Watching the public fight between Aryaka and Riverbed brings back good old memories. It feels like the days of Oracle vs. Microsoft, Oracle vs. SAP and Oracle vs. Peoplesoft. Sometimes it got nasty but it was a boatload of fun to watch.
Aryaka, the innovative startup built by a team of seasoned ex-CDN visionaries (Speedera & Akamai) has a very interesting business model. It’s unique in that they accelerate applications across the first, middle and last mile. Plus it works over a VPN connection.
At the core they are a CDN. They are a B2B CDN that is private. Unlike Highwinds, they are a B2C CDN. The characteristics Aryaka shares with CDNs 1) they’ve deployed hundreds of servers in POP’s all over the world 2) they have storage array that CDNs use 3) they use Juniper/Brocade routers (guess) 4) they have POP’s at the major peering exchanges 5) they’ve implemented CDN type routing schemes into their network and 6) they have reporting tools similar to CDN’s.
Riverbed, the billion dollar technology company that’s been around years is struggling. At least that is the picture that is painted by Aryaka. It’s true that in the past they were doing well enjoying the fruits of their hard labor. However, the cloud is impacting their business just like it is impacting IBM, EMC & HP. Just give Riverbed some time – I think they’ll figure it.