Keeping real-time performance while lowering infrastructure costs
TOKYO, May 19, 2025 -- Akamai Technologies GK has succeeded in reducing the outbound communication costs (egress costs) for the streaming servers of IRIAM Inc. to almost zero through its cloud service, Akamai Cloud. The move to Akamai Cloud has also contributed to reducing the overall cost of the streaming servers from one-third to less than one-tenth of the total cost of the cloud infrastructure.
IRIAM's key feature is its community-oriented structure, with close engagement between live streamers (who stream their content using the live-streaming platform) and listeners. To create streams that simulate talking face-to-face, IRIAM created a communication environment that prioritizes real-time performance and minimizes communication lag as much as possible. IRIAM aims to constrain lag to 0.1 seconds, and has independently developed and operates a communication method called the motion-live method.
As the number of users increases and the business grows, however, IRIAM's network costs are increasing. Network costs accounted for more than one-third of the cost of using cloud infrastructure. These network costs were becoming an issue, and after Akamai started offering cloud services, IRIAM reviewed the Akamai Cloud offerings, and realized that Akamai was able to resolve the issue.
The result of migrating streaming servers to the Akamai Cloud that was most appreciated by IRIAM was the cost savings from Akamai's proprietary pricing structure, which includes network usage fees as part of the server instance usage fees.
For example, an entry-class "Shared 4 GB" instance has no network transfer charge for up to 2 terabytes. In IRIAM's case, outbound communication per server is limited to staying within 2 terabytes, so virtually all streaming servers can be operated with the only real cost being the server instance. Even if the limit is exceeded, the extra cost is extremely low, at US$0.005 per 1 GB (as of April 2025).
The amount of network traffic used on the previous cloud was 200 terabytes per month, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Moving to Akamai Cloud has removed these costs from IRIAM's fees. Since then, network traffic has increased to approximately 300 terabytes per month as IRIAM's services have grown, but all traffic still operates within the free quota that comes with each streaming service instance.
After the migration, the network costs as part of the entire infrastructure were reduced from one-third to almost zero, and IRIAM's streaming server usage fees were reduced by approximately 50% on top of that.
In addition to the cost savings, IRIAM also highly praised the ease of migration and the service stability.
Akamai Cloud also supports API management, allowing the migration to be completed by simply switching the streaming server to the Akamai Cloud while maintaining the existing virtual machine management mechanism as is. CPU and memory utilization is stable and transmission errors on the network are rarely observed.
IRIAM launched its service in the United States in November 2024. The attentive support and the fast response times are attractive features of the service, and its stability and reliability, coupled with the ease of global deployment, make it a great help for IRIAM's future business developments in the United States.
Hirokazu Higuma, Managing Director of Akamai, said, "We're pleased that IRIAM Inc., who have created a new culture on the internet, has adopted Akamai Cloud. We will continue to support IRIAM's further business growth, starting with their global expansion. Akamai serves its customers more by delivering ever faster, safer, and more stable internet solutions, and by empowering and safeguarding people's online lives."
Read the Akamai Cloud product brief to learn more.
About Akamai
Akamai is the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business online. Our market-leading security solutions, superior threat intelligence, and global operations team provide defense in depth to safeguard enterprise data and applications everywhere. Akamai's full-stack cloud computing solutions deliver performance and affordability on the world's most distributed platform. Global enterprises trust Akamai to provide the industry-leading reliability, scale, and expertise they need to grow their business with confidence. Learn more at akamai.com and akamai.com/blog, or follow Akamai Technologies on X and LinkedIn.
CONTACT: Akamai PR, akamaiPR@akamai.com
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