Akamai (AKAM) posted a mixed Q2: Revenues came in light, profit was in-line, and subscriber growth was better than expected. But the content delivery network also cut full-year guidance and issued a disappointing Q3 outlook; shares are down 16% in after-hours trading to $26.10.

Why the grim outlook? On the company’s earnings call, CEO Paul Sagan outlined two trends:

• The soft economy means customers in some verticals aren’t spending as much on Akamai projects as they might otherwise.
• Growth is slowing for media companies’ Web sites, including streaming video. Eventually, Akamai will get to push higher-quality video to consumers, which they’ll get to bill more for. But right now, Sagan says, most Americans don’t have the bandwidth to watch HD video over their home Internet connections.

Source: http://aware11.com/akamai-q2-sales-light-profits-in-line-guidance-very-weak-akam/

Comparing the data for content delivery pricing specific to video delivery in Q2 from the prior quarter shows pricing remained very stable in Q2, but with some new trends emerging. While pricing for Q2 is almost identical to Q1, there was a drop in the price per GB delivered for those customers who on average are doing over 1PB (petabyte) a month. While this is a small percentage of the total number of CDN customers overall, I did see new contract pricing as low as three cents ($0.03) per GB delivered on new 12 month contracts. In Q1, the lowest I saw was around two and a half cents but that was not the norm. (Note: you can easily find my latest pricing post at www.cdnpricing.com)

Source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/87865-q2-cdn-pricing-remains-stable-with-no-indication-of-slowing-traffic

Once again, Dan Rayburn’s insights are right on target. This is a good sign for all in the CDN business especially in light of increased competition and current economic conditions.

Limelight has been selected to provide live and on-demand video streaming services to NBCOlympics.com on MSN during the network’s coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics from Beijing, China, 8-24 August. Limelight Networks is the primary CDN for all video content on the “NBCOlympics.com on MSN” web site, which is being produced in partnership by NBC and MSN. With a global content delivery network, purpose-built to handle high-profile events like the Olympic Games, Limelight Networks will help NBC and Microsoft provide fans with access to approximately 2,200 total hours of live streaming Olympic broadband video coverage and approximately 3,000 hours of highlights, rewinds and encores leveraging a next generation Microsoft Silverlight user experience.

Source: http://www.tvover.net/2008/07/29/Limelights+CDN+Enables+NBC+With+Video+Streaming+Of+Olympics.aspx

Limelight Networks to power all Jambo Media’s properties, including the Jambo Video Network and JamboTV.com
New York (PRWEB) July 29, 2008 — Jambo Media, LLC, a leading developer of online video solutions, today announced that it has selected content delivery network (CDN) services from Limelight Networks Inc. to power all of Jambo’s video properties, which includes the Jambo Video Network and JamboTV.com. Currently Jambo Media is delivering more than 2 million daily video plays and supports video on more than 120 web sites and growing on a weekly basis.

Limelight Networks’CDN fits well with Jambo’s business model and will enable the Jambo Video Network to grow exponentially. Jambo Media will soon be releasing white label versions of their technology for advertisers, publishers and content owners called “Jambocast.” The Limelight CDN will be a major part of the Jambocast technology.

Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/07/prweb1150004.htm

Fast Growing Video Distribution Network Scales with Market Leading CDN Network
PLACENTIA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Vidshadow, Inc. (Pink Sheets:VSHD) (www.Vidshadow.com), an online video platform that partners with content providers, third party websites and advertisers, today announced that it is has selected Limelight Networks (Nasdaq:LLNW) to provide content delivery services for VidShadow’s next-generation broadband TV experience. Under the terms of the agreement, VidShadow will utilize the LimelightDELIVER service to distribute targeted, licensed Internet TV programming to Vidshadow’s niche market audience. Limelight Network’s CDN infrastructure provides content providers partnering with Vidshadow with a more sophisticated, streamlined and secured delivery, as well as quicker playback capabilities for their media content. In addition, this agreement enhances monetization opportunities for advertisers by marketing to Vidshadow’s growing segmented audience groups on its in-stream video distribution network and through its collection of qualified publisher and network affiliates.
“Limelight Networks is a valuable and strategic partner for Vidshadow as we continue to expand on our business,” said Atul Patel, Vidshadow Chief Technology Officer. “This relationship marks an important step for us during this growth period because Limelight Networks will provide greater scalability and security for our content partners.” Limelight Networks will also provide delivery services to support Vidshadow’s video syndication on its online video portal, www.vidshadow.tv, which includes category-specific channels, such as: animation, comedy, entertainment, faith, health, music, sports, technology and travel. VidShadow’s library of licensed content continues to grow. Just recently, the company has signed content partnerships with Planet X, National Lampoon, Fora.TV, Julio Cesar Chavez, Soma Management and Boomj among others.

