Akamai First to Offer VPUs in the Cloud

Rhea-AI Summary

Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) has launched Cloud Accelerated Compute Instances, becoming the first cloud provider to offer NETINT video processing units (VPUs) in the cloud. The new compute category features Quadra T1U VPUs, capable of encoding 32 live streams at 1080p30 broadcast quality and supporting up to 8Kp60 resolution.

The VPU architecture delivers up to 20 times greater throughput than CPU-only solutions at one-tenth of the cost. This technology enables companies to offload compute-intensive video processing tasks while freeing CPU resources for other functions like dynamic packaging and real-time speech-to-text captioning.

This initiative strengthens Akamai's position in media services, complementing its existing solutions trusted by the top 10 video streaming services. The company will showcase its cloud-based capabilities at the 2025 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 6-9.

Positive

• First-mover advantage in cloud-based VPU technology
• 20x greater throughput at 1/10th cost compared to traditional solutions
• Expands service offering for top 10 video streaming services
• New revenue stream potential in growing video streaming market

Negative

• Significant investment required in specialized hardware infrastructure
• to specific use case of video processing
• Dependent on single hardware provider (NETINT)

Insights

Cloud Computing Analyst

Akamai's launch of Cloud Accelerated Compute Instances powered by NETINT VPUs represents a strategic differentiation in the increasingly competitive cloud computing market. By becoming the first and only cloud provider offering specialized video processing units, Akamai is carving out a distinct position against hyperscalers like AWS, Azure, and GCP.

The technical specifications are impressive - supporting encoding up to 8Kp60 resolution with the ability to handle 32 live streams at 1080p30 broadcast quality per chip. More importantly, the 20x throughput improvement over CPU-only solutions directly addresses the cost efficiency challenges faced by media companies dealing with escalating streaming demands.

This move intelligently leverages Akamai's established CDN infrastructure and existing relationships with all top 10 video streaming services. By offering previously hardware-confined capabilities in a cloud-based model, they're creating an on-demand consumption option that eliminates capital expenditure barriers for customers.

The timing aligns with the explosive growth in video content across streaming platforms, social media, and user-generated content sites. This specialized offering addresses a specific performance bottleneck that general-purpose cloud instances struggle with, potentially establishing Akamai as the preferred provider for media workloads - a substantial market segment with ongoing growth potential.

Media Technology Specialist

Akamai's VPU cloud offering solves a critical pain point in the media industry. Video transcoding represents one of the most compute-intensive and expensive operations in the streaming workflow, and until now, companies faced an unappealing choice: invest heavily in specialized on-premises hardware or overpay for general-purpose cloud resources ill-suited for the task.

The performance metrics - 20x greater throughput at potentially one-tenth the cost - could fundamentally alter the economics of video delivery. For streaming services operating at scale, these efficiencies directly impact bottom-line profitability in an industry where margin pressure is intense.

What's particularly shrewd is how this complements Akamai's existing media workflow solutions. Their end-to-end capabilities now span contribution, transport, transcoding, packaging, DRM, ad insertion, and security - creating significant operational advantages for customers who can consolidate vendors.

The mention of "industry-low egress costs" is especially noteworthy. Cloud egress fees often become the hidden cost killer for media workloads, and by addressing this specific pain point, Akamai is removing a major objection to cloud migration. This positions them to potentially capture workloads that have remained on-premises primarily due to cost concerns, opening a new addressable market segment beyond their traditional CDN business.

Akamai launches new category of cloud-based compute powered by NETINT video processing units

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM), the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business online, today launched Akamai Cloud Accelerated Compute Instances, a new compute category built on specialized computer chips designed to perform specific tasks more efficiently than general-purpose processors. The new instances are powered by NETINT video processing units (VPUs), NETINT's proprietary hardware for media transcoding. Akamai is the first and only cloud provider to offer VPUs in the cloud.

NETINT VPUs are designed for workloads where minimizing the cost of delivering high-quality video streams is essential or where reducing energy consumption is a priority. Akamai's accelerated instances are powered by Quadra T1U VPUs, a single-chip solution that supports encoding resolutions up to 8Kp60 in industry-standard formats including AV1, HEVC, and H.264 with 8/10 bit support, including HDR. As the highest-density hardware encoder available, the Quadra T1U can encode 32 live streams at 1080p30 broadcast quality, with the capacity scaling linearly for resolutions above or below HD.

