History
Leighton has served as head of the Algorithms Group at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science since its inception in 1996. Believing that a solution to Web congestion could be found in applied mathematics and algorithms, Leighton solicited the help of MIT graduate student Danny Lewin and others. Together, they developed the mathematical algorithms necessary to handle the dynamic routing of content and to work towards this aim.
In late 1998 and early 1999, a group of Internet business professionals joined the founding team. Most notably, Paul Sagan, a former president of Time Inc. New Media who founded the Road Runner cable modem service and who also helped launch NY1 News, became chief operating officer and eventually president of Akamai Technologies. George Conrades, former chairman and chief executive officer of BBN Corp. and senior vice president of U.S. Operations for IBM, joined as chief executive officer a few months later. The company launched commercial service in April 1999.
Between 2003 and 2009, Akamai’s "revenue grew at a compounded annual growth rate of more than 32%, with a 26% operating margin in 2009. Akamai also broadened its worldwide customer base, with 28% of 2009 revenue coming from outside the United States, up from 23% two years earlier." Part of this growth came from Akamai’s core content delivery service.
Read more about this topic: Akamai Technologies
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