PARIS -- Orange, one of the world's largest telecommunications companies, and Akamai Technologies, Inc., one of the world's leading providers of cloud infrastructure and CDN services, have announced today a strategic alliance to address the growing needs of the enterprise sector for improved content delivery. Orange has agreed to use technology from Akamai’s Aura Network Solutions to provide CDN services to business customers. Upon deployment, the operator's enterprise division Orange Business Services will market these solutions initially in France. In addition, the two groups have formed an innovation steering committee to identify areas of innovation in the field of CDN solutions.

With best-of-breed content delivery network (CDN) solutions based on Akamai technology, Orange will address the exponential increase in web-based traffic, in particular HD video and e-commerce services. CDN systems use a widely-distributed network of servers to spread content that would otherwise be concentrated in a few locations. The result is greater network efficiency and a more secure system, as well as better service quality for end users by improving uptime, and enabling faster access and download speeds.

According to research by Informa , the market for commercial CDN services is expected to triple in value over the next five years to reach 3.63 billion euros by 2017. Online video will be the largest contributor accounting for 81% of total 2017 revenue in this segment.Through this partnership, Orange aims to meet its business customers' needs, particularly in the media and e-commerce markets, by providing cutting-edge video solutions and web-acceleration services.

Orange (NYSE: FTE)