The rise in live and on-demand video streaming, user-generated content, and video-driven social media has driven companies to look for optimized hardware and cloud solutions to improve application performance. However, transcoding-optimized cloud computing resources are rare. Previously, the only way to deploy NETINT's VPU hardware has been to purchase it outright and run it on-premises or in a colocation facility. Akamai Accelerated Compute Instances are designed for media companies that are delivering video on demand and live streaming services, providing the scalability needed without inflating IT budgets.

"By bringing traditionally hardware-confined power to the cloud, we're removing barriers that have held businesses back. Companies can now cut costs, scale seamlessly, and deliver better streaming experiences — solving a major industry challenge that's been overlooked for too long," said Jon Alexander, Vice President of Product Management at Akamai. "Being the first cloud provider to offer VPUs gives Akamai a new competitive edge to expand our long-existing relationships with our media partners."

NETINT VPUs allow companies to reallocate their application's CPUs by offloading compute-intensive video processing tasks to the VPU. A VPU architecture offers up to 20 times greater throughput than CPU-only solutions. This frees the CPU to do other things like dynamic packaging, de-interlacing, real-time speech-to-text captioning, software decoding for standards not supported in the VPU, and run popular applications like FFmpeg and GStreamer.

"VPUs are the ultimate cheat code for video streaming profitability," said Randal Horne, Chief Revenue Officer, NETINT. "The expenses to deliver massive volumes of video content using traditional software encoders are crippling. NETINT is proud to be the VPU engine inside Akamai Accelerated Compute Instances, bringing up to 20 times the throughput at a tenth of the cost compared with traditional industry platforms. With Akamai Cloud, NETINT helps media companies reduce equipment investment and cut OPEX to meet their growth and profitability targets."

Akamai is making a play to be the cloud for media and to capture areas of the market overlooked by hyperscalers. Akamai media services, trusted by all top 10 video streaming services, include solutions for contribution, transport, transcoding, packaging, digital rights management, ad insertion, and content security. With the first-time cloud availability of VPUs, transcoding-optimized NVIDIA GPUs, and industry-low egress costs, Akamai enables seamless performance at scale. Its cloud platform is open by design, giving customers control over every aspect of their workflow and access to a vibrant and growing third-party partner network. Media companies can choose from multiple software and partner options across each workflow step to transport, prepare, process, deliver, secure, and monetize digital content. The scale of Akamai's massively distributed cloud gives it the unique ability to minimize egress fees and offer generous allowances, providing unmatched price-performance.

Akamai will show its range of cloud-based media delivery, computing, and security capabilities at the 2025 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 6–9. Akamai will host visitors at the Akamai Lounge, located in the Las Vegas Convention Center on the second level of the West Hall, room W234LMR.

About Akamai
Akamai is the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business online. Our market-leading security solutions, superior threat intelligence, and global operations team provide defense in depth to safeguard enterprise data and applications everywhere. Akamai's full-stack cloud computing solutions deliver performance and affordability on the world's most distributed platform. Global enterprises trust Akamai to provide the industry-leading reliability, scale, and expertise they need to grow their business with confidence. Learn more at akamai.com and akamai.com/blog, or follow Akamai Technologies on X and LinkedIn.

About NETINT

NETINT is the creator of a new video processing solution called video processing unit, VPU, which is built on the company's Codensity ASIC custom silicon. Designed to meet the needs of the most demanding video encoding workflows, the second-generation NETINT VPU, Quadra, received a Technical Emmy Award alongside Meta and Google in 2024 for its contribution to cloud video acceleration. Video engineers wanting to learn how VPUs can improve their platform, service efficiency, and cost are encouraged to visit netint.com.

Contacts
Akamai Media Relations
akamaipr@akamai.com

Akamai Investor Relations
invrel@akamai.com

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SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.

FAQ

What is the significance of Akamai (AKAM) being first to offer VPUs in the cloud?

As the first cloud provider offering VPUs, Akamai gains competitive advantage in the media streaming market, providing up to 20x greater throughput at 1/10th the cost compared to traditional platforms.

What capabilities do Akamai's new Quadra T1U VPUs offer?

The Quadra T1U VPUs support encoding up to 8Kp60 resolution in AV1, HEVC, and H.264 formats, capable of encoding 32 live streams at 1080p30 broadcast quality.

How will AKAM's Cloud Accelerated Compute Instances benefit media companies?

The instances enable media companies to reduce equipment investment, cut operational expenses, scale seamlessly, and deliver better streaming experiences without inflating IT budgets.

When will Akamai showcase its new VPU cloud technology?

Akamai will demonstrate its cloud-based media delivery capabilities at the 2025 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 6-9, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.