Limelight Networks

Limelight Networks is an American company that provides a content delivery network (CDN) service, used for delivery of digital media content and software. As of February 2020, the company's network has more than 130 points-of-presence and delivers with 70+ Terabits[4] per second of egress capacity across the globe.

"LLNW" redirects here. For low-level nuclear waste, see Low-level waste.

Limelight Networks, Inc.
Public
Traded asNASDAQ: LLNW
ISINUS53261M1045 
IndustryContent delivery
Founded2001
FoundersNathan F. Raciborski, Michael M. Gordon, Allan M. Kaplan, William H. Rinehart[1]
HeadquartersScottsdale, Arizona
Key people
Robert Lento (President, CEO, and Director)
RevenueUS$ 200.6 million (2019) [2]
Number of employees
Approx 610 [3]
Websitewww.limelight.com

Company history

Limelight Networks was founded in 2001 in Tempe, Arizona as a provider of content delivery network services. The Company's Limelight Orchestrate Platform[5] delivers Live and On-Demand video and online content to any connected device anywhere in the world.

In July 2006, the company closed a $130 million equity financing round led by Goldman Sachs Capital Partners.[6] Limelight Networks later raised $240 million in an initial public offering, during June 2007, selling 16 million shares at $15.[7] In April 2008, company founder Michael Gordon was recognized as a "Streaming Media All-Star" by StreamingMedia Magazine, for his contributions to the industry.[8]

Over the years Limelight has received several other awards for its services including, receiving Frost & Sullivan's prestigious award for Product Line Strategy in 2012.[9] Forrester Research named Limelight a Strong Performer in The Forrester Wave™: Online Video Platforms, Q1 2013.[10]

In October 2017 Limelight Networks was recognized on Streaming Media's List of "100 Companies that Matter Most in Online Video"[11]

Technologies
Simplified Video on Demand Model

Limelight operates its own private network with more than 70+ terabits per second of global egress capacity. The network consists of dense clusters of specially configured servers in more than 130 delivery locations (points-of-presence) which are interconnected through the company’s global network and connected to more than 1000 Internet service provider (ISP) networks. Limelight caches web content for its customers in multiple delivery locations around the world, serving it to users from the fastest location. A private fiber network backbone between its delivery locations allows cache-fill traffic and dynamic content to bypass the public internet and improve the delivery speed of content. This architecture is managed by intelligent proprietary software that increases the speed of delivery with fewer cache misses and can scale to handle surges in end-user demand.

The Limelight Orchestrate Platform

The Orchestrate Platform is composed of services including content delivery, video packaging and content management, web acceleration, cloud security (including DDoS and WAF protection), and cloud storage.

Customers

In August 2007, the company announced a technology and services agreement with Microsoft under which Limelight will help improve the performance, scalability, and reliability of Internet delivery of media content and online services, including video, music, games, software, and social media, across Microsoft's global Internet properties.[12] In March 2008, the company was the infrastructure provider for the webcast of Oprah's "A New Earth" classroom series,[13] featuring author Eckhart Tolle. The live event drew over 800,000 users. The server crashed during the event because of an error in the programming code; the crash was widely misreported as a failure of network infrastructure.[14]

In May 2008, NBC announced that the company would be the content delivery network for the 2008 Summer Olympics webcast on NBCOlympics.com.[15] Ultimately, the company delivered "more than 50 million unique visitors, resulting in 1.3 billion page views, 70 million video streams, and 600 million minutes of video watched" for NBCOlympics.com, using Microsoft Silverlight technology.[16][17]

In June 2008, the company was the primary source of content delivery services for the online debut of Disney's Camp Rock. The 24-hour online event saw more than 863,000 total plays for the movie.[18] In January 2009, the company delivered the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama to 2.5 million Internet viewers around the world, resulting in more than 9 million simultaneous multimedia streams overall flowing through the company's network.[19] Later that year, in March, the company was the exclusive mobile content delivery provider for CBS' coverage of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. Limelight Networks' technology was used to deliver coverage of the college basketball games to the Apple iPhone.[20]

