The Content Delivery Summit is only a week away and on Monday May 11th we’ve got nearly 50 speakers discussing a dozen different facets of the content delivery business. One of the afternoon sessions brings together a group of Wall Street analysts from Kaufman Bros., BankStreet Group, Globespan Capital Partners, Thomas Weisel Partners and Flybridge Capital who will discuss the M&E activity in the CDN industry.

CDN Economics: Consolidation And Evaluation (2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.)
Analysts have widely speculated that we’re going to soon see merger and acquisition activity grow in the CDN space, but to date, little has taken place. CDNs continue to raise large amounts of VC money, and each quarter more CDNs enter the market. What are the current valuations for CDN companies, and where will VC money be directed in the future? What types of deals are being pitched to bankers, which ones are they having the most success selling, and what are the characteristics of the ones they are searching for. Come hear speakers discuss the current M&A and VC environment  and assess whether the economics of the CDN industry make it ripe for rapid consolidation.

• Moderator: Colby Synesael, SVP, Equity Research, Kaufman Bros.
• Panelist: James Henry, Senior Managing Director, Investment Banking, BankStreet Group
• Panelist: Jonathan Seelig, Managing Director, Communications and Internet/Infrastructure, Globespan Capital Partners
• Panelist: Blake Warner, Managing Director, Software, Media, & Telecom Investment Banking, Thomas Weisel Partners
• Panelist: David Aronoff, General Partner, Flybridge Capital

If you have a question you want me to ask one of the companies, put it in the comments section below. And you can still register with the special discount price at this link.

While many conferences only allow attendees to hear opening keynotes from those who have paid to attend the conference, keynotes at the Streaming Media East and West shows have always been open to anyone at no charge as long as they register for a free exhibit pass. I've gotten a lot of questions and about this lately and am happy to confirm that the keynotes are in fact free.

We've got a great combination of verticals represented in the keynotes next month including infrastructure, (Akamai), enterprise, (Bank of America), telco, (Verizon) and TV media center, (boxee).

You can register now for your free exhibit pass and hear all of these keynotes free of charge.

• Paul Sagan, CEO, Akamai
• Gregg Moss, SVP, Enterprise Streaming Media Strategy and Delivery, Bank of America, Knowledge Channel
• Joe Ambeault, Director, Product Development and Management, Video Services, Verizon
• Avner Ronen, CEO, Founder, boxee

If you have a question you want me to ask one of the companies, put it in the comments section below.

The 54 page ruling in the Akamai and Limelight patent case is now online. You can read the PDF here. Most of the interesting reading in towards the end.

Now that Limelight has prevailed in their patent lawsuit with Akamai, (copy of ruling here) many would think this now clears the way for Limelight to be immediately acquired by one of the major telcos. While I know of at least two telcos who have been interested in the past and made offers to acquire Limelight, those were during very different economic times.

While no one is expecting the market to improve anytime soon to the levels it was in 07', Limelight is not short on cash and does not need to accept a buyout offer just to survive. If anything, I expect Limelight will be the one doing the acquisitions shortly to help shore up some of their ecosystem pieces that tie into content delivery. Limelight can simply wait until they get the right valuation in the market before they agree to any kind of buyout and while that could always come tomorrow, realistically they probably wait until the market improves, their market cap goes up and they get the kind of evaluation they want.

It will also be interesting to hear whether or not Akamai will now make an updated offer to acquire Limelight. While Akamai did make an offer during the trial, from what I was told, Akamai didn't put a high value on Limelight's business and made a low-ball offer, which made sense at the time. But with Limelight winning the patent trial and growing their business nicely over the past eighteen months, clearly Limelight's business is worth a lot more today. I have no indication yet if Akamai will make another offer to acquire Limelight, but I would not be surprised if they do. They have the cash to do it, their stock is at a six month high and they have a track record of acquiring their competition to keep themselves the dominant player in the market.

On Monday May 11th, we'll be teaming up with the NY Video Meetup group to once again host their monthly event at the Hilton Hotel in midtown, the night before the Streaming Media East show opens. About 500 attendees are coming out to see, discuss and vote on four exciting web video startups. This will be a packed event so please visit the NY Video Meetup website for all the details and make sure to RSVP.

Agenda:
6:30-7:00PM Networking
7:00-8:00PM New Product Demos & Q&A
8:00-9:00PM Job Exchange & Networking (cash bar downstairs)

May Startup Presenters:
1. Volomedia – Jeff Karnes, VP Marketing & Products
2. Clearspring – Alex Calic, VP Network Development
3. Aniboom – Uri Shinar, Founder & CEO
4. SesameVault – Cameron Brain, Founder & CEO
5. Magma (Stealth) – Andrew Baron, Founder & CEO of Rocketboom will unveil his new startup

All attendees will also have the opportunity to win some free all-access conference passes to the Streaming Media East show.

I've learned that a ruling has just come down in the Akamai and Limelight patent lawsuit with the judge overturning the jury verdict that was awarded in Akamai's favor. For now, Limelight will not have to pay any damages and I expect that Akamai will probably appeal the decision. More details to come, expect to see a ruling online on Saturday. I will post the link to the ruling as soon as I get it.

Updated Saturday: As expected, Akamai has said they will appeal the decision.

Updated Sunday: Limelight's official release on the ruling.

Updated Monday: Here is a copy of the ruling.

AT&T is looking to immediately fill 22 openings in their Digital Media Services group, supporting their Content Delivery and Content Management businesses. Open positions include one sales director position and multiple engineer and overlay sales reps positions.

Job locations are in LA, SF, Seattle, Dallas, Northern VA, NYC, Boston,
Atlanta (SE only) and Chicago. Possible other locations include Denver
and St. Louis. If you are interested in more details, contact John Watson at AT&T directly.

If your online video related company has any job openings, let me know. In most cases I will highlight them here on the blog – free of charge.