Edgio

Edgio, Inc.
Company type	Public (formerly)
Industry	Content delivery network, edge computing, cybersecurity
Predecessor	Limelight Networks
Founded	January 1, 2001; 25 years ago in Tempe, Arizona, U.S.
Founder	Michael Gordon
Defunct	January 15, 2025
Fate	Filed for bankruptcy in 2024; operations terminated in 2025; assets sold to Lynrock Lake LP and Akamai Technologies
Headquarters	Tempe, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Bob Lyons (CEO from January 2021)
Products	Content delivery network services, edge computing, cybersecurity (DDoS protection, WAF), video streaming platforms

Edgio, Inc., previously known as Limelight Networks, was a U.S.-based content delivery network (CDN) provider specializing in digital media and software distribution services.

Following its 2022 acquisition of Edgecast, the firm rebranded as Edgio, extending its portfolio to include edge computing and cybersecurity offerings such as DDoS protection.

By the start of 2023, Edgio maintained a global infrastructure with over 300 points-of-presence and an egress capacity exceeding 250 terabits per second.

The company filed for bankruptcy in 2024 and terminated operations on January 15, 2025.

Company history

Established in 2001 in Tempe, Arizona under the name Limelight Networks, the enterprise focused on CDN solutions via its Limelight Orchestrate Platform, facilitating worldwide live and on-demand video streaming.

In July 2006, Limelight raised $130 million in equity funding led by Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. The company went public in June 2007, generating $240 million by issuing 16 million shares at $15 each. Founder Michael Gordon received recognition as a "Streaming Media All-Star" in 2008 for his impact on the industry.

Bob Lyons, formerly CEO of Alert Logic, was appointed CEO in January 2021 to spearhead growth and strategic initiatives.

In September 2021, Edgio acquired Moov Corporation (Layer0), enhancing its Applications portfolio with advanced website orchestration and workflow management tools.

On June 16, 2022, Limelight completed the purchase of Edgecast from Yahoo! Inc. and rebranded as Edgio. This transaction expanded Edgio’s global delivery capabilities and incorporated enterprise security solutions alongside Uplynk—a video workflow platform supporting live and on-demand streaming. Following the acquisition, Edgio organized its services into two main categories: Applications (covering website orchestration and cybersecurity) and Media (focused on media delivery and streaming).

Edgio received multiple industry accolades: it was named a Leader in Quadrant Knowledge Solutions' 2022 SPARK Matrix for commercial CDN services; identified by IDC as a Major Cloud Platform for Cloud-Native PaaS; honored with Frost & Sullivan’s 2023 Global Customer Value Leadership Award for web protection; recognized as both Leader and Outperformer by GigaOm Radar for Edge Platforms v3; and listed as a Leader in Frost Radar: Global Content Delivery Network, 2023.

On September 9, 2024, Edgio sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with plans to sell assets to Lynrock Lake LP, a private equity firm, for roughly $110 million. Akamai Technologies acquired select assets including customer contracts and patents.

Technologies

Edgio’s private network boasts over 250 terabits per second of global egress bandwidth, supported by dense clusters of specialized servers situated across more than 300 delivery locations worldwide. These points-of-presence are interconnected via Edgio’s proprietary global network and are linked to upwards of 1,000 Internet service providers. By distributing cached web content across numerous sites, Edgio ensures data is served from the nearest location to end users. Its private fiber backbone connecting delivery points allows cache-fill traffic and dynamic content to circumvent the public internet, thereby improving delivery performance. Custom-developed software oversees this infrastructure to minimize cache misses and efficiently scale during traffic peaks. The network’s core infrastructure predominantly operates on FreeBSD.

The Edgio Platform

The Edgio Platform delivers a suite of services including content delivery, video packaging, content management, web acceleration, cloud security with DDoS and WAF protection, as well as cloud storage capabilities.

Customers

In August 2007, Edgio entered into a technology partnership with Microsoft aimed at improving media content distribution across Microsoft's worldwide platforms, encompassing video, music, gaming, software, and social media. By March 2008, Edgio provided the infrastructure for Oprah's "A New Earth" webcast, which drew an audience exceeding 800,000 viewers.

NBC chose Edgio in May 2008 as the content delivery network for the 2008 Summer Olympics webcast featured on NBCOlympics.com. The platform supported over 50 million unique visitors, generated 1.3 billion page views, and streamed 70 million videos using Microsoft Silverlight technology.

In June 2008, Edgio facilitated Disney’s online premiere of Camp Rock, achieving more than 863,000 video plays within the first 24 hours. In January 2009, Edgio streamed President Barack Obama’s inauguration to an audience of 2.5 million online viewers with peak concurrent streams surpassing 9 million worldwide. Later that year, Edgio served as the exclusive mobile content delivery network for CBS’s coverage of the 2009 NCAA basketball tournament on Apple iPhone devices.

Throughout 2012, Edgio supported streaming for prominent sporting events such as Wimbledon Tennis Championships, Indian Cricket League matches, the European Championship, RBS Six Nations rugby tournaments, and assisted broadcasters during the 2012 Summer Olympics coverage.

The Described and Captured Media Program, a non-profit organization, leverages Edgio’s CDN services to expedite video delivery by caching content closer to end users.

In February 2017, Edgio was one of three CDNs streaming the NFL Super Bowl broadcast.

Acquisitions

In May 2009, the company acquired Kiptronic, Inc., specializing in device-optimized content delivery and dynamic ad insertion solutions; this acquisition now forms part of Orchestrate Video.
April 2010 saw the acquisition of EyeWonder, Inc., a rich media advertising firm established in 1999, purchased for $110 million. This deal included chors GmbH; both entities were subsequently sold to DG.
In August 2011, Delve Networks, Inc., a cloud-based video publishing and analytics provider, was acquired and integrated into Orchestrate Video.
The company acquired AcceloWeb in May 2011 for $20 million; it currently operates under Orchestrate Performance.
Also in May 2011, Clickability—a web content management system company—was acquired for $10 million; it was later sold to Upland Software in December 2013.
September 2021 marked the acquisition of Moov Corporation (Layer0), which offers sub-second web applications and APIs through an all-in-one Jamstack platform.
In June 2022, Edgio purchased Edgecast from Yahoo! Inc. for roughly $300 million.

Patent lawsuits

In June 2006, Limelight Networks faced a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Akamai Technologies and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The District Court ruled in April 2009 that Limelight did not infringe upon the patents in question, overturning a prior jury verdict from 2008. Additionally, Limelight was sued by Level 3 Communications in December 2007 over patent infringement claims; a jury ruled in Limelight’s favor in 2009. Akamai appealed this decision and in April 2011 the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit agreed to rehear the case en banc to address issues related to liability when multiple parties perform different steps of a patented method.

On August 31, 2012, the Federal Circuit issued a split decision permitting Akamai to pursue a new trial concerning induced infringement claims. Limelight petitioned the Supreme Court in December 2012 seeking clarification on standards for induced infringement involving multiple actors; Akamai filed a cross-petition regarding direct infringement criteria. The Supreme Court unanimously denied Akamai’s broader inducement claim in June 2014.

On July 1, 2016, final judgment was entered by the Massachusetts District Court ordering Limelight to pay $51 million in damages to Akamai. This ruling notably affected Limelight’s financial results for Q2 of that year and had significant implications for its business strategy and financial health during that timeframe.

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