Akamai builds on-demand strategy

Adding a missing piece to the on-demand computing puzzle, Akamai Technologies this week will unwrap a set of tools and services for managing applications and content across the Internet.

The company will unveil EdgeControl, an application that includes a management center for network visibility and integration with network management tools Hewlett-Packard OpenView and IBM Tivoli NetView. It also offers SOAP and WSDL services interfaces for connecting business processes.

Akamai will also release ECMC (EdgeControl Management Center), which offers network management tools for fault management, configuration, account management, performance monitoring, and security.

The company's goal is to bring much-needed visibility and control to Internet-based applications and content, according to Rich Kennelly, vice president of engineering and network management at Akamai. 

"This is enabling a fundamental shift in how applications are deployed on the Internet," Kennelly said. "[EdgeControl] gives a consolidated view of the network, content, users, and applications."

As more enterprises move application logic to the edge of the network, combating management issues on the Internet, such as performance, security, and fault tolerance, is critical, Kennelly said.

"When you add the management aspect, you are giving customers an enterprise-class platform to distribute applications in an on-demand fashion," Kennelly added.

Evolving from its roots in static content delivery, Akamai has been smart to hitch its wagon to the on-demand computing play, said George Hamilton, senior analyst at The Yankee Group.

Initial strategies for on-demand computing that focused on the deployment of major infrastructure pieces have now shifted toward a new infrastructure management approach, Hamilton said. "Akamai is filling in a gap in the Internet piece of the on-demand computing architecture. It is not [about] caching static content, but executing J2EE application code in their infrastructure."