Mike - that sounds the likely answer - do you know if they perhaps host part of the Microsoft Update network? I'll know shortly what it was being used for as I have blocked their IP both in & outward at one of our firewalls!
PS - a bit of research shows they do, but there are issues!! - one report reveals that for every static file downloaded from Akamai, an attempt is made to breach the firewall. The intent of this, is a load-balancing measure; in an effort to see which server responds fastest, it will send a packet of data to the user�s computer from each of it�s servers and see which one bounces back quickest. The trouble is, with a firewall, the packet doesn�t bounce - it sticks, intercepted by the firewall - and when nothing comes back, Akamai will continuously make attempt after attempt instead of simply choosing a server at random (or by some other criteria). Norton Personal Firewall views these as �suspicious activity� and won�t let them through, nor will it dignify them with a response. Presumably other firewalls will react similarly. The end result: any site with Akamai multi-server hosting will either load REALLY slowly (if only part of the static content eg images, secure content, etc. is hosted over multiple servers by Akamai) or time out entirely (if the whole site is hosted this way) as Akamai makes hundreds if not thousands of attempts to breach the firewall for a single page download.
Certainly seems to be an issue - and explains a leap in the data use on our network that uses WSUS for updates - Akamai's IP's are away to be added to the blocked list!
Edited by deleted (Wed 18-Feb-09 20:46:54)
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