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Akamai Technologies acquired Blaze Software, a US-based provider of front-end optimization (FEO) technology, in a cash transaction. 

The acquisition is expected to complement Akamai’s site acceleration solutions with Web page rendering speed optimization technologies, regardless of end user device.

Founded in 2010 and based in Ottawa, Canada, Blaze provides technology designed to automatically optimize the code on a Web page during the delivery process to enables faster transmission of content and a faster rendering of the page, whether served to a PC, tablet or smartphone.

This is a cloud-based service that “works with any website,” according to Akamai, and requires no software or code changes at the users’ end. Akamai plans to integrate the technology into its global cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere.

“We believe Blaze has developed a powerful solution for front-end optimization, and that its cloud-based services approach is synergistic with Akamai’s offerings. The team at Blaze will be an important addition to our focus on site acceleration. Our goal continues to be providing customers with the most comprehensive set of technologies to optimize all aspects of their site performance,” said Rick McConnell, executive vice president of products and development, Akamai.

“Core to our focus at Blaze is constant research and product development that enables us to improve the speed of our customers’ sites by automatically applying the latest Web performance optimization best practices,” said Michael Weider, CEO of Blaze.

“Our technology is aimed at reducing the number of requests required to load a page, reducing the size of each request, and improving the browser rendering experience for our customers. Combining our technology with the global Akamai platform is a big win for customers who are increasingly looking to take performance optimization to the next level,” Weider added.