The Cloud Isn’t Broken. The Economics Are | The Akamai VPU Play
Voices of Video with Sarah Walter - Senior Product Manager at Akamai Technologies
A year after launching VPU-accelerated instances on Akamai Cloud, what has actually changed?
In this episode of Voices of Video, Sarah Walter from Akamai joins us for a real-world check-in on adoption, scale, and where video infrastructure is heading next.
Customers are rethinking the cloud. Not because they want to go back on-prem, but because traditional cloud cost models are breaking at scale. The result is a shift toward something in between: infrastructure that keeps cloud flexibility while restoring economic control.
We explore how NETINT VPUs on Akamai Cloud are enabling that shift, from global expansion without CapEx to high-density transcoding at a radically lower cost per stream. We also dig into what made this possible over the past year, including ecosystem maturity, Bitstreams control panel lowering the barrier to entry, and the operational realities of running hardware in the cloud.
From live streaming to VOD to hyperscaler expansion, this is what the next phase of video infrastructure actually looks like.
Sarah Walter - Senior Product Manager at Akamai Technologies
Sarah Walter is a Product Manager at Akamai Technologies, leading cloud compute products with a focus on GPU and accelerated instances. With over a decade of experience spanning Intel, Zadara, and now Akamai, she brings deep expertise in cloud infrastructure, video processing, and product lifecycle management. Passionate about building at the intersection of people and technology, she thrives on solving complex challenges and scaling innovative products that serve media, streaming, and enterprise workloads globally.
Mark Donnigan - Head of Strategic Marketing at NETINT Technologies
Mark Donnigan is the Head of Strategic Marketing at NETINT Technologies, where his extensive experience and innovative approach have significantly contributed to the company's growth and industry standing. With a background that combines deep technical understanding and strategic marketing expertise, Mark has been instrumental in positioning NETINT as a leader in ASIC Video Processing Units (VPUs) for ultra-high density video encoding and streaming. His work at NETINT involves not just promoting the brand and its products but also shaping the future direction of the video streaming and encoding market.