Akamai Unveils Unique "Games on the Edge" Portal Showcasing Solutions for Accelerating Game Delivery and Enhancing Online Gaming Experiences

Business Wire, Feb 20, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO -- Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leading global service provider for accelerating content and applications online, today announced "Games on the Edge," a proof-of-concept portal designed to feature gaming content from leading game publishers and developers, and offer a glimpse into Akamai's solutions for accelerating game delivery and creating a high-quality online gaming experience.

The Web site, unveiled at the 2008 Game Developers Conference and available at www.gamesontheedge.com, showcases online video gaming content such as game demos, screenshots and other gaming marketing materials including high definition game trailers. As an industry leader in digital distribution of games, Akamai has been instrumental in providing game publishers and developers the solutions needed to reach online gamers effectively, build loyalty and increase margins by delivering a flawless online user experience.

Companies providing online video gaming content for "Games on the Edge" include Flagship Studios, PopCap Games, OutSpark and SpinTop. The portal showcases Akamai's Electronic Software Delivery solution for accelerating game delivery, improving performance to drive higher download completion rates, and giving gamers a fast, reliable and differentiated experience whether they are downloading and playing demo games online or watching promo trailers. Following Akamai's "HDWeb" - www.thehdweb.com - an initiative to showcase Akamai's capabilities for delivering large, high definition (HD) files online, "Games on the Edge" is another groundbreaking project designed to demonstrate Akamai's solutions for addressing the challenges associated with digital distribution of games such as streaming of large HD game trailers, accelerating game delivery, enabling branded game downloads and fueling site performance for online gaming sites and communities.

"As the casual games market continues to grow, we needed a solution to address the issues regarding distribution of games globally and scale to meet the anticipated increase in demand," said Hans Reifenrath, IT Director, PopCap Games. "Akamai allows us to confidently deliver our games around the world while alleviating the need to expand into international co-location space. We are excited to be a part of Akamai's "Games on the Edge" initiative, showcasing Akamai's capabilities for delivering our games faster and providing a better user experience. We look forward to working with Akamai to bring more casual games to players around the world."

Akamai's goal for this portal is to provide a glimpse into its solutions for the online gaming industry while highlighting the game publishers and developers that are pushing the industry forward. The "Games on the Edge" portal will:

* Bring together the most powerful brands to showcase online video gaming content

* Showcase Akamai's gaming solutions and the benefits they offer the gaming industry: Fast and reliable delivery, higher download completion rates and world-class download management capabilities

* Engage gamers by providing a high-quality online game experience

* Show industry support and leadership around the movement toward digital distribution of games

"Akamai's gaming solutions are designed with a two-fold purpose," said Brad Rinklin, vice president of marketing, Akamai. "Akamai helps to not only increase game publisher and gaming companies' margins by opening up a direct buying channel through digital distribution, but also builds gamer loyalty through a fast, reliable and personalized online experience for gamers worldwide. By leveraging Akamai's solutions, gamers can enjoy a smooth and seamless download experience regardless of file size or geographic location."

"It is critical that we not only be able to deliver an amazing gaming experience on the PC to gamers of all types, but at a scale that ensures the masses of casual RPG players receive the best performance possible," said Bill Roper, CEO of Flagship Studios. "As demonstrated in this initiative, we can rely on Akamai to deliver our content over a high-quality distributed platform that helps us reach a global audience."

The Akamai Difference for Gaming

Akamai helps game publishers and developers overcome their unique challenges of delivering gaming content online, such as disparate end user geographies, large game file sizes including HD trailers, high traffic levels, uneven or inconsistent traffic patterns and inherent Internet weaknesses such as network outages. Akamai's solutions offer the performance, scalability, reliability and reach to deliver content ranging from small patches to full multiple gigabyte game files to a global user base, without the need for costly infrastructure build-out. As a policy, Akamai does not accept business or deliver any online gambling sites.

Leveraging the Electronic Software Delivery solution, game publishers and developers can not only improve the performance of downloads, but also are able to measure download and completion rates in a number of ways - such as by URL, geography, and end user IP address - in order to provide the best insight possible into the customer base, ultimately leading to increased customer satisfaction and bottom-line revenues. Akamai's Download Analytics capabilities also provide game publishers and developers with the critical business metrics they need to better understand their end users.