State and Local Government Agencies Accelerate Online Initiatives with Akamai Services
Akamai's customer base has rapidly expanded in the state and local sector as more organizations utilize the power and reach of the Internet to launch new revenue-generating applications, such as motor vehicle license and tag renewals, online tax filing, tourism marketing services, continuing education, and professional, business and recreational licensing. Akamai's success in the state and local sector is largely due to the benefits of Akamai's solutions for e-business continuity, security, and extranet optimization, which align closely with the priorities of governors and agency CIOs.
"As the Internet becomes more critical to the business of government, the stability of Web operations becomes crucial," said Keith Johnson, vice president of Public Sector, Akamai. "During these challenged economic times, state and local agencies are seeking IT solutions that enable them to do more with less. Improved performance, scalability, security and cost reduction are the primary value propositions driving state and local agencies' investment in Akamai, and we're pleased to support their online communications efforts."
In addition to the growth in IT spending at the Federal level, a recent Gartner Dataquest Alert predicts that 2004 will be an important transitional year for state and local government organizations. The report projects that IT spending by state and local governments will grow in 2004*, buoyed by strong economic growth, new budgetary discipline and a new fiscal year beginning in July. Key areas of growth at this level include increased agency modernization within health, human services and labor, new initiatives directed at the business value of IT, and projects focused on revenue maximization, revenue generation, cost containment and cost avoidance.
Among the state and local agencies, state universities, and current political campaigns that are taking advantage of Akamai's services and on-demand infrastructure are: California Travel and Tourism Commission, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, New York Governor's office, Chicago State University, DeanForAmerica.com, JohnKerry.com, Ohio Legislature, Louisiana Legislature, Rutgers University, South Florida Water Management, and the University of Oklahoma, among others. These organizations are utilizing a range of Akamai's services from whole site delivery, including content and streaming media, to Web applications delivery, where key business functions are being processed at the Internet's edge. Examples of Akamai's value proposition include:
Mass.Gov
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts chose Akamai to improve Governor Mitt Romney's communications and increase his visibility to constituents via the Internet. Akamai's EdgeSuiteSM service enhances the user experience for www.mass.gov, providing Massachusetts' citizens with a reliable information portal for reviewing the Governor's activities, legislative progress, and access to state services.
California Travel and Tourism Commission
The California Travel and Tourism Commission is responsible for marketing and promoting interest in California's wide array of attractions. Executive director Caroline Beteta said, "thanks to Akamai's on-demand computing platform, we are able to offer our site visitors the valuable, interactive experience they expect, while providing a catalyst for increased California tourism."
Ohio Legislature
The Internet is becoming more and more important to state legislatures seeking to communicate and share important information with the public. The Ohio Legislature is utilizing Akamai's services to broadcast sessions of Ohio's General Assembly. The Ohio Legislature web site is accessed by thousands of viewers including citizens, press, and the legal community to keep abreast of important legislation. Akamai's services improve the site's performance for communications with the citizens of Ohio, while reducing the costs associated with delivering the state's important content online.
Added Akamai's Johnson, "Akamai continues to attract government agencies and state universities that are increasingly leveraging Internet technologies to accelerate online initiatives and meet e-government needs for expanded citizen services. We're also seeing increased demand for our EdgeComputingSM service, for example, which enables agencies to avoid investing in additional infrastructure; and by use of a pay-per-use economic model, bring traditional on-site services online much faster, increase revenue opportunities and provide more efficient, reliable ways to interact with citizens."
The higher education sector is increasingly utilizing Akamai's services as academic institutions migrate classroom and training courses to the Internet. State universities are selecting Akamai's services and distributed computing platform for deployment of their e-learning applications. As a result, Akamai relieves the performance issues associated with centralized infrastructure, delivers a superior user experience to worldwide audiences, and dramatically reduces many of the security concerns universities have in using the Internet.
About Akamai
Akamai®—The Business Internet, is the world's largest on demand distributed computing platform for conducting profitable e-business. Overcoming the inherent limitations of the Internet, Akamai's services ensure a high performing, scalable, and secure environment for organizations to cost effectively extend and control their e-business infrastructure. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Akamai's industry-leading services, matched with world-class customer care, are used by hundreds of today's most successful enterprises and government agencies around the globe. For more information about Akamai's e-Government solutions, visit http://www.akamai.com/en/html/industry/government.html.
# # #
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, inability to attract new public sector agencies to our services, the effects of any attempts to intentionally disrupt our services or network by hackers or others, failure to have available sufficient transmission capacity, a failure of Akamai's network infrastructure, and other factors that are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.
