CDN market rocked with new entrants, merger

The content delivery network market has been one of the busiest sectors in telecom over the last year or so, with telcos, other network operators and start-ups entering the game and attempting to take market share from established leaders such as Akamai and Limelight Networks. However, the CDN sector arguably has seen its busiest couple of days just this week as Global Crossing formally announced an anticipated CDN initiative, BT said it plans to launch a CDN effort this year, and CDN players CDNetworks and Panther agreed to merge.

The merger may help accelerate much-anticipated CDN market consolidation. Global Crossing's move is interesting in that it chose to partner with established players Limelight and Edgecast Networks; some telecom network operators have entered the business on their own without CDN partners. That appears to be what U.K. telco BT has in mind with its own plan to enter the CDN market by the end of this year.

If you're interested in more content delivery network news, check out in-depth coverage over at FierceOnlineVideo. 

For more:
- FierceOnlineVideo reports on the CDNetworks/Panther merger
- Contentinople has more about Global Crossing's move
- Dan Rayburn at Seeking Alpha covers BT's plans

Related articles
Verizon has a CDN partnership with Velocix
Amazon also has targeted the CDN market
Yankee Group said carriers could acquire CDN assets