Apple & Akamai Publicly Renew Bandwidth Agreement

In a PR move, Apple and Akamai have announced a renewed commitment from Apple to use Akamaiis services for world wide bandwidth. Akamai currently supplies bandwidth for Appleis software downloads as well as Appleis QuickTime needs and QuickTime TV. Todayis announcement is merely an affirmation that the two companies will continue to work together. According to the two companies (including the fluff quotes we normally remove):

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAM - news) and Apple today announced that they will continue to work together to deliver high quality streaming video and audio over the Internet. Akamaiis EdgeSuite Service will provide the worldwide infrastructure to support content delivery for Apple.com and Appleis software downloads, and will continue to serve as the worldwide backbone for QuickTime TV (QTV).

"Weire thrilled to continue working with Apple, one of Akamaiis charter customers, to support Appleis worldwide content delivery needs," said Akamai Chairman and CEO George Conrades. "Apple uses the Web to drive their business, and has developed the Internet as an information and entertainment medium with QTV, and our technologies and services help bring the performance of those products to a new level."

"Apple and Akamai have consistently delivered the highest performance, highest quality streaming video and audio over the Internet," said Philip Schiller, Appleis vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Appleis customers depend on the quality and reliability they receive from our Akamai-powered Apple.com Web site and QTV."

Apple and Akamai have been working together since 1999 to optimize the quality of streaming video and audio over the Internet, including the record-setting Webcasts of Steve Jobsi Macworld Expo keynote presentations. At Macworld Expo San Francisco 2001, the keynote Webcast set Internet records for streaming media on the Web, with more than 250,000 people watching various parts of the keynote, and more than 35,500 simultaneous viewers generating 5.3 gigabits of peak streaming traffic.

You can find more information on Akamai at their Web site.