Why reach for the sky when you can reach for the “clouds”? That’s the apparent thinking of Ericsson and Akamai Technologies, Inc.
Both companies announced this week that they have entered into an exclusive, strategic alliance focused on bringing to market “mobile cloud acceleration solutions” aimed at improving end-user Internet experiences such as mobile ecommerce, enterprise applications and Internet content.
Akamai, a thriving Internet content delivery firm, distributes up to 30% of all online data. Still, the deal with Ericsson – a similarly prominent manufacturer of equipment used to operate cellphone services – represents Akamai’s inaugural effort to fuse its content delivery system with wireless data services.
Consequently, the companies will jointly develop solutions for the booming market of content and applications delivered to mobile devices.
“As leaders in their respective fields, Ericsson and Akamai bring together the power of mobile networks and the cloud to open new business opportunities for both operators and content providers by creating a new business model built around quality of experience and premium services,” the companies announced in a joint press release.
Both Ericsson and Akamai are showing off a prototype of the mobile cloud acceleration solution this week at the Mobile World Congress.
“The market is becoming increasingly mobile. As an example, advanced Smartphone devices will grow 4-5 times to 2016 and the generated traffic will grow about 30 times, so end-to-end quality of experience becomes key,” says Hans Vestberg, President and CEO of Ericsson. “Ericsson is the world leader in high-performance mobile broadband networks and Akamai handles hundreds of billions of daily Web interactions – this is truly a beneficial partnership for the entire mobile and content industries.”
“Combining the power of Akamai’s global network with Ericsson’s industry expertise will allow the mobile industry to reinvent the way it works with content and application providers and will help end-users get the best possible experience when accessing the Web from their mobile devices,” added David Kenny, President of Akamai.