Content delivery network and cloud provider Akamai Technologies has said it will embed cloud computing capabilities into its huge edge network.
In a statement on Wednesday, the company said its Generalised Edge Compute (Gecko) would advance its strategy to be "the cloud computing platform for companies that want to deliver better experiences by running workloads closer to users, devices, and sources of data".
In the first phase, Akamai said it would embed compute support for virtual machines in 100 cities by the end of 2024.
Until now, new Gecko-architected regions have been rolled out in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Querétaro, Mexico; and Johannesburg.
{loadposition sam08}Bogotá, Denver, Houston, Hamburg, and Marseille have also received the technology. A 10th Gecko region in Santiago is planned by the end of March.
Beyond these 10 new Gecko locations and the existing 25 core computing regions, Akamai intends to add hundreds of cities to its global cloud computing footprint over the next several years.
“Gecko is the most exciting thing to happen to the cloud in a decade,” said Dr Tom Leighton, Akamai co-founder and chief executive.
“It’s the next phase of the roadmap toward a more connected cloud we laid out when we acquired Linode to add cost-effective, cloud-native computing capabilities to our portfolio.
"We began delivering on that roadmap with the launch of Akamai Connected Cloud and the rapid rollout of new core computing regions around the world.
"With Gecko, we’re furthering that vision by combining the computing power of our cloud platform with the proximity and efficiency of the edge, to put workloads closer to users than any other cloud provider. When we say we operate at planetary scale, this is what we mean.”
Akamai’s network which is comprised of 4100 points of presence, makes its Connected Cloud the world’s most distributed cloud platform.
The company has 25 years of experience in managing massively distributed, fully automated, highly efficient, and exceptionally reliable networks and claims this puts it in a unique position among the world’s top cloud providers.
In the second phase of Gecko, expected to begin later this year, the company plans to add containers to the mix.
In the third phase, Akamai plans to add automated workload orchestration to make it easier for developers to build applications across hundreds of distributed locations, with the end goal of creating a consistent user experience between each core computing region and the edge.