Travis Johnson

Stay Tuned for an Akamai-Google Clash

Interesting analysis -- I'm an Akamai shareholder (and a Google shareholder) as well, and I haven't ever built my assumptions about Akamai's growth around their ability to sell advertising on top of their served data. It might be an interesting business for them, but I think their core businesses should do well as more and more commercial high bandwidth data moves online, with or without advertising. Those providers who are selling audio or video content (a la itunes or movie downloading) are relying on the best service, not on help in advertising, and likewise I don't think those who sell software online are going to rely on advertising or on Google's automated service. As long as there is a large market for purchased online downloads (as opposed to ad-subsidized), it would be hard to beat the reliability and speed of the Akamai network. I sometimes think about selilng a small portion of my Akamai because it has come so far so fast, but not because I"m worried about their lack of an advertising product.