In 2012, Limelight helped deliver sporting events like the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, the Indian Cricket League, the European Championship and the RBS Six Nations’ rugby championships and helped several broadcasters deliver the 2012 Summer Games.[21][22]

Described and Captured Media Program, a non profit educational organization uses Limelight Networks to accelerate distribution by caching videos on servers as close to the user as possible.[23]

In February 2017 Limelight was one of three content delivery networks to stream the NFL's Super Bowl.[24]

Acquisitions
  • May 2009, the company acquired Kiptronic, Inc., a privately held provider of device-optimized content delivery solutions and dynamic advertising insertion.[25] It exists today as the Orchestrate Video offering.
  • April 2010, the company acquired EyeWonder, Inc., a privately held provider of rich media advertising (or "interactive digital advertising") founded in 1999 for $110 million.[26] As part of the purchase of EyeWonder, Limelight Networks, Inc. also purchased chors GmbH. Both of these businesses, which consisted of the EyeWonder business unit, were later sold to DG.
  • August 2011 the company acquired Delve Networks, Inc., a privately held provider of cloud-based video publishing and analytics services.[27] It exists today as the Orchestrate Video offering.
  • May 2011, the company acquired AcceloWeb for $20 million. It exists today as the Orchestrate Performance offering.
  • May 2011, the company acquired Clickability,[28] a web content management system company, for $10 million. On December 23, 2013 Upland Software announced that they had acquired Clickability from Limelight.[29]

Patent lawsuits

In June 2006, Limelight Networks was sued by Akamai Technologies and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology over alleged patent infringement.[30][31][32] In April 2009, the District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that Limelight Networks did not infringe,[33] overturning the February 2008 finding of a Boston jury.[34] Similarly, in December 2007, Limelight Networks was sued by Level 3 Communications over alleged intellectual property and patent infringement.[35] In January 2009, a jury ruled that Limelight Networks did not infringe.[36][37] Akamai Technologies appealed part of the decision. On April 20, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted the petition by Akamai Technologies for rehearing en banc its appeal in Akamai Technologies, Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc. The order vacated the earlier opinion of December 20, 2010. The order includes a request to file new briefs addressing this question: If separate entities each perform separate steps of a method claim, under what circumstances would that claim be directly infringed and to what extent would each of the parties be liable?[38]

On August 31, 2012, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its opinion in the case. The Court of Appeals stated that the trial court determined that Limelight did not directly infringe on Akamai's patent. A slim majority in this three-way divided opinion also announced a revised legal theory of induced infringement, remanded the case to the trial court giving Akamai an opportunity for a new trial to attempt to prove induced infringement. On December 28, 2012, Limelight filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to review the decision of the Federal Circuit regarding the standard for induced infringement in cases where multiple parties may perform various steps of a patented claim. Akamai filed a cross petition asking the Court to also review the standard for direct infringement in those cases. On June 24, 2013, the Supreme Court asked the Solicitor General to weigh in on the petition for certiorari.[39] In June 2014, the Supreme Court reached a unanimous decision rejecting Akamai's claim of "induced infringement".[40]

On July 1, 2016, it was announced that the Massachusetts District Court entered the final judgment in the case, with Limelight paying $51M in total damages to Akamai (to be reflected in Limelight's 2016 Q2 earnings).[41]

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See also
  • Content Delivery Network
  • Streaming Media

