Akamai Technologies, inventor of the content delivery network (CDN) and a security and edge services provider, has acquired cloud hosting company Linode for $900 million (£664m).
The goal behind buying Linode is to “become the world’s most distributed compute platform, from cloud to edge”. Akamai expects its addition will add $100 million (£74m) in revenue to its 2022 fiscal year.
Linode became known in 2003 for hiring out virtual private servers in the days before AWS crowned the term ‘cloud computing’.
The privately-owned company now offers all the standard compute cloud services one would expect, as well as managed databases and a Kubernetes service for containerised applications.
Dr. Tom Leighton, CEO and co-founder of Akamai, said: “The opportunity to combine Linode’s developer-friendly cloud computing capabilities with Akamai’s market-leading edge platform and security services is transformational for Akamai.
“Akamai has been a pioneer in the edge computing business for over 20 years, and today we are excited to begin a new chapter in our evolution by creating a unique cloud platform to build, run and secure applications from the cloud to the edge. This is a big win for developers who will now be able to build applications on a platform that delivers unprecedented scale, reach, performance, reliability, and security.”
As it stands, Linode will continue to operate as usual and Akamai has stated it has no plans to change what has made the company so successful.
“There is natural synergy between Akamai and Linode, not only in our missions and cultures, but in the potent combination of strengths we each bring to the table,” writes Linode founder Christopher Aker. “The marriage of Linode’s compute and storage products with Akamai’s serverless, CDN, and security solutions, will give customers a broader range of services to build, modernize, and scale the next generation of applications.”
Looking to revamp your digital transformation strategy? Learn more about the in-person Digital Transformation Week North America taking place in Santa Clara, CA on 11-12 May and discover key strategies for making your digital efforts a success.
Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.
