Akamai vs OVHcloud

a16z Leads Series A in Private Network Startup doxxnet

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) announced it is leading a Series A investment in doxxnet, a startup building a private, parallel internet infrastructure for individuals and AI agents. doxxnet offers a software-defined global network with non-Internet domains, encrypted peer-to-peer communication, and DNS-level threat protection, all without requiring personal information like email or phone. The company is founded by Barrett Lyon, known for Prolexic (acquired by Akamai), BitGravity, and Defense.net. The funding will support the development of its 'Agentic Defined Networking' concept, which allows users and their agents to configure and control the network. The announcement highlights growing privacy needs driven by AI agents that operate with access to user data.

• a16z is leading a Series A investment in doxxnet.
• doxxnet provides a private, parallel internet infrastructure for users and AI agents.
• doxxnet was founded by Barrett Lyon, who previously founded Prolexic, BitGravity, and Defense.net.

Akamai Announces $11.6 Billion Multi-year Agreement with Anthropic to Support Growing Demand

Akamai today announced a significantly expanded relationship with Anthropic for $11.6 billion of contractual commitment over seven years.

AI companies adopt risky 'take-or-pay' contracts for compute

The AI industry is increasingly relying on take-or-pay contracts to secure computing power, a model borrowed from the energy sector. These agreements require AI companies to pay for GPUs, server time, and other inputs regardless of usage, creating significant financial risks. The payments are backed by expected future revenue, but there are concerns about whether AI revenues will materialize in time to meet payment schedules. Off-balance-sheet commitments are growing, with estimates ranging from $1.65 trillion to $3 trillion. Major players like Anthropic and OpenAI have committed billions, while companies like CoreWeave and Alphabet rely heavily on such contracts. Financial analysts and regulators warn that the entire system could collapse if companies fail to secure enough capital. The Bank of International Settlements has highlighted potential systemic risks, particularly through special purpose vehicles. The article notes that major banks and investors are closely monitoring this trend, with experts predicting a 'wave of disputes' as the sector matures.

• Take-or-pay contracts obligate AI companies to pay for compute regardless of usage, similar to energy sector agreements.
• Anthropic committed $750 billion for compute through 2030; OpenAI could spend over $500 billion in the next 10 years.
• Off-balance-sheet commitments in tech sector estimated at $1.65 trillion to $3 trillion.

Adtech AI Infrastructure Costs Challenge Profitability

This article explores the financial and operational challenges that AI adoption brings to adtech infrastructure. It argues that as AI workloads move from experimentation to production, the associated compute, storage, and network costs become significant and can erode product margins. The piece emphasizes the need for adtech companies to optimize infrastructure economics, match resources to workloads, and consider data residency requirements. It highlights the tension between model sophistication and real-time performance, and the importance of architectural flexibility. The author, Jeffrey Gregor from OVHcloud, positions infrastructure strategy as a key competitive differentiator in the next phase of adtech, where the ability to run AI efficiently and economically at scale matters more than access to AI itself.

• IDC predicts that by 2030, autonomous AI agents will manage a significant share of enterprise advertising operations.
• The article is authored by Jeffrey Gregor, General Manager at OVHcloud US.
• OVHcloud is a global cloud provider and subsidiary of OVH Group SAS.

Import Leased /24 into OVHcloud via BYOIP

A technical how-to explaining how to import a leased IPv4 /24 block into OVHcloud using BYOIP (Bring Your Own IP) to avoid OVHcloud's per-IP rental fee. The author compares OVHcloud's $2.39/month per IP charge (about $612/month for a /24) with leasing a clean /24 (cited from IPbnb at ~ $79/month) and describes the requirements (supported RIRs, prefix size, clean/unannounced status, WHOIS allocation), the setup steps (publish a route object with OVH's ASN, prove control via a token in the inetnum WHOIS record, order in OVH Control Panel, assign to service to announce), and operational gotchas (region selection, WHOIS/rDNS delegation, withdraw previous announcements, anti-DDoS included). The post highlights that leased blocks can be used with BYOIP if proper authorization and routing/ROA objects are in place.

• OVHcloud charges $2.39 per additional IP per month, which totals about $612/month for a /24 (256 addresses × $2.39).
• BYOIP (Bring Your Own IP) lets OVHcloud announce IP space you control so OVH does not bill per-IP rental for imported space.
• Supported RIRs for OVHcloud BYOIP are ARIN, RIPE, and APNIC; minimum block size is /24 and maximum is /19 (delivered as /24s).