References
  1. "Limelight Networks, Inc". Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  2. "Limelight Networks, Inc. (LLNW) Company Financials". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  3. "See what plans Limelight Networks has now that it is doing better financially". BizJournals.
  4. "Q4 2019 Limelight Networks Inc Earnings Call".
  5. "Orchestrate: Cloud-Based Platform". Limelight Networks.
  6. Casacchia, Chris (July 26, 2006). "Limelight Networks scores $130M equity deal".
  7. "Limelight: Return of the First-Day IPO Pop". Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  8. Schumacher, Eric. "The 2008 Streaming Media All-Stars". Streamingmedia.com. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  9. Frost & Sullivan Lauds Limelight for its Expansive Product Innovation and Capability, Beyond the Scope of a Traditional Online Video Platform
  10. Forrester Wave Report: Q1 2013
  11. Schumacher-Rasmussen, Eric (October 11, 2011). "Streaming Media 100: The One Hundred Companies that Matter Most in Online Video - Streaming Media Magazine". Streaming Media Magazine. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
  12. "Limelight Networks Teams With Microsoft to Deliver Next Generation Network". Archived from the original on September 13, 2010. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  13. "A New Earth: Are You Ready to be Awakened?". Oprah.com. January 30, 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  14. "Shelly Palmer: Oprah's Webcast: State-of-the-Art, But Not What You Think". HuffingtonPost.com. March 7, 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  15. Donohue, Steve. "NBC Banks on New Technology for Olympics". Contentinople. Archived from the original on 2011-01-03. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  16. Katz, Leslie (January 17, 2009). "Microsoft's Silverlight: Yes, we can". CNET News. cnet.com. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  17. Fried, Ina (July 31, 2008). "What it takes to bring the Olympics to the PC". International.com.com. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  18. "The Walt Disney Internet Group - Press Release". disney.go.com. June 26, 2008. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  19. Rayburn, Dan (January 27, 2009). "Limelight To Akamai: "My Network Is Bigger Than Your Network", The Debate Begins". StreamingMediaBlog.com. streamingmedia.com. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  20. Frommer, Dan (March 20, 2009). "Limelight Picking Up Steam In Mobile Video". BusinessInsider.com. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  21. "Limelight Networks Helps Stream Various Global Sports Events". CDN Advisor. July 27, 2012.
  22. LLNW Press Release: Limelight Brings Live Action of World's Largest Sporting Events to Global Fans, July 26, 2012.
  23. "Yes, Virginia, there's a CDN service for everyone". SearchNetworking. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
  24. "Fox Prepares for Super Bowl Streaming Challenge | Multichannel". www.multichannel.com. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
  25. "Limelight Networks Acquires Mobility and Monetization Innovator Kiptronic, Inc". Archived from the original on September 30, 2009. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  26. "Limelight Networks Closes on EyeWonder Acquisition". llnw.com. May 3, 2010. Archived from the original on May 7, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  27. "Limelight Networks® Acquires Online Video Publishing Innovator Delve Networks". Archived from the original on January 1, 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  28. Johnston, Mike (May 3, 2011). "Clickability acquired by Limelight Networks". cmscritic.com. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  29. "Upland Software Acquires Clickability Web Content Management Business". uplandsoftware.com. December 23, 2013. Archived from the original on May 2, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  30. "Boston Globe, July 15, 2006 - Akamai, MIT hit Limelight with patent suit - Companies are rivals in Net content delivery". Boston.com. July 15, 2006. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  31. "GigaOM, July 11, 2006 - Akamai Sues Limelight Networks". Gigaom.com. July 11, 2006. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  32. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS. "AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES, INC., et al. v. LIMELIGHT NETWORKS, INC. ORDER REGARDING CLAIM CONSTRUCTION" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 21, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2008.
  33. "Court Rules Limelight Networks™ Does Not Infringe Akamai Patent".
  34. "Updated: Akamai Prevails In Court Over Limelight; $45 Million Award; Limelight Shares Crushed — Tech News and Analysis". Paidcontent.org. March 1, 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  35. "Level 3 Communications, LLC v. Limelight Networks, Inc. - 2:2007cv00589 - Justia Federal District Court Filings and Dockets". Dockets.justia.com. December 17, 2007. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  36. "Limelight Networks Found Not to Infringe on Level 3 Patents". Archived from the original on January 1, 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  37. Ando, Ritsuko (January 23, 2009). "Jury says Limelight did not infringe Level 3 patents". Reuters.
  38. Schwegman, Lundberg; Woessner, P.A. (April 25, 2011). "Petition Granted for Rehearing en banc of Akamai Technologies v. Limelight Networks". The National Law Review. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  39. LLNW Form 10-Q for the period ending June 30, 2013.
  40. "Supreme Court Rejects Expanded Inducement Doctrine". Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  41. "Akamai wins patent lawsuit, with rival forced to pay $51M". Boston Business Journal.

General references:

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