Speedera Networks

Infobox Company
name = Speedera Networks, Inc.

type = Privately held
foundation = 1999 (acquired by Akamai Technologies in 2005)
founder = Ajit Gupta (CEO)
Rich Day (chief architect)
Eric Swildens (CTO)
location_city = Santa Clara, California
location_country = United States
industry = Internet hosting services
services = Content delivery
homepage = [http://www.speedera.com/ www.Speedera.com]

Speedera Networks was a provider of distributed application hosting and content delivery services founded in 1999 by Ajit Gupta (CEO)cite web |url=http://www.akamai.com/html/about/press/releases/2005/press_031605.html |title=Akamai to Acquire Speedera Networks |work=Press Release |publisher=Akamai Technologies, Inc. |date=2005-03-16 ] , Rich Day (chief architect), and Eric Swildens (CTO). [cite web |url=http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticlePrint.aspx?ArticleID=833 |title=Speedera: Web Without the Wait |publisher=EContentmag.com |date=2002-04-01 ] [cite web |url=http://www.businessnorth.com/exclusives.asp?RID=948 |title=Eric Swildens receives honor with place in UMD science academy |publisher=BusinessNorth |date= 2004-12-29 ] The company was based in Santa Clara, California.cite web |url=http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/106/106601.html |title=Speedera Networks, Inc. Company Profile |publisher=Yahoo! Inc. ]

Speedera was backed by investors including Stanford University and Trinity Ventures. It soon became one of the fastest growing private companies in Silicon Valley and in North America in five years, according to Deloitte & Touche and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The company initially was created to cache static Web content but then transformed itself to deliver dynamic imaging, rich content and accelerated Web applications.

The provider of distributed content and application delivery services helped companies offer bandwidth-intensive content, graphics, and streaming media over the Web. It operated servers on more than 1,000 backbone networks, putting the content physically closer to users, and speeding up downloads and streams. Its clients included DoubleClick, FOX Broadcasting, Macromedia, McAfee, NASA, and Univision.

In February 2002, Akamai Technologies filed a lawsuit claiming that Speedera's content delivery network services infringed on Akamai patents. [cite web |url=http://www.networkworld.com/news/2002/0214akaspeed.html |title=Akamai sues Speedera |publisher=Network World Fusion |date=2002-02-14 ]

In June 2002, Speedera's three co-founders received US patent|6405252 covering the global traffic management and content delivery technologies of its network. [cite web |url=http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-1781810/Speedera-Wins-Patent-for-Core.html |title=Speedera Wins Patent for Core Content Delivery Technology |work=Press Release |publisher=PR Newswire |date=2002-06-26 ]

In March 2005, Akamai Technologies announced it had signed an agreement to acquire Speedera for 12 million shares of Akamai common stock, valued at $130 million at that time. Both companies also agreed to halt pending litigation involving trade secrets and patent infringement. [cite web |url=http://www.news.com/Akamai-snaps-up-rival-Speedera/2100-1038_3-5620140.html |title=Akamai snaps up rival Speedera |publisher=CNET News |date=2005-03-16 ] The acquisition was completed in June 2005. [cite web |url=http://www.akamai.com/html/about/press/releases/2005/press_061305.html |title=Akamai Completes Acquisition of Speedera Networks |work=Press Release |publisher=Akamai Technologies, Inc. |date=2005-06-13 ]

References