Akamai and its Sockeye Networks affiliate are being sued by telecoms giant Cable & Wireless (C&W) for alleged infringement of its internet optimal-routing technology. C&W is seeking unspecified damages and an injunction against Akamai’s EdgeSuite (formerly known as ‘FreeFlow’) and Sockeye’s GlobalRoute products and services.

The patent in question, which was filed in the US, is for a host-to-host adoptive routing protocol which detects internet congestion and determines the best ‘routing’ of data from a customer’s origin servers across the internet, to enable quick delivering all types of text and images.

Internet packet routing can be disrupted by a number of things, including hardware and line failures, configuration errors, incorrect routing policies and network congestion.

Host-to-host adoptive routine protocol systems, on the other hand, work with standard routing protocols to avoid routing paths where these problems exist.

In a separate lawsuit, which has yet to be heard, C&W has alleged that Akamai’s EdgeSuite and Akamaizer tools infringe its new patent relating to content delivery networks.

In a statement released yesterday, C&W characterised the latest lawsuit as “one aspect of what is expected to be a multi-year effort to protect [Cable and Wireless’]intellectual property.”

Akamai is reported to have rejected C&W’s allegations.

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