Akamai Technologies has entered into an agreement to acquire infrastructure-as-a-service provider Linode for $900 million.
The cyber security giant is pairing Linode’s developer-friendly cloud computing capabilities with its own edge platform and security services – a move it says will make it “the world’s most distributed compute platform, from cloud to edge”.
Expected to close in the first quarter of 2022, the takeover is anticipated to add $100 million to Akamai’s revenue for the upcoming fiscal year.
Akamai’s chief executive officer and co-founder Dr. Tom Leighton described the opportunity as “transformational” for the business.
“Akamai has been a pioneer in the edge computing business for over 20 years, and today we are excited to begin a new chapter in our evolution by creating a unique cloud platform to build, run and secure applications from the cloud to the edge,” he said.
“This is a big win for developers who will now be able to build applications on a platform that delivers unprecedented scale, reach, performance, reliability and security.”
Founded in 2003, US-based Linode offers developers and smaller MSPs an alternative to hyperscalers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.
The firm provides a range of core cloud services – such as compute, block and object storage, managed database, load balancers, as well as a managed Kubernetes offering.
Post-acquisition, Akamai will split its operations into the three main groups - Security, Delivery and Compute - with Linode falling under the latter. However, Akamai says its business as usual for Linode, with the firm to continue to operate as normal.
“There is natural synergy between Akamai and Linode, not only in our missions and cultures, but in the potent combination of strengths we each bring to the table,” said Christopher Aker, founder and CEO of Linode.
“The marriage of Linode’s compute and storage products with Akamai’s serverless, CDN, and security solutions, will give customers a broader range of services to build, modernize, and scale the next generation of applications.”
