Like most major companies that distribute apps and software to customers on their mobile devices, Apple has traditionally relied on external support from companies like Akamai (News - Alert) and Level 3 that have large distribution networks. These are generally called Content Delivery Networks, or CDNs for short, and are handled best by dedicated CDN providers. However, this might all be about to change. Several new networking staff hires, as well as negotiations with Akamai that some suspect to have gone sour, lead many to believe that Apple (News - Alert) is preparing to construct its own large-scale network.

For starters, Apple created a new task group as of last year, and has been adding people to the roster with extensive background in the construction of large-scale networks. This trend has been going on for the past few months, and has not gone unnoticed by those within the networking community.

Another sign that Apple could be working on a new CDN comes from discussions with Akamai. One of the worst-kept secrets of the networking industry is the relationship that Apple has with Akamai: though neither has publicly stated the exact nature of their involvement, it is heavily implied that Apple is one of Akamai's largest customers. Considering the fact that Apple has reportedly spent over $100 million with Akamai last year for their content delivery, it's likely that they are Akamai's biggest customers by a large margin.

Image via Hattanas Kumchai / Shutterstock.com

Although Akamai did not mention Apple by name, Akamai still announced that they were in contract renegotiation with their biggest media customer and expected to close the deal by this quarter. Akamai also said that the renegotiation would likely result in several quarters with negative revenue, implying that Apple has severely lowered their funding. This is a telltale sign that Apple is working on its own CDN.

Apple is still in the early stages of construction, so it is difficult to speculate on exactly how this will impact the CDN providers Apple works with, or Apple's customers. Apple's network will need to be optimized for software updates, apps and iTunes videos, among other products, so there is a good chance that the company will still utilize external CDN providers as a secondary network. Some speculate that the new network is Apple's response to performance issues with iCloud, so it is unknown exactly to what scale Apple will develop its CDN. Either way, Apple customers could see their downloads happen faster than ever in the near future.