Tuesday Bytes: Akamai, CenturyLink, IX Reach, Orange Business

Two minor bits of M&A activity, one interconnection partnership, and some IoT:

Akamai is making a deal that will take it deeper into Latin America. They have announced an agreement to buy Exceda, the company’s biggest channel partner in Latin America. The company resells Akamai’s portfolio in seven countries, with offices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, and bringing that sales talent in-house gives Akamai a much more direct presence throughout the region. Akamai expects the deal to close sometime in Q4 and add some $15M in revenue to their books next year.

CenturyLink has made an inorganic move to bring some technology under its umbrella. They have acquired Steamroot, a specialist in video and other content delivery in ‘bandwidth constrained areas’. It’s a purchase aimed at CenturyLink’s OTT video delivery capabilities and possibly at the rise of edge computing. Steamroot’s technology incorporates consumer devices in a mesh to enhance delivery from the edge.

IX Reach says it has been selected by Equinix as its exclusive beta partner for reseller ports on the Equinix Internet Exchange. It’s an expansion of an existing relationship that will enable networks to access remote peering at Equinix’s London and Paris IXs from across IX Reach’s footprint. That means they can hand off traffic locally that is heading for networks on the major internet exchange points.

And Orange Business Services has won a new convert to its IoT services. Mobileye will be using the technology to collect data from autonomous cars to help with collision avoidance. Via an onboard camera, Mobile 8 Connect can also help create better maps, locate infrastructure, and keep up with dynamic things like parking, traffic, and potholes, all while people drive around. Mobileye is part of the Intel empire.

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Categories: Content Distribution · Interconnection · IoT, M2M · Mergers and Acquisitions · Video