EdgeControl services offer instant management of a users' content and applications across the Internet. It integrates with existing enterprise management systems, including HP OpenView and IBM Tivoli NetView, allowing users to manage their distributed content and applications via a common interface. This enables businesses utilizing the Internet to achieve the same degree of control and insight over their data outside of their corporate firewalls, as they do on their private enterprise networks.

Other main features of the new offering include: Comprehensive Network Management Tools via the EdgeControl Management Center; Integration with Standard Enterprise Management Systems; and Business Process Automation via Web Services.

According to Giga Information Group, between $7 and $8 billion dollars are spent annually on network and systems management technologies; but the overwhelming majority of this technology is targeted at enterprise networking behind the firewall. As more and more companies turn to the Internet to improve business efficiencies and reach customers, the ability to effectively manage, scale, and control critical Web-based content and applications across a shared medium remains difficult and costly.

"Enterprises require the same level of predictability and control of their information and applications on the Internet as they have on their own networks," said Rich Kennelly, vice president of Network Management Engineering, Akamai. "With Akamai's EdgeControl management tools, customers can manage information and applications with relative ease. Businesses can now gain visibility into the behavior of their information, while avoiding the hardware and operations costs of deploying an e-business infrastructure and management solution. As a result, customers can focus on developing applications, and worry less about the infrastructure and network to deliver them - or the tools to manage them."

"Having a broader view into Akamai's network has been very beneficial to us," said David Mottaz, director, Internet Services at Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. "For analyzing network anomalies, troubleshooting last-mile concerns, or proving or disproving suspicions that would otherwise burn through time and resources, Akamai's EdgeControl tools provide us with total visibility and control over our Web applications and content. As we move more and more applications to the 'Edge,' the ability to view and control how many times our applications are being executed, for example, has become critical for maximizing our infrastructure."

"Akamai has defined how businesses can 'extend' their infrastructure on demand across a global network, while maintaining a high-level of 'control' over their data," said George Hamilton, senior analyst, Enterprise Computing and Networking, at The Yankee Group. "EdgeControl offers a sophisticated level of management that you can not find elsewhere. With Akamai, an enterprise can plug into an on demand computing utility, monitor it, and tune it, all under their own control. With these new tools, every enterprise should rethink how they are deploying content and applications across the Internet."