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Akamai will deliver AT&T Web content

Cambridge's Akamai Technologies Inc. is teaming up with AT&T Inc. to begin delivering Web content for the telecommunications ­giant.

The agreement ends a longtime rivalry between Akamai and AT&T in the lucrative business of content delivery network services, which allow video and other information to be sent over the Internet. It also gives Akamai ­access to a vast new customer base.

News of the deal helped push Akamai stock up 10 percent, or $3.56, on Thursday to close at $39.06. Financial terms of the agreement were not released.

The partnership with AT&T "gives us an overnight ability to increase the performance of the Web for AT&T users," said Brad Rinklin, chief marketing officer at Akamai, which operates more than 100,000 computer servers globally and helps power websites for such companies as MTV Networks and Major League Baseball.

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The AT&T partnership continues Akamai's focus of forming relationships with other telecommunications companies. Last month, it signed a deal with French telecom company Orange to provide Akamai technology to Orange's business customers.

Telecoms are increasingly interested in offering their enterprise customers the types of advanced technologies that ­Akamai has built to speed up the delivery and quality of video and software applications over the Internet, said Melanie Posey, an analyst with International Data Corp., headquartered in Framingham.

"Essentially, what AT&T is doing is transferring their existing [content delivery services] over to Akamai," Posey said.

AT&T will start using Akamai technology in its North American market and then expand the partnership globally over the next year.

The relationship between the two companies is an outgrowth of Akamai's $268 million acquisition of Cotendo Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif., content delivery network business, last December. AT&T signed a deal with Cotendo in 2010.

Akamai's Cotendo acquisition was among many the Cambridge company has made over the past several years to extend its dominance in the Internet content business. Earlier this week, Akamai closed a deal to buy Verivue, a Westford technology company. Terms of that deal also were not disclosed.

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AT&T executives said that officially aligning with Akamai is an evolutionary step in the development of its enterprise Internet business. AT&T declined to name any of those customers.

"The alliance with Akamai positions us perfectly to deliver premier content delivery solutions to our business customers," said Andy Geisse, chief executive of AT&T Business Solutions.

The arrangement is especially crucial as "companies and consumers alike are accessing video content and other applications online and from a multitude of devices," he said.


Michael B. Farrell can be reached at michael.farrell@globe.com.