iTunes<\/a> movies and other Apple content to users as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n\n\tFor fastest delivery, most big internet companies put content like downloads and software updates onto servers geographically close to its users, using a service called a content delivery network.<\/p>\n
\n\tFor the past 15 years, Apple's CDN of choice has been Akamai.<\/p>\n
\n\tNow it looks like Apple is ditching Akamai for its own servers and has significantly cut its business with the online infrastructure company.<\/p>\n
\n\t\"Over the last two years, our two largest customers in particular, comprise about 13% of Akamai's overall revenue. As we look ahead to 2016, we expect these two accounts to still be our largest media customers, and they will contribute about 6% of our overall revenue,\" Akamai CEO Tom Leighton said during its earnings call. The company beat analyst expectations and announced a major restructuring and a $1 billion stock buyback, and its stock surged more than 16% after hours.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\tAkamai's two largest customers are widely believed to be Apple and Microsoft. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\"This seven point change in contribution results from their increased do-it-yourself, or DIY efforts,\" Leighton said. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\tIt's another sign that Apple's online services strategy has been changing, with the company pushing to bring more and more of its online infrastructure in-house. Apple is expected to open at least three new data centers over the next two years and has increased related spending. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\tIf Apple were to launch a streaming video service, as has been rumored, the CDN that delivers it would be a major factor in terms of the streaming quality and lag that end-users would experience. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\tStreaming services analyst Dan Rayburn previously reported that sources expected Apple to \"have a more active role\" in content delivery after opening its data center in Maiden, North Carolina.Rayburn has previously tracked OS X downloads coming directly from Apple, as opposed to through Akamai.<\/p>\n
\n\tMost recently, Apple CEO Tim Cook put a renewed emphasis on online services during the company's last earnings call.<\/p>\n
\n\t <\/h3>\n