Microsoft has just announced the general availability of Azure CDN from Akamai. With Microsoft noting that Akamai has over 200,000 servers in 120 countries, this is a big moment and a new step for the company in providing Azure customers an expanded global footprint and reach.
The general availability is also important for large production and entertainment companies, who need to deliver content faster and more reliably to customers who want instance access. Thankfully, though, the Content Delivery Network (CDN) enables a cloud hosted application to deliver content quickly and reliably across the globe by caching and accelerating the content. Ultimately, then, with the new integration of Akamai’s industry leading CDN capabilities into the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, customers can instantly provision and go live within minutes.
Microsoft and Akamai have a long-standing partnership and worked on some of the highest key events in recent history. As per Microsoft, some examples include the two working as critical technology partners for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, 2014 FIFA World Cup, and the 2015 NFL Super Bowl. The two companies also have partnered on software downloads for Windows and Xbox.