Source: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080728005559&newsLang=en

NEW YORK, July 28 /PRNewswire/ — Panther Express, (www.pantherexpress.net) a leading global provider of high-performance content delivery services, today announced they have been selected as the content delivery network (CDN) for I4U News, http://www.i4u.com/, one of the top online Tech and Gadget Lifestyle magazines in the US and UK. The site attracts an affluent audience of tech and gadget enthusiasts and consumers, and provides in-depth coverage of the latest Hot Gadgets, Portable Devices, Mobile Phones, Home Entertainment, Notebook & PCs and Gaming.

With over 500,000 unique visitors per month and 1.2 million page views per month, I4U is a leading tech news site. Every day, about 30 to 40 new articles and reviews are posted to meet the information needs of their audience of mostly male, 24 to 40 year old early adopters, geeks, and consumer electronics fans.

I4U News selected Panther Express to deliver over a million objects a day including web site graphics, product imagery and their very popular “gadget models”.

US-based Internap Network Services Corporation, an internet solutions provider, is expected to start its operations in India through an alliance with Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s Reliance Globalcom. Internap intends to target the Indian enterprises with its Content and Application Delivery Network (CDN) services. According to Tier1 Research report, the estimated spend on these services in Asia Pacific is projected to grow to Rs 1,163 crore ($270 million) by 2010. According to sources, the duo are believed to be targeting a revenue of Rs 200 crore to Rs 250 crore a year. “Reliance Globalcom has about 850 corporate clients for enterprise solutions and with this alliance, the duo will target these existing clients in India ,” the source adds. The alliance will allow the duo to provide managed services and content delivery network services to add graphics, audio, streaming video and live events to internet applications.

Source: http://www.theadda.com/stocks/?p=1316

CDNetworks (KOSDAQ: 073710), a top-three global, full-service content delivery network (CDN), and Octoshape, a leading provider of high-quality peer-assisted streaming solutions, have joined forces to deliver affordable live streaming for millions of concurrent viewers. The hybrid peer-to-peer solution, resulting from the integration of CDNetworks’ enterprise network and Octoshape’s peer platform, is the first solution of its kind that is commercially available and tested for internet broadcasting of large scale events.

Available immediately, the CDNetworks Media Live Streaming service enables massively scalable live audio and video streaming that ensures high-quality end-user experiences while significantly cutting costs for the broadcasters and content owners. The combined Octoshape and CDNetworks solution takes streaming to a new level, providing a serious alternative to traditional large-scale broadcasting.

Source: http://www.prnewsnow.com/Public_Release/Tech%20Internet/220058.html

Level 3 Communications continued to bounce back from financial misfortune, executive departures and order bottleneck issues that characterized its recent past by postings second quarter earnings that included a $33 million net loss, vastly better than the loss of $202 million it posted for the same period in 2007.

The company also beat analysts’ revenue estimates of $1.08 billion by reporting revenue of $1.09 billion. Is the positive vibe enough to send Level 3 back to the M&A table, something it talked about doing at its most recent annual shareholders meeting? Level 3 seemed to buy its way into the content delivery network business at just the right time, though the CDN sector recently has become more competitive with increasing attention from AT&T and other carriers.

Source: http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/level-3-looking-after-narrowing-loss/2008-07-24?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=telecom_M&cmp-id=OTC-RSS-FT0

The EU-funded P2P Next project has been beta testing a new open source streaming solution since late last week, streaming both a live webcam transmission and an archived video from the BBC through its BitTorrent-based SwarmPlayer, reports our sister blog NewTeeVee. P2P Next’s SwarmPlayer is loosely based on research that a team of P2P developers at the Delft University of Technology has been doing in the last couple of years. Check out what P2P Next’s scientific director, Johan Pouwelse has to say about CDN (content delivery network) business models that may be disrupted.

Source: http://ostatic.com/169541-blog/open-source-p2p-streaming-set-to-disrupt-cdn-biz-models