Advertising.com Taps Akamai to Speed Ad Distribution

Direct marketing firm Advertising.com Thursday partnered with Akamai Technologies to improve the speed at which it delivers ads to its network of more than 4,000 Web sites.

Advertising.com also plans to combine its technology with Akamai’s EdgeAdvantage platform, a new platform that builds on Akamai’s core products. The alliance comes out of both companies’ involvement in the Internet Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP) initiative.

Advertising companies, including most of the firms in the CMGI portfolio, have been teaming up with Akamai to combat the slowdowns caused by a more-crowded Web. These problems will only become more critical as companies try to push more and more content through the pipes in a broadband world.

“We have seen tremendous increases in ad content delivery speed using Akamai’s FreeFlow service, and customer response rates have risen accordingly as Web site visitors receive relevant content immediately,” says John Ferber, co-founder and chief Internet officer of Advertising.com.

“With a track record of mutual growth and success, our alliance and dual involvement in the ICAP Forum positions both companies to fully enable and harness the possibilities of the coming broadband environment.”