Akamai said it experienced an all-time peak of internet traffic on 10th November 2020.
According to the company, on that date, traffic on the Akamai platform reached 181 terabits per second, 50 per cent greater than the peak in 2019. On the company’s Q4 earnings call, CEO Tom Leighton said that Akamai has already exceeded last year’s traffic peak in the last week.
No explanation was given as to why there was so much traffic on that date in particular.
“We believe the pandemic has accelerated consumer usage of the internet in areas like OTT video, gaming and e-commerce, and we believe this usage pattern will likely persist going forward,” said Leighton. “However, we expect to see traffic continue to grow in 2021 but at a rate more in line with pre-2020 historical levels.”
Meanwhile, the company announced plans to reorganiser the business around two major groups of products in a move that has also led to some job cuts.
One will focus on internet security and the other on “edge technology,” which includes web performance and media delivery. Akamai declined to disclose which positions were eliminated or where they are based.
