Yesterday, I rambled on Rob Powell’s CDN post. Today I will ramble some more. [How come I didn't think of the blog name Telecom Rambling?]
AT&T and Level 3 are newer entrants into the CDN arena. Though Akamai, Limelight, and others have a head start, AT&T and Level 3 have fiber; lots of fiber, as a matter of fact. I mentioned that Akamai has first mover, technology, and brand advantages in the CDN space. I do want to add one more thought before moving off this topic.
Another advantage Akamai has is focus. Laser focus. Myopic focus. This is huge. In the executive suite, they will understand the CDN market better than others. In the engineering department, CDN knowledge and expertise will be superior to telecom generalists. Their finance organization will understand profitability, while their competitors will be lost in cost allocations and inter-organization resource allocations.
Bottom line, focus will be more than enough to off-set fiber for a long time. I don’t know whether this means Akamai’s stock price is a good or bad buy. But certainly I wouldn’t count them as the odd CDN out just because they don’t have fiber.
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