The New Stack Makers

At KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2026, Lena Hall and Thorsten Hans of Akamai outlined how the company is evolving from a CDN provider into a developer-focused cloud platform for AI. Akamai’s strategy centers on low-latency, distributed computing, combining managed Kubernetes, serverless functions, and a distributed AI inference platform to support modern workloads. With a global footprint of core and “distributed reach” datacenters, Akamai aims to bring compute closer to users while still leveraging centralized infrastructure for heavier processing. This hybrid model enables faster feedback loops critical for applications like fraud detection, robotics, and conversational AI. To address concerns about complexity, Akamai emphasizes managed infrastructure and self-service tools that abstract away integration challenges. Its platform supports open source through managed Kubernetes and pre-packaged tools, simplifying deployment. Akamai also invests in serverless technologies like WebAssembly-based functions, en