Speedera Networks

About Speedera Networks

Speedera Networks emerged in 1999, founded by Ajit Gupta, Rich Day, and Eric Swildens, during the latter part of the dot-com era to address the growing need for efficient internet content distribution. The Santa Clara-based company established itself as a key player in the content delivery network (CDN) market, providing distributed application hosting and content delivery services. Its business model centered on offering businesses a cost-effective platform to enhance the performance, scalability, and security of their websites and online applications without substantial upfront infrastructure investments. This was achieved by caching and distributing website content—like images, streaming media, and applications—on a global network of servers, placing the data physically closer to end-users to reduce latency and speed up download times.

The company's core offering was its SpeedSuite family of services, all built upon its patented Global Traffic Management (GTM) platform. This technology allowed for intelligent traffic management, directing user requests to the optimal server based on network conditions and location. Services included global traffic management, content delivery, streaming media solutions, failover services, load balancing, and security features designed to mitigate risks such as denial-of-service attacks. A key differentiator for Speedera was the ease of implementation; clients could activate the service with simple DNS changes, avoiding complex code alterations that could lead to vendor lock-in. The company served a diverse client base across various industries, including notable names like Advanced Micro Devices, DoubleClick, and Macromedia.

Despite a competitive landscape and legal disputes with rival Akamai Technologies over patent infringement, Speedera achieved significant milestones, including becoming the first CDN to turn a profit. The company secured over $26 million in funding from investors such as Trinity Ventures and Stanford University. In 2002, Speedera expanded its operations by opening a second headquarters in Bangalore, India, to provide round-the-clock customer support and enhance its R&D capabilities. This period of growth culminated in its acquisition by Akamai Technologies in June 2005. The stock transaction, valued at approximately $130 million, resolved the ongoing litigation between the two firms and combined the second-largest player (Speedera) with the market leader (Akamai).