Akamai, KickApps Partner

NEW YORK and CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- KickApps Corporation, the leader in hosted social media platforms, and Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) the leading service provider for accelerating content and applications online, today announced significant industry momentum and adoption by media & entertainment companies and global brands for the Akamai-powered KickApps solution that is designed to allow companies to create and cultivate social media communities. During Q2 2007, companies including BET Networks, Scripps, HBO-Cinemax, and VIBE Magazine adopted the social media offering. The KickApps platform enables customers to rapidly deploy community functionalities, such as, user-generated content, social networking, editorial video, syndication of content using Widgets, and media and community management capabilities, on their own websites. These companies add to the over 4,000 organizations that have deployed the Akamai-supported KickApps solution.

“Media & entertainment companies and brand owners are realizing the value that social media delivers against their business objectives,” said David George, EVP of Business Development and Client Services, KickApps. “Whether to foster greater affinity for a brand or to generate increased advertising revenue, social media and editorial video are being embraced as effective tools by the industry. Working with Akamai allows us to offer our joint customers a solution that delivers social media on a platform that is specifically designed to handle large amounts of dynamic, rich media content from simultaneous media uploads, playback and user interaction.”

The advanced media moderation capabilities of the KickApps platform make it easy to manage the massive amount of content being contributed by communities. Akamai’s flexible and powerful social media capabilities are uniquely equipped to handle the needs of both site owners as well as technology providers through a blend of media management, content and rich media application acceleration capabilities, as well as the ability to optimize the ‘wide footprint’ of social media content. Community and site owners can now focus on what they do best: create highly engaged, active and rewarding communities.

“Many of our customers are investigating and implementing social media initiatives,” said Bill Wheaton, Vice President of Digital Media, Akamai Technologies. “The KickApps platform is one of the most complete social media platforms in the industry and by leveraging both companies’ solutions, joint customers get the reliability needed when investing in high-priority social media initiatives. With Akamai, KickApps now has a platform for innovation that can effectively handle the sophisticated demands that user-generated content brings, such as uploading and transcoding of video, application sharing, and the spontaneous brushfire effect of viral media. We’re excited by the momentum so far this year and look forward to continuing to help our joint customers take advantage of the benefits of social media.”

Akamai Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAM)