Microsoft Is Latest To Dance With Akamai

Note: Currencies in US dollars

Everybody wants to be a friend of Akamai Technologies. Microsoft is the latest high-tech company to invest in Akamai, announcing an investment of $15 million today in the content distribution network start-up.

As a result of the investment, Akamai will integrate Microsoft's Windows Media Technologies into its content distribution service, promising to improve the delivery of streaming media content that is hosted on Windows NT.

Akamai is the belle of the ball in the hot, emerging area of content distribution technology. The company has attracted the most attention out of the various players competing in the space. In August, Cisco Systems said it would invest $49 million in Akamai, and last week Novell announced a partnership with Akamai to make Novell's Internet Caching System work with the Akamai network. Apple Computer is among other investors in Akamai.

Besides the technology partnership with Akamai, Microsoft also said it will buy Internet content delivery services from Akamai.

"Through this relationship, Akamai expands the strength of our Internet content delivery services to include leading Internet software technologies from Microsoft," George Conrades, Akamai's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.