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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

#211

Post by Manfred »

tailspin2019 wrote: post #23
rablackburn wrote: post #16

I’m curious to the reasoning behind a decision like this. Part of what Akamai bought was the Linode brand name. Anecdotally as a user Linode’s brand seems to have a fair bit of value and positive reputation. Havent they just written off a non-trivial amount of value from what they just acquired? Or is it as simple as they really want brand consistency?

I anecdotally agree. For some reason I find Akamai’s brand in general very uninspiring and this particular rebrand is the typical low effort corporate affair… they’ve literally swapped the logo and kept all the Linode green elsewhere as well as various mentions of Linode everywhere that haven’t been updated and now look out of place.

You would be surprised how deep branding tentacles reach. Sometimes up to constants in protocols that need a migration cycle to change. If you want to transition without stopping all active development and operations, you have to do it gradually.

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#212

Post by neom »

kamyl wrote: post #49

RIP Linode. It was the 2nd (after Slicehost) "cloud service" I was introduced to back then in 2009 I believe, when my, back then CTO, insisted that "cloud" is the way to go and some job skills (sysadmin) will eventually fade and turn irrelevant. 3 years later same CTO complained that I made other teams within that startup look bad by using Hetzner and OVH duo instead of Amazon's then still relatively new AWS - bills…

Fun fact, Jason Seats who founded slicehost was massively important in helping us get DigitalOcean going.

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#213

Post by _blu »

coffeebeqn wrote: post #77
LanternLight83 wrote: post #57

As an outsider, this feels absurd. Linode had so much good-will and brand recognition built up through their sponsorships and reps.

I get it for the Linode guys. Sell now- server hosting is an arms race against giants. I don’t wanna compete against AWS! I use AWS! Maybe I shouldn’t be? Maybe I should run my software on organic Linux-farmers open source electronic fields that run on hydroelectric power. They can get fiber and backup power too.

Stop using AWS! Linode was great for me up untill they got bought and now they have been doing abrupt "maintenance" work and stuff that Linode never did. But AWS is killing the world and so does companies like Akamai. We need to use pure VPS services and keep moving and not take any shit. I'm sick of it. VPS services should be state-run/owned to end this nonsense.

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#214

Post by fomine3 »

onei wrote: post #195
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 Lin…

It's now called "Akamai Connected Cloud". I don't know what is "Connected Cloud". I'll guess that it's something like CRM for businesses or IoT BaaS.

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#215

Post by amichal »

I used to be a happy linode customer. Commercial clients didn't want to use them since they didn't check the compliance checkboxes/certs. Akamai's rebranding claims all of these.

Just tried to signup for a "free account" to check it out. Painful 4 step onboarding: social sign in, phone verification via SMS, billing method verification, mailing address (that didnt like a trailing space in zipcode)

Final screen was a "we'll get back to you" with no other info.

30 minutes later

"Hello,

A recently created account with this email address was canceled by our automated systems. This was due to activity or patterns associated with fraudulent behavior. Additional attempts to sign up may also be rejected.

Linode"

From a noreply@

Only remotely sketch thing about my signup is i was doing it on a train while traveling far from home (no VPN)

Guess they don't want me to reevaluate then

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#216

Post by znpy »

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…

I was surprised because less than a week ago I’ve seen a youtube video where “linode” was the sponsor.

Wasted money I guess?

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#217

Post by corobo »

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?

In fairness my first thought after reading Linode was those massive DDoS related outages they had. Dunno if that was even within the last decade, still the first thought though.

Anyway they're probably rebranding because Linode doesn't tell you what it is and they're selling to corporate.

They don't want "What is a Linode and why are we paying so much for it" every invoice, haha

RIP Linode.

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#218

Post by xenonite »

amichal wrote: post #215

I used to be a happy linode customer. Commercial clients didn't want to use them since they didn't check the compliance checkboxes/certs. Akamai's rebranding claims all of these. Just tried to signup for a "free account" to check it out. Painful 4 step onboarding: social sign in, phone verification via SMS, billing method verification, mailing address (that didnt like a trailing space in zipcode) Final screen was a "…

I canceled the signup progress with a bank because of a similar reason. Then I asked for deletion of my data. The customer service agreed and said that it will be deleted. However, they are still sending me newsletters. How should I trust this bank then? Guess I won't reevaluate, too.

Re: Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services

#220

Post by nix23 »

jonwinstanley wrote: post #204
asim wrote: post #157

Sad day for Linode. Great standalone niche hosting platform. I get that these things happen. I was part of a Google acquisition that eventually got shutdown/rebranded. From an acquirer standpoint it makes sense. For existing users they probably now feel deflated as the whole reason they went to Linode was to avoid incumbents.

I was using a standalone niche host in the Uk called TSOHost who seemed quite good. They recently announced they were shutting down their cloud hosting and gave just 45 days notice to move sites. Funny part was that the way they gave their customers notice was flawed and most customers didn’t receive any email from them. I wish a sense of deflation was the only issue I’d had!

If i need a UK host i always jump to Mystic-beasts. They are great, i use them even for Colo.

https://www.mythic-beasts.com/servers/virtual

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