SOFTBANK Broadmedia Corporation Selects Akamai as Standard for Managed Edge Services in Japan
SOFTBANK's President and CEO, Masayoshi Son said, "We are extremely pleased to partner with Akamai, which has not only defined, but is the clear leader in the Internet content delivery market. We are excited to bring Akamai's unparalleled services to market in Japan where there is a tremendous opportunity that is resulting in significant demand. We believe Akamai Technologies Japan KK will have an immediate impact on Japanese businesses that are interested in achieving reduced costs on their Web infrastructure needs, while at the same time maximizing the overall performance of their Web initiatives."
Akamai's Chairman and CEO, George Conrades added, "We are thrilled to be doing business with the leading player in helping U.S. companies enter the Japanese market. SOFTBANK has a proven ability to take innovative companies and technologies and to penetrate them into the Japanese market as an industry standard. Our partnership with SOFTBANK supports our commitment to be the number one player in content delivery in every market we enter and our goal of accelerating our path to profitability."
Akamai is already the largest Content Delivery Network (CDN) in Japan, with hundreds of servers broadly deployed throughout Japanese service provider networks. Akamai's customer base is growing as Japanese content providers realize dramatic performance and reliability enhancements as a result of Akamai's services. Akamai enables the delivery of all forms of content from a globally distributed network of thousands of edge servers located close to Internet end users.
Taro Hashimoto, SOFTBANK Broadmedia CEO and Interim CEO of Akamai Technologies Japan KK said, "Akamai's services are needed in Japan to fulfill the desire of content providers and large enterprises to give all users a high performance Web experience. We believe that Akamai Technologies Japan will revolutionize Web infrastructure in Japan in the same way that Akamai has forever changed Web infrastructure on a global basis."
The Japanese Internet market has experienced significant growth and ranks second only to the U.S. in total Internet usage. According to the Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan, business-to-consumer e-commerce is expected to grow to 6.7 trillion yen by 2004, a 762% increase from 2000 purchases. Furthermore, in a recent survey reported by IBM Japan, 56% of small and mid-sized businesses now have an Internet presence in Japan. In addition, Japan has experienced rapid growth in broadband services, including strong demand for streaming media services.
About SOFTBANK
SOFTBANK CORP. (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 9984) is one of the world's Internet leaders. Through its ownership positions in more than 600 Internet companies and its unique, global approach to building Internet enterprises, it is able to realize unprecedented synergies among its group of companies. In the US, SOFTBANK is the largest shareholder in leading Internet companies including Yahoo!, E*TRADE, and CNET. In Japan, SOFTBANK's activities encompass online financial services, e-commerce, online media and marketing services, e-business solutions, and joint ventures with industry leaders including Microsoft, Cisco, Yahoo!, and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). SOFTBANK is building Internet ventures in Continental Europe and the UK, Greater China, Latin America, and Korea; and has joined with the World Bank to help bridge the digital divide in emerging markets worldwide.
About Akamai
Akamai is the leading Content Delivery Service Provider, serving more than 3,600 customers worldwide. Akamai has the broadest deployment of servers for content, streaming media, and applications delivery with more than 8,000 servers in 55 countries directly connected within 473 different telecommunications networks.
Akamai Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
The release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, the dependence on Akamai's Internet content delivery service, a failure of its network infrastructure, the complexity of its service and the networks on which the service is deployed, the failure to obtain access to transmission capacity and other factors that are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.
| Contacts: |
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| Jeff Young Media Relations Akamai Technologies 617-250-3913 jyoung@akamai.com |
--or-- | Koji Hayashi Public Relations SOFTBANK 81-3-5642-8013 |
| Steven J. Wolfe Investor Relations Akamai Technologies 617-250-4724 swolfe@akamai.com |
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- Companies form Akamai Technologies Japan KK as joint venture
- SOFTBANK President & CEO Masayoshi Son and Akamai Chairman and CEO George Conrades join board as Founding Directors
SOFTBANK's President and CEO, Masayoshi Son said, "We are extremely pleased to partner with Akamai, which has not only defined, but is the clear leader in the Internet content delivery market. We are excited to bring Akamai's unparalleled services to market in Japan where there is a tremendous opportunity that is resulting in significant demand. We believe Akamai Technologies Japan KK will have an immediate impact on Japanese businesses that are interested in achieving reduced costs on their Web infrastructure needs, while at the same time maximizing the overall performance of their Web initiatives."
Akamai's Chairman and CEO, George Conrades added, "We are thrilled to be doing business with the leading player in helping U.S. companies enter the Japanese market. SOFTBANK has a proven ability to take innovative companies and technologies and to penetrate them into the Japanese market as an industry standard. Our partnership with SOFTBANK supports our commitment to be the number one player in content delivery in every market we enter and our goal of accelerating our path to profitability."
Akamai is already the largest Content Delivery Network (CDN) in Japan, with hundreds of servers broadly deployed throughout Japanese service provider networks. Akamai's customer base is growing as Japanese content providers realize dramatic performance and reliability enhancements as a result of Akamai's services. Akamai enables the delivery of all forms of content from a globally distributed network of thousands of edge servers located close to Internet end users.
Taro Hashimoto, SOFTBANK Broadmedia CEO and Interim CEO of Akamai Technologies Japan KK said, "Akamai's services are needed in Japan to fulfill the desire of content providers and large enterprises to give all users a high performance Web experience. We believe that Akamai Technologies Japan will revolutionize Web infrastructure in Japan in the same way that Akamai has forever changed Web infrastructure on a global basis."
The Japanese Internet market has experienced significant growth and ranks second only to the U.S. in total Internet usage. According to the Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan, business-to-consumer e-commerce is expected to grow to 6.7 trillion yen by 2004, a 762% increase from 2000 purchases. Furthermore, in a recent survey reported by IBM Japan, 56% of small and mid-sized businesses now have an Internet presence in Japan. In addition, Japan has experienced rapid growth in broadband services, including strong demand for streaming media services.
About SOFTBANK
SOFTBANK CORP. (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 9984) is one of the world's Internet leaders. Through its ownership positions in more than 600 Internet companies and its unique, global approach to building Internet enterprises, it is able to realize unprecedented synergies among its group of companies. In the US, SOFTBANK is the largest shareholder in leading Internet companies including Yahoo!, E*TRADE, and CNET. In Japan, SOFTBANK's activities encompass online financial services, e-commerce, online media and marketing services, e-business solutions, and joint ventures with industry leaders including Microsoft, Cisco, Yahoo!, and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). SOFTBANK is building Internet ventures in Continental Europe and the UK, Greater China, Latin America, and Korea; and has joined with the World Bank to help bridge the digital divide in emerging markets worldwide.
About Akamai
Akamai is the leading Content Delivery Service Provider, serving more than 3,600 customers worldwide. Akamai has the broadest deployment of servers for content, streaming media, and applications delivery with more than 8,000 servers in 55 countries directly connected within 473 different telecommunications networks.
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Akamai Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
The release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, the dependence on Akamai's Internet content delivery service, a failure of its network infrastructure, the complexity of its service and the networks on which the service is deployed, the failure to obtain access to transmission capacity and other factors that are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.
