Limelight Founder Picks Akamai for CDN Original Artcile: Limelight Founder Picks Akamai for CDN
by Ryan Lawler
Like many other companies in the online video management space, Unicorn Media Inc. has chosen Akamai Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAM) as its preferred provider of content delivery network (CDN) services.

Unicorn Media's selection might not be that surprising, given the number of online video platforms that are now riding Akamai's rails. Over the past several months, VMIX Media Inc., Kit Digital, Ooyala Inc., and Delve Networks have all announced partnerships to make Akamai their preferred CDN.

And given the fact that UMedia has just started bringing in its own revenues, the news that the company is driving incremental traffic to Akamai as a channel partner probably isn't that exciting.

All of this is true... However, Unicorn Media CEO Bill Rinehart was one of the founders of Akamai archrival Limelight Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: LLNW).

The move is notable in part because when Unicorn Media first launched, back in early 2008, it used Limelight as its default CDN. So why make the switch to Akamai?

Rinehart says Unicorn Media was impressed by how knowledgeable the folks at Akamai were about creating partnerships, particularly in the video management and distribution space.

"Akamai sees themselves as a software company, and we also see ourselves as a software company," Rinehart said. "They really get it, in terms of how they are moving their revenue stream up the stack. They want to create the most robust ecosystem that they can."

While Akamai seems to be going out of its way to court online video platforms to become part of its sales channel, there are other reasons an online video platform might not want to sign up with Limelight, including its partnership with Brightcove Inc.

"Quite frankly, I think the rest of the industry looks at Limelight and sees that Brightcove is a huge portion of their revenues," Rinehart said. According to Rinehart, that relationship might have a limiting effect on the number of video management firms that would also align themselves with Limelight.

While the Akamai deal isn't totally exclusive, the partnership makes it Unicorn Media's preferred CDN provider. Like other video management and distribution companies, Rinehart says that UMedia will support other firms if a customer has an existing relationship with another CDN.

"We're agnostic if someone wants to bring their own bandwidth. But if someone wants to buy everything from us, including CDN, that traffic's going to Akamai," Rinehart said.