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Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

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Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#191

Post by BozeWolf »

smaudet wrote: post #150
fwlr wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Going forward, Akamai’s rent-a-server cloud services will be called Linode” would have been a better solution, yeah. So the way you say “Amazon EC2” or “Amazon AWS”, you’d say “Akamai Linode”. The only downside is that inevitably people would shorten that to “Linode” instead of “Akamai”, which hurts brand recognition. And I guess that downside is significant enough to cause them to go with this bland “Akamai’s cloud…

Yeah except I don't want 'cloud services' I want a VPS, people who want a VPS are never going to look at Akamai branded that way.

Point is that akamai does not want people as clients. Akamai wants big corporations as clients.

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#192

Post by nik736 »

arp242 wrote: post #28
loloquwowndueo wrote: post #14

What’s a good alternative for Linode these days? I just want a vps where I can install Debian, be root, and have a web and email server. A 4gb Linode has been enough for my needs for years.

Linode is still fine I think. A few months ago I looked around a bit for alternatives as I wondered if there are better deals out there, and nothing really jumped out as "wow, this obviously offers a much better price/quality service!" DigitalOcean seems about on-par; OVH and Hetzner are cheaper but seem less reliable, etc. Much depends on your exact needs of course. Who will know what Akamai will do in the future, b…

What makes you think that Hetzner "seem" to be less reliable?

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#193

Post by Veen »

voiper1 wrote: post #182
synergy20 wrote: post #74

At least been with Linode for the last 15 years, I'm used to the brand, you change it, I may just leave. Linode was solid for me over the years, I noticed DigitalOcean might be a big threat to it early on, now might be the time for me to finally migrate there.

I don't get what the big deal is about the name. Yes, I like linode and run most of my business on it. They changed the name. I'm not switching until they "kill" the product. If the uptime remains good, the service remains good, why switch??

The name change indicates Akamai’s intentions for the Linode platform. Linode is a well-established brand with developers, smaller agencies, small businesses, hobbyists,and so on. Akamai is an enterprise brand that serves large businesses. They have never had an interest in serving the sort of people who know about and like Linode. Dropping the Linode brand is evidence they continue to have no interest in that market segment. It now seems more likely that Akamai wanted a ready-made cloud platform to sell to their enterprise customers. That’s why Linode users are worried about the name change; it indicates they are no longer the market their preferred platform cares about.

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#194

Post by mort96 »

twblalock wrote: post #46
jay-barronville wrote: post #31

The Linode brand is so well known by developers. Why in the world would Akamai risk the brand any further than they already have like this?

Is it really well known? I've only ever heard of Linode because they sponsored some Youtube videos. I've never heard it mentioned in a professional setting as a developer. On the contrary, Akamai is incredibly well known.

It sounds like they have invested heavily into ads to make the Linode brand well known, and as a result, you know about it.

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#195

Post by onei »

Shank wrote: post #70

I'm sure they spent a lot of time thinking about this, but why not just call it something "Linode by Akamai" or "Akamai Linode"? Neither "Akamai’s cloud computing services" or "Akamai Connected Cloud" sound like viable names. Is the goal just to get people to say "I use Akamai"? I could even see a viable strategy where they rename the existing Linode but create a new Linode, ala Lightsail just to keep the name. They…

It's less about brand awareness and more about telling customers upfront what it does. If I'm an Akamai customer that's never heard of Linode, maybe I ignore "Akamai Linode" because I've no clue what it does. If I hear "Cloud Computing Services", I know exactly what that offering is likely to entail from the name alone - Compute as a service.

The downside with this approach is that you lose any brand awareness of Linode. Perhaps that's not a terrible thing if their market share was minimal. You could have gone with "Akamai Linode Cloud Computing Services" or "Linode Cloud Computing Services by Akamai". But Linode seems a bit redundant in that name to my eyes.

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#196

Post by phendrenad2 »

Hmm seems to be missing an obvious improvement: A more cost-sensitive version of akamai's CDN (which has a pricetag of "become fortune 500 and we'll be in touch") available to linode customers. Or does linode already have a CDN? I just want something like cloudflare where my image and video files are distributed to the edge network and post-processed into a variety of sizes.

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#197

Post by dgb23 »

winrid wrote: post #87

Doesn't surprise me, though. I talked to some E-staff a while ago and they said the CEO wanted a data lake. I asked what for, and they said he didn't know yet. They just wanted it. So not surprising they'd throw away so much brand recognition.

Sounds like one of those Dilbert comic strips.

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#198

Post by scandox »

geuis wrote: post #181
pointlessone wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it mean that people who use Linode for Linode should be preparing to move out?

This is what I've been worried about since the acquisition. I've been a loyal customer for over a decade and hosted jsonip.com there for 12 years. Now I seriously need to look for alternative hosting if/when the corpo overlords decide to start changing the offered products.

I do business with Akamai on the DNS side and actually find them to be really supportive and flexible.

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#199

Post by type0 »

RussianCow wrote: post #190
smaudet wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah except I don't want 'cloud services' I want a VPS, people who want a VPS are never going to look at Akamai branded that way.

And people who "just" want a VPS are probably not Akamai's target market, so I think they're fine with the tradeoff.

Alienating existing customers is a terrible strategy

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#200

Post by jhgg »

Discord originally hosted on Linode in 2015. Unfortunately we had to move off, as we knew Linode would be the limiting factor in being able to continue to grow. So we chose to go with GCP.

Unfortunately, I suspect this is something that happens quite often for Linode, which is that, their most successful clients will eventually graduate off of them.

This may reposition their business in such a way that their most successful clients stay with them.

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