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Apakau, Inc. |
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July 14, 2014 Issue |
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The Most Powerful Name In Corporate News and Information |
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Geo-Distributed Data Delivery Network for Global Enterprises |
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 About
Apakau, Inc.
Apakau - based in
San Jose, California - provides a geo-distributed data delivery network that
helps enterprises around the globe securely deliver and exchange dynamic
data and APIs with their global users, on mobile devices and desktop, with
maximum uptime and lowest data latency. |
88 S 3rd Street Suite # 296, San Jose, CA 95113 +1-650-532-3355
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Interview conducted by: Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFO Magazine, Published – July 14, 2014
CEOCFO: Mr. Cekvenich, what is the concept at Apakau? Mr. Cekvenich: Apakau provides a Data Delivery Network (DDN), a new solution for lowest latency and maximum uptime of enterprise web and mobile applications. It is an intelligent software and network that has points of presence in most major cities worldwide. It delivers dynamic data, APIs and data transactions with ultra low latency everywhere in the world, so that enterprises can deliver the best user experience on their websites and mobile applications. And with DDoS protection, Apakau DDN ensures maximum availability and performance during traffic spikes and cyber attacks. This solution is different from Content Delivery Network (CDN) or Application Delivery Network (ADN) solutions, like Akamai for example, in that Apakau DDN works with dynamic data, APIs and mobile applications, in contrast to static objects, images and files handled by CDNs. A DDN does not replace a CDN or an ADN; it complements them.
CEOCFO: What were the challenges in putting the technology together? Mr. Cekvenich: The main challenge in putting this technology together is that dynamic data is very hard to cache while still being able to serve fresh and correct data after other users have changed it. And all of that happens within milliseconds. The traditional Content Delivery Networks cache and deliver files, which do not change quite frequently. It may take hours, days or months for this type of content to change. In the case of dynamic data, a few seconds are a lifetime. Apakau DDN can cache dynamic data and deliver fresh data even if changes are happening within milliseconds. eWeek named Apakau as top innovator at Demo Enterprise 2014.
CEOCFO: What types of companies should be using your services? Mr. Cekvenich: Enterprises in the following spaces can greatly benefit from our solution: eCommerce, including travel; social networks; Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) like CRMs, ERPs and project management services; and online gaming or gambling. A travel booking website or a shopping mobile app can dramatically enhance their user experience, conversion rates, and revenues by lowering their latency and by being protected from slowdowns during traffic spikes and cyber attacks. A social network can prevent slowdowns and outages when a hot spot arises, for example during an event, or when a celebrity posts a comment and so on.
CEOCFO: You really have a very large potential audience. Is the product available now? Is it still in the development stage? Mr. Cekvenich: The DDN service is available. We successfully finished a pilot project and we are working on a couple of proof of concept projects with big enterprises. In the pilot project, Apakau DDN reduced the latency of API calls to less than 150 milliseconds, more than 15 times faster time-to-screen.
CEOCFO: When you approach a company do they believe you could do it? How do you get over the skepticism? Mr. Cekvenich: Our solution is new, but it solves a very known and very common problem and pain. So with a proof of concept, we are able to demonstrate the value of a DDN. On one hand, latency, on desktop or mobile, results in a bad user experience, which translates into lower conversion rates, lower customer loyalty, and lower revenues. This is supported by studies done by Google, Amazon and so many others. On the other hand, during an outage, whether due to a traffic spike like the holiday season shopping, or due to a denial of service attack, the enterprise generates zero revenues. Not just that, the brand name may be damaged in the eyes of the users. Users may not have confidence in doing business with this enterprise anymore. Maybe they would fear data breaches and loss of information. So the pain is known in enterprises. We are trying to help them reduce the latency by better engaging their users through a better user experience as well as protect them from denial of service attacks and user spikes, and relieve their application infrastructure from such problems.
CEOCFO: What is the competitive landscape? Are there companies starting to look at the same situation or are you alone and ahead of the game? Mr. Cekvenich: When we started early 2013, we coined the term Data Delivery Network in contrast to the well-known Content Delivery Network. There are many adjacent markets and services. We are similar to content delivery networks in that we are geo-distributed, but the application is different. A CDN delivers static objects and files while we deliver dynamic data, APIs and mobile application data. Therefore, a DDN complements a CDN. There are also three more spaces that are related to us, and we also work with them. There is Application Delivery Networks or Controllers. They enhance application performance, but they are not geo-distributed; they are deployed at the data center, which is not close to users. The third space is API management and Backend-as-a-Service providers. If they manage your APIs or they provide you with the backend, Apakau DDN can play the middleman who delivers the data API calls to the users with minimum latency. The fourth space is in-memory grids that also operate in memory, but for a different purpose. Therefore, as you can see there are small similarities with some other spaces, but the good thing is that we can partner with them. We are partnering with three CDNs, and an ADN. We are also partnering with an API management provider. Other potential partners are IaaS, PaaS, databases, and Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS).
CEOCFO: What is the plan for the next year? Mr. Cekvenich: We have a pipeline of proof of concept projects that we are working on. The integration of our DDN is very easy. It is much like plugging in a CDN. Our solution works with all mobile applications on iOS and Android, and with all web services built using any form of APIs, REST, AJAX, JavaScript and HTML5. It does not work with web pages that use server side binding, like PHP, Ruby or Python. We are also developing a DDN solution for China to help enterprises located in or have users in China.
CEOCFO: What have you learned since you first developed the product? What have you changed and tweaked along the way? Mr. Cekvenich: Early on, more than a year ago, we started as a cloud-based API for maximum performance of databases. We then pivoted to an enterprise-focused Data Delivery Network. Such a solution has a bigger impact on the enterprise world, a bigger impact on Internet performance and the user experience worldwide.
CEOCFO: Why should people pay attention to Apakau, Inc today?
Mr. Cekvenich:
Content
delivery networks have changed the way we consume the web over the past
decade. Without video acceleration and content acceleration, we would not be
able to have interactive and engaging online experiences. We would not be
able to have all of this social interaction. We would not be able to have
YouTube or Netflix or video streaming. But CDNs do not cache dynamic data,
which affects the performance of web and mobile applications. And with ever
increasing user expectations for higher performing websites and mobile
applications, there is a need to reduce the latency of dynamic data and
APIs. Data is small, so it does not require big bandwidth. But, it still has
to travel long distances between application servers and users. For example,
if the application servers are located in San Francisco, users in New York,
Paris, Hong Kong and Sydney experience delays. While with Apakau Data
Delivery Network, a user in Sydney would get the information from a server
in Sydney and a user in New York would get it from a server in New York. The
same applies to anywhere in Europe, Asia or Latin America. |
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