Luxury Boxes

We got our wish.  In the last issue we hinted that the best way to get a mention in this newsletter would be through a lavish gift.  We suggested a Sharp 1080P 57" LCD HDTV.  Akamai took the hint and offered up a trip to Fenway to see the Red Sox during their recent Akamai analyst conference.  Back in 2002, many had given up on Akamai -- the icon of the Internet infrastructure bubble hit bottom, their stock had dropped below $10 and investors were running away.  Today, that's all changed. The stock is above $50 for the first time in years and their business is booming.  What they told us five years ago was basically "wait till broadband connections get above 20%, then everything changes."  Well their 20% estimate might have been a little optimistic but now that broadband penetration rates are so high (near or above 50% in many countries)  Akamai's sales are greater than $100M per quarter.  And they make a good point -- just look at how much content is on the home page of most sites these days.  While they still stumble over making their case on the enterprise side, their business seems to grow with the times.