* Gartner Dataquest, Vertical Markets Gain Momentum in 2004 IT Spending, January 7, 2004
| Contacts: |
||
|
Caryn Brownell Media Relations Akamai Technologies Inc. 617-444-2524 caryn.brownell@akamai.com |
--or-- |
Sandy Smith Investor Relations Akamai Technologies Inc. 617-444-2804 ssmith@akamai.com |
Cost efficiency and enhanced communications are cited as greatest benefits of Akamai's on demand computing platform
CAMBRIDGE, MA - February 2, 2004 - Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the world's largest on demand distributed computing platform for conducting profitable e-business, today announced robust demand for its services within the state and local government sector. Akamai has been selected by several state agencies, including governor's offices, travel & tourism departments, House & Senate legislatures, and public sector Web portals, as well as several state universities, for the deployment of its content and application delivery services to enable more reliable, secure and cost-effective online initiatives.Akamai's customer base has rapidly expanded in the state and local sector as more organizations utilize the power and reach of the Internet to launch new revenue-generating applications, such as motor vehicle license and tag renewals, online tax filing, tourism marketing services, continuing education, and professional, business and recreational licensing. Akamai's success in the state and local sector is largely due to the benefits of Akamai's solutions for e-business continuity, security, and extranet optimization, which align closely with the priorities of governors and agency CIOs.
"As the Internet becomes more critical to the business of government, the stability of Web operations becomes crucial," said Keith Johnson, vice president of Public Sector, Akamai. "During these challenged economic times, state and local agencies are seeking IT solutions that enable them to do more with less. Improved performance, scalability, security and cost reduction are the primary value propositions driving state and local agencies' investment in Akamai, and we're pleased to support their online communications efforts."
In addition to the growth in IT spending at the Federal level, a recent Gartner Dataquest Alert predicts that 2004 will be an important transitional year for state and local government organizations. The report projects that IT spending by state and local governments will grow in 2004*, buoyed by strong economic growth, new budgetary discipline and a new fiscal year beginning in July. Key areas of growth at this level include increased agency modernization within health, human services and labor, new initiatives directed at the business value of IT, and projects focused on revenue maximization, revenue generation, cost containment and cost avoidance.
Among the state and local agencies, state universities, and current political campaigns that are taking advantage of Akamai's services and on-demand infrastructure are: California Travel and Tourism Commission, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, New York Governor's office, Chicago State University, DeanForAmerica.com, JohnKerry.com, Ohio Legislature, Louisiana Legislature, Rutgers University, South Florida Water Management, and the University of Oklahoma, among others. These organizations are utilizing a range of Akamai's services from whole site delivery, including content and streaming media, to Web applications delivery, where key business functions are being processed at the Internet's edge. Examples of Akamai's value proposition include:
Mass.Gov
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts chose Akamai to improve Governor Mitt Romney's communications and increase his visibility to constituents via the Internet. Akamai's EdgeSuiteSM service enhances the user experience for www.mass.gov, providing Massachusetts' citizens with a reliable information portal for reviewing the Governor's activities, legislative progress, and access to state services.
California Travel and Tourism Commission
The California Travel and Tourism Commission is responsible for marketing and promoting interest in California's wide array of attractions. Executive director Caroline Beteta said, "thanks to Akamai's on-demand computing platform, we are able to offer our site visitors the valuable, interactive experience they expect, while providing a catalyst for increased California tourism."
Ohio Legislature
The Internet is becoming more and more important to state legislatures seeking to communicate and share important information with the public. The Ohio Legislature is utilizing Akamai's services to broadcast sessions of Ohio's General Assembly. The Ohio Legislature web site is accessed by thousands of viewers including citizens, press, and the legal community to keep abreast of important legislation. Akamai's services improve the site's performance for communications with the citizens of Ohio, while reducing the costs associated with delivering the state's important content online.
Added Akamai's Johnson, "Akamai continues to attract government agencies and state universities that are increasingly leveraging Internet technologies to accelerate online initiatives and meet e-government needs for expanded citizen services. We're also seeing increased demand for our EdgeComputingSM service, for example, which enables agencies to avoid investing in additional infrastructure; and by use of a pay-per-use economic model, bring traditional on-site services online much faster, increase revenue opportunities and provide more efficient, reliable ways to interact with citizens."
The higher education sector is increasingly utilizing Akamai's services as academic institutions migrate classroom and training courses to the Internet. State universities are selecting Akamai's services and distributed computing platform for deployment of their e-learning applications. As a result, Akamai relieves the performance issues associated with centralized infrastructure, delivers a superior user experience to worldwide audiences, and dramatically reduces many of the security concerns universities have in using the Internet.
About Akamai
Akamai®—The Business Internet, is the world's largest on demand distributed computing platform for conducting profitable e-business. Overcoming the inherent limitations of the Internet, Akamai's services ensure a high performing, scalable, and secure environment for organizations to cost effectively extend and control their e-business infrastructure. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Akamai's industry-leading services, matched with world-class customer care, are used by hundreds of today's most successful enterprises and government agencies around the globe. For more information about Akamai's e-Government solutions, visit http://www.akamai.com/en/html/industry/government.html.
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, inability to attract new public sector agencies to our services, the effects of any attempts to intentionally disrupt our services or network by hackers or others, failure to have available sufficient transmission capacity, a failure of Akamai's network infrastructure, and other factors that are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.
* Gartner Dataquest, Vertical Markets Gain Momentum in 2004 IT Spending, January 7, 2004
