CDN Sector Getting More Crowded, Competitive

The content delivery sector continues to get more crowded and more competitive. Here are some news items from this week that reinforce this trend:

• Amazon Web Services has expanded its pricing tiers for its new CloudFront CDN, adding a tier that offers service to high-volume users for 5 cents per GB.
• Dan Rayburn reports that Apple, one of the big fish among CDN customers, has now begun using Limelight Networks (LLNW) in addition to market leader Akamai Technologies (AKAM). No details on the business significance of this in real dollars, but clearly a symbolic win for Limelight.
• Limelight and Akamai also issued dueling statements about which CDN had the lion’s share of the streaming media traffic during last week’s presidential inauguration.
• Deutsche Telekom announced that it is jumping into the CDN business through a reseller agreement with EdgeCast. 
• Korea-based CDNetworks said last week that its US revenue has grown 300 percent during its first year of operations in the Americas.