Orange and Akamai Technologies Enter into Strategic Alliance

By Anil Sharma
TMCnet Contributor

Orange (News - Alert) and Akamai Technologies, Inc., providers of cloud infrastructure and CDN services, have entered into a strategic partnership to address the growing needs of the enterprise sector for improved content delivery.

As part of the pact, Orange will use technology from Akamai's (News - Alert) Aura Network Solutions to provide CDN services to business customers.

Officials with Akamai Technologies said that upon deployment, the operator's enterprise division Orange Business Services (News - Alert) will market these solutions initially in France.

The two groups have also formed an innovation steering committee to identify areas of innovation in the field of CDN solutions.

Thanks to this partnership, Orange will be able to meet its business customers' needs, particularly in the media and e-commerce markets, by providing cutting-edge video solutions and Web-acceleration services.

"We see great potential in this partnership with Akamai," said Gilles Prunier, senior vice president in charge of the Smart Networks program at Orange, in a statement.

"Developing an Orange CDN service, powered by Akamai, will allow us to enrich our existing BtoB services portfolio and to support our customers' growth by providing them with new and differentiated web features that improve the end-user experience and ultimately increase customer loyalty," said Prunier.

Mark Vargo, senior vice president and general manager, Akamai EMEA said that Akamai and Orange have a history of bringing unique and innovative solutions to address enterprises' needs.

"By combining the strengths of two leading technology companies in a single partnership, we believe we can provide enterprises in the French market with a robust and comprehensive set of acceleration and optimization offerings that will help address all aspects of their online businesses," said Vargo.

The partnership, which reflects a binding Memorandum of Understanding between the two companies, is subject to the execution of one or more definitive agreements setting forth the final terms and conditions for the companies' activities.

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Edited by Brooke Neuman