How Akamai Ion Helps Deliver Near Instant Mobile App Experience

Akamai Technologies, the global player in content delivery network (CDN) services, unveiled the latest version of Akamai Ion, the company’s flagship Web Performance Solution. It is intended to deliver compelling online experiences by leveraging the company’s new learning engine-based optimizations. Akamai will also enable developers to deliver near instant mobile app experiences by using its new software development kit (SDK).

The ability to deliver great mobile experiences is paramount to the success of online businesses. Consumers today expect fresh, fast, secure and engaging mobile experiences, regardless of their browser, app, location, device, or network.  At the same time, due to unpredictable network conditions and the variety of devices used by customers, meeting these business requirements has never been more difficult or costly.  In fact, according to a report released by Google, 53 percent of sessions are abandoned if content doesn’t load within three seconds.

Built on the Akamai Intelligent Platform, Akamai Ion is designed to help companies effectively reach and engage customers, prospects, employees, partners and suppliers, wherever and however they connect. The pressure to deliver great online experiences is higher than ever, across sites and apps. While most businesses have a basic understanding of what is required to optimize desktop experiences, they still struggle with the challenges mobile and cellular use cases present.

To help optimize web and mobile app experiences, the latest version of Akamai Ion now features the following new capabilities and benefits:

Automated Performance Optimization: Akamai Ion introduces “Adaptive Acceleration,” which is designed to help companies deliver rich, personalized experiences to their users quickly and easily with intelligent performance automation powered by real user data.  The product is architected to automatically determine the optimal time to push content and pre-connect to third-party resources to help ensure user experiences are fast, seamless, and optimized for their browsing context.

Mobile App Performance SDK: The latest version of Ion introduces a new software development kit (SDK) to help developers craft custom and differentiated experiences designed to maximize user loyalty. Mobile app developers can pre-position content to offer more consistent experiences across varying network conditions – even when connectivity is lost.  In addition, SureRoute for Cellular can help overcome congestion and latency in last mile networks, while real user and device insights, including custom metrics, help developers tune mobile experiences over time.

Cellular Optimization: Akamai Ion will also include new capabilities that are designed to deliver consistent performance over uncertain cellular connections.  Performance improvements can be realized through protocol optimizations including real-time IPv4/6 adaptation, while supporting secure connectivity for older mobile devices using the Cha-Cha Poly cipher.

“We believe this release of Ion marks the beginning of a new kind of powerful performance optimization – one that is powered by applying machine learning to real user data. Ion customers will be able to quickly and easily take advantage of these capabilities to address the demands of mobile users,” said Ash Kulkarni, senior vice president and general manager, Web Performance Business Unit, Akamai Technologies. “With more and more businesses adopting mobile apps to achieve greater audience engagement, Akamai’s new Mobile App Performance SDK is designed to help developers and app owners provide instant mobile app experiences that adapt in real-time to network conditions.”