Apple Data Center May Reduce Use of CDNs

One more item on the potential implications of Apple's new data center in North Carolina. Dan Rayburn has an important post on how Apple's data center buildout may affect its extensive use of content delivery networks Akamai Technologies (AKAM) and Limelight Networks (LLNW).

"Folks I have spoken to inside Apple told me that once the new data center is completed, Apple plans to have a more active role in doing their own content delivery," Dan writes. "While this won't be happening anytime soon, since the data center won't even be completed this year, it does indicate that over time, third party CDNs like Akamai and Limelight could very well lose a large portion of Apple's business. While it's way to early to speculate what kind of content Apple will deliver and in what volume, this strategy is nearly identical to what we've seen Microsoft do over the years."