's Choice Award in the category of Global Content Delivery Network is Akamai. It's not surprising with all of the buzz that surrounds this company.
Category: Global Content Delivery Network
Winner: Akamai Technologies
First runner-up: RealNetworks Real Broadcast Network
Second runner-up (tie): Limelight Networks, Mirror Image, PowerStream
Here's what StreamingMedia.com had to say:
From CEO Paul Sagan's appearance on the cover of Forbes, accompanying a story so flattering it bordered on sycophantic, to a second-quarter net loss of $1.7 million and the inevitable "sky-is-falling" rhetoric from financial analysts that came with it, it's been a heckuva year for Akamai. By any reasonable account, the CDN is still the market leader, though by how much is virtually anybody's guess (which is why we'll refrain from quoting market research firms that are as much as 20% apart in terms of how much of the market they claim Akamai owns), and customers include Fox Interactive, E.W. Scripps, Clear Channel, and Internet Broadcasting. All of which means that Akamai is now beginning to suffer a bit from Microsoft syndrome, taking hits just because they're the biggest kid on the block. But none of that mattered much to Streaming Media readers, who picked it as the #1 global CDN by a wide margin, which means Akamai must be doing something right. And so, it must be said, is first runner-up RealNetworks, which even though it's no longer a dominant player in the media and entertainment field is still a force to be reckoned with in the enterprise and (especially) education markets. We'd be remiss if we didn't mention the three-way tie for second runner-up, which found Limelight Networks, Mirror Image Internet, and PowerStream all making strong showings in an ever-more crowded field.
