Content delivery network (CDN) Akamai Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAM) is beginning to talk to its customers more seriously about offering client-side -- or peer-to-peer (P2P) -- file-transfer technology, according to sources in the industry.
Sources that work in the P2P delivery space say that Akamai has been pitching a client-based distribution technology to some of its customers over the past few months, most notably to gaming and media companies that offer large file downloads. Those same sources expect that Akamai could soon make the offering public.
Some digging on the Akamai Website reveals that the company offers a product called the "Akamai NetSession Interface," which it describes as a "secure client-side networking technology that enhances networking protocols for delivery of software and media, improving the speed, reliability, and efficiency of content downloaded from the Web."
A further look into the technical details of the NetSession Interface shows that the client-side application has a 900-KB file size and takes up 5 MB of memory to run. The app works on both Macs and PCs, with support for Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, as well as Mac OSX 10.4 and above.
According to the technical specifications page, the product is designed for "multi-source downloading and swarming, integration into Akamai's Edge Network along with client-side delivery capabilities, and comprehensive NAT traversal technology."
The application is also designed to be "polite to the each user's system resources," so that the technology does not interfere with an end user's bandwidth allocation or background processing power for other applications.
Akamai wouldn't officially comment on the technology, but a source within the company says that the NetSession Interface is based on the P2P technology that the company received as part of the Red Swoosh acquisition in April 2007.
While Red Swoosh founder Travis Kalanick left last year, Akamai has been hiring to increase its client-side credentials. The company hired Haiyoung Xie, the primary researcher behind the P4P Working Group at Yalelast year. Akamai also recently picked up Kontiki's former vice president of marketing, Bill Wishon, as a product specialist earlier this year.
When asked about its P2P plans, Akamai sent the following company statement:
There's been no change in our overall strategy as it relates to the extension of the Akamai network to include client-side delivery. Client-side delivery is becoming an important component of how we will continue to scale and operate with economic efficiency. It is apparent that this type of delivery service is ideally suited for certain download use cases.
For Akamai, the addition of P2P or client-side delivery could help bolster its product suite, particularly as companies like Pando Networks Inc. have gained more traction with large file downloads powered by hybrid P2P delivery.
The question is, at what point will Akamai, by offering a product that offloads traditional CDN bandwidth, begin to further commoditize or cannibalize its core delivery business by offering lower-cost client-side services?
While there's the possibility that Akamai could lose some revenue in the short term, some people in the industry think it makes sense for Akamai to get into the P2P game. Pando CEO Robert Levitan said, "I think it's smart for Akamai [to offer P2P services]. You should disrupt your own business before someone else does it."
Disclosure: no positions
