CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Akamai
Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the intelligent edge
platform for securing and delivering digital experiences, will
officially open its new global headquarters at 145 Broadway in
a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2:00
p.m. today. Governor Charlie
Baker, Senator Edward Markey
and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito
will join Dr. Tom Leighton,
co-founder and chief executive officer of Akamai, to celebrate the
opening of the building, now home to 1,800 Akamai
employees.
Akamai Technologies began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology over twenty
years ago. During the fall of 1998, Akamai was incorporated and
moved into incubator space in Cambridge's Kendall
Square. Two decades later Akamai has grown into the world's
largest and most trusted cloud delivery and security platform upon
which many of the world's best known brands and enterprises build
their digital experiences.
The new urban headquarters is designed differently from
corporate campuses that used to be the norm in the technology
industry. Where Akamai previously leased six area buildings, the
new headquarters unites local employees together under a single
roof. At 19 stories, the new facility is the tallest office
building in Kendall Square.
"Massachusetts remains a global
hub for groundbreaking technological advancement, and our
administration has prioritized efforts to create an environment
that supports this thriving innovation economy," said Governor
Baker. "As a home-grown Massachusetts company that has expanded
significantly over two decades, Akamai remains a crucial part of
this important sector of our economy, and we are glad to help
celebrate their new global headquarters."
The building was developed and is owned by Boston Properties
which has granted Akamai a 15-year lease. The architect for the
interior work was Watertown-based
Sasaki. The general contractor for the interior buildout was the
Boston office of Turner
Construction.
"Billions of people around the world depend on Akamai every day
for fast, intelligent and secure digital experiences when they
visit websites, buy something online, use apps on mobile devices,
stream movies and sporting events, or play video games online,"
said Dr. Leighton. "In fact, it's not a stretch to think of
Akamai's new headquarters as the mission control of the internet.
From this location, the world's smartest engineers are controlling
a quarter-million computers in 4000 locations across 1000 cities
and 137 countries, on a platform designed to make sure that the
world's internet traffic is reaching end users instantly and
reliably and that their data is secure."
To commemorate the opening of the building, the Akamai
Foundation, the company's private corporate foundation dedicated to
fostering excellence in mathematics, will make a multi-year grant.
The nonprofit group Jr. Tech will receive funding for its
statewide Girls STEM Summit for girls in grades 8–12 who love
science, technology, engineering and math.
Below find details of Akamai's new home.
EXPERIENCE THE EDGE: 145 BROADWAY, KENDALL SQUARE, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
The design intent behind every aspect of the new headquarters is
a direct reflection of Akamai's business, core values, and culture.
Engagement and input from employees helped shape the vision. From
the inception of the project, the "AkaChamps", a cross-functional
group of employee influencers, advisors and ambassadors, were an
integral part of the multi-year project.
COMMAND AND CONTROL CENTERS
The new command and control centers in the building provide a
behind-the-scenes look at what's happening across the internet. Up
and running 24/7/365, the command and control centers:
- Provide a bird's eye view of the internet, monitoring internet
traffic and activity around the world,
- Show everything being broadcast by Akamai around the world,
from breaking news to major sporting events, and
- Highlight where DDoS attacks are detected and mitigated by
engineers who escalate alerts and block changing attack vectors in
real time.
COMMITMENT TO WELLNESS: THE AKAMILE
145 Broadway was designed to be functional and flexible to
support Akamai's framework for current and future wellness
initiatives. Program elements marry existing wellness initiatives
to a physical structure, improving health and human experience
through design. Certification is expected in the summer of 2020
from the International WELL Building Institute™
The AkaMile is a mile-long path that connects the 19 floors
of the headquarters. It begins in the lobby and ends at the very
top of the building where a state-of-the-art cafeteria space takes
up the top two floors of prime real estate – where everyone can
enjoy the expansive views of Cambridge and Boston. The space leverages the corridors,
hallways, and fire stairs seen in a typical office building, but
maximizes them by giving them purpose. It is a pathway to move
through the building, just as Akamai helps information move through
the web.
SUSTAINABILITY
This highly energy- and water-efficient building is a physical
demonstration of Akamai's commitment to mitigate the environmental
impact of our global operations. The project incorporated
sustainable choices at every step. Contractors diverted
construction waste from landfills and were able to achieve a 91%
diversion rate through five material streams. The rooftop of the
facility is covered with a solar array that provides locally- and
sustainably-sourced electricity to the building, offsetting a
portion of our impact on the energy grid. The building's heating
and air-conditioning system features a 37,000 gallon rainwater
harvesting tank to offset the need for city water. Its
made-in-Massachusetts active
chilled-beams significantly improve energy efficiency -- up to 30%
over traditional heating, ventilation and air conditioning
systems. These are a few of the many conscious decisions that
have positioned the building to receive LEED Gold certified version
4 (LEED-CSv4).
About Akamai
Akamai secures and delivers digital
experiences for the world's largest companies. Akamai's intelligent
edge platform surrounds everything, from the enterprise to the
cloud, so customers and their businesses can be fast, smart, and
secure. Top brands globally rely on Akamai to help them realize
competitive advantage through agile solutions that extend the power
of their multi-cloud architectures. Akamai keeps decisions, apps
and experiences closer to users than anyone — and attacks and
threats far away. Akamai's portfolio of edge security, web and
mobile performance, enterprise access and video delivery solutions
is supported by unmatched customer service, analytics and 24/7/365
monitoring. To learn why the world's top brands trust Akamai,
visit www.akamai.com, blogs.akamai.com, or @Akamai on
Twitter.
Media Relations
Gina
Sorice
(646) 320-4107
gsorice@akamai.com
Investor Relations
Tom
Barth
(617) 274-7130
tbarth@akamai.com
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SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.