Akamai Technologies has acquired serverless company Fermyon. The acquisition should make it easier for developers to execute lightweight code at the edge, an increasingly important application as AI moves to compact systems at the edge of the network.
The combination of Fermyon’s function-as-a-service (FaaS) with Akamai’s global platform will enable customers to build “edge-native” applications that perform better and are less expensive than traditional cloud-native apps, according to both companies. The acquisition was just announced.
Adam Karon, chief operating officer and general manager of Akamai’s Cloud Technology Group, says Fermyon’s SaaS capabilities will allow for greater ease of use for developers trying to run lightweight code at the edge.
“Fermyon’s FaaS capabilities, combined with Akamai’s cloud, will make it even easier for developers to innovate and run lightweight code at the edge,” said Adam Karon, chief operating officer and general manager of Akamai’s Cloud Technology Group. “As Akamai continues to expand compute from core data centers to the edge of the internet, this technology will give developers a broad continuum of cloud native and serverless options to build and deploy their next great application.””
Open source remains central
Fermyon is very active in the open source community, building serverless functions and WebAssembly components. The company maintains the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) Spin and SpinKube projects. Fermyon is also a member of the Bytecode Alliance. Akamai says it will continue to support all of these activities.
Fermyon employees, including co-founders Matt Butcher and Radu Matei, will join Akamai’s Cloud Technology Group. There, they will continue their work on open source projects and develop the next generation of serverless technologies. WebAssembly components are seen by the CNCF as the next wave in cloud-native computing.
Integration with security and performance
For Akamai, the acquisition is a logical step to improve its own focus on hardware performance. We have been hearing for some time that edge computing is on the rise, but this is happening more gradually than, for example, the rise of AI, and is also influenced by other developments. The emphasis on demanding applications in highly restrictive compute environments makes Fermyon’s expertise a sensible addition.
With the acquisition of Fermyon, Akamai plans to deeply integrate the company with its own security and performance offerings. The resulting cloud platform should make it faster and easier for developers to build, deploy, and secure applications at the edge.
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