Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) announce today an exclusive strategic alliance focused on bringing to market mobile cloud acceleration solutions aimed at improving end-user Internet experiences such as mobile ecommerce, enterprise applications and Internet content.

The companies will jointly develop solutions for the fast-growing market of content and applications delivered to mobile devices. As leaders in their respective fields, Ericsson and Akamai bring together the power of mobile networks and the cloud to open new business opportunities for both operators and content providers by creating a new business model built around quality of experience and premium services.

This is the first time that Akamai's global delivery network is integrated into mobile networks in this way. Working with Ericsson, the content and applications already being accelerated over the Internet by Akamai will now also be accelerated over mobile broadband, giving a true end-to-end quality of experience.

Thomson Reuters (which participated in early prototype testing) is well-known for its market-leading mobile strategies. The company has stressed the importance of delivering consistent, fast and high-quality experiences on mobile devices in order to drive adoption and customer satisfaction.

Ericsson estimates that there will be almost 5 billion mobile broadband subscriptions by 2016. The company is also seeing an explosive growth in the Internet content and applications that people want to access on their mobile devices. 

The Ericsson and Akamai alliance creates for the first time, a truly integrated mobile Internet ecosystem designed to enable mobile network operators to be more involved in the Internet value chain, in turn helping them better monetize their networks and subscriber base. The solutions are also designed to greatly simplify how content providers distribute their content and gain access to larger audiences.

"The market is becoming increasingly mobile. As an example, advanced Smartphone devices will grow 4-5 times to 2016 and the generated traffic will grow about 30 times, so end-to-end quality of experience becomes key," says Hans Vestberg, President and CEO, Ericsson. "Ericsson is the world leader in high-performance mobile broadband networks and Akamai handles hundreds of billions of daily Web interactions – this is truly a beneficial partnership for the entire mobile and content industries."

"Combining the power of Akamai's global network with Ericsson's industry expertise will allow the mobile industry to reinvent the way it works with content and application providers and will help end-users get the best possible experience when accessing the Web from their mobile devices," said David Kenny, President of Akamai.

A prototype of the mobile cloud acceleration solution will be showcased at the Ericsson Hall (Hall 6) during Mobile World Congress 2011, taking place in Barcelona 14-17 February.