Akamai Secures Critical Infrastructure with Agentless Zero Trust Segmentation Powered by NVIDIA
Rhea-AI Summary
Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) and NVIDIA launched an agentless Zero Trust segmentation solution combining Akamai Guardicore Segmentation with NVIDIA BlueField DPUs to protect OT and ICS, including "un-agentable" industrial equipment. The hardware-isolated approach enforces real-time policies, improves visibility and anomaly detection, and is expected globally in Q2 2026.
This aims to reduce operational disruption, align with stricter regulations, and lower cyber insurance risk while preserving host performance.
Positive
- Agentless Zero Trust segmentation for OT and ICS
- Hardware-isolated enforcement via NVIDIA BlueField DPU
- Real-time policy enforcement and anomaly detection
- Expected global availability in Q2 2026
Negative
- Requires NVIDIA BlueField hardware for full functionality
- No pricing, commercial terms, or partner deployment timelines disclosed
News Market Reaction – AKAM
On the day this news was published, AKAM gained 4.87%, reflecting a moderate positive market reaction. Our momentum scanner triggered 38 alerts that day, indicating elevated trading interest and price volatility. This price movement added approximately $671M to the company's valuation, bringing the market cap to $14.44B at that time.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Key Figures
Market Reality Check
Peers on Argus
Select software/security peers showed mixed moves, with names like SAIL and MDB appearing in momentum scanners with downward moves, while the broader peer list (OKTA, RBRK, FFIV) also skews negative. This suggests AKAM’s sharp move is more stock-specific than a uniform sector rotation.
Historical Context
| Date | Event | Sentiment | Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 19 | Q4/FY 2025 earnings | Neutral | -0.1% | Reported Q4 and full-year 2025 results with mixed GAAP vs non-GAAP EPS trends. |
| Jan 27 | Gartner recognition | Positive | +4.7% | Named 2026 Gartner Customers’ Choice for network security microsegmentation. |
| Jan 21 | Partner expansion | Positive | +4.6% | Deutsche Telekom Security expanded managed cybersecurity offerings using Akamai programs. |
| Jan 15 | Earnings call notice | Neutral | +1.0% | Announced timing and access details for Q4 and full-year 2025 investor call. |
| Dec 19 | Cloud ISV program | Positive | +0.8% | Launched ISV Catalyst program to accelerate ISV growth on Akamai’s cloud platform. |
Recent positive security- and partnership-focused announcements typically saw modest positive price reactions, while earnings elicited a muted response, indicating news-flow generally aligns with price but with limited magnitude.
Over the last few months, Akamai has highlighted growing strength in security and segmentation. On Dec 19, 2025, it launched the ISV Catalyst program to support ISVs on its cloud platform, followed by a Jan 21, 2026 expansion with Deutsche Telekom Security across critical sectors. Recognition as a 2026 Gartner Customers’ Choice for microsegmentation and Q4 2025 earnings showing revenue of $1.095B and FY $4.208B underscore strategic emphasis on security and Guardicore Segmentation, consistent with today’s NVIDIA-powered OT/ICS offering.
Market Pulse Summary
This announcement showcases Akamai’s push deeper into critical infrastructure security by combining Guardicore Segmentation with NVIDIA BlueField DPUs to deliver agentless Zero Trust protection across OT and ICS environments. It follows earlier momentum in security microsegmentation and partnerships highlighted in late 2025 and early 2026. Key items to watch include customer adoption in energy and transportation, execution toward the Q2 2026 global rollout, and how this offering supports growth in Guardicore and related security segments.
Key Terms
zero trust segmentation technical
operational technology (ot) technical
industrial control system (ics) technical
data processing units (dpu) technical
indicators of compromise technical
high-performance computing (hpc) technical
AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation and NVIDIA BlueField integration ends the long-standing trade-off between advanced security and system performance for energy, manufacturing, and transportation sectors
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) has announced a new solution powered by NVIDIA to protect most vital systems from increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. By combining Akamai Guardicore Segmentation software with NVIDIA BlueField Data Processing Units (DPU), the companies are delivering a way to support the full operational technology (OT) and industrial control system (ICS) landscape, including “un-agentable” industrial equipment — the heavy machinery and control systems that power modern society. Organizations can implement this hardware-isolated, “agentless” security approach to help align with strict new regulatory requirements and lower their risk profile for cyber insurance.
Protecting critical infrastructure has historically been a challenge. Most cybersecurity tools require installing agents — small pieces of software — directly onto a computer. However, as cyberthreats increasingly target mission-critical environments, organizations are seeking better ways to protect critical assets, including the specialized controllers used in water plants, power grids, and factories. Many of these systems are too old or too delicate to run extra software without risking crashes or production slowdown. As a result, organizations have often been forced to leave sensitive infrastructure exposed and vulnerable.
By offloading user-configurable security processes from the host system to the NVIDIA BlueField DPU, the joint solution enables Zero Trust segmentation without requiring software agents on fragile or legacy systems. It delivers deep, out-of-band visibility across systems, networks, and applications without disrupting operations. Security policies can be enforced in real time and are capable of creating a strong protective boundary around critical operational systems. The result is trusted insight into operational activity and improved overall cyber resilience.
In addition to segmentation, the solution can identify anomalous network connections and indicators of compromise. The agentless approach allows organizations to filter threats and isolate compromised systems at the hardware level, mitigating and obstructing threat proliferation even if a facility’s main computer is breached. Because NVIDIA BlueField acts as an independent “bump-in-the-wire” protector, users can lock down sensitive industrial equipment with minimal impact on system performance or operational uptime of the machinery itself.
“Whether you are running a water plant or a high-performance computing (HPC) cluster, your priority is keeping the system moving at full speed. You can’t afford to let security software tax your performance,” said Ofer Wolf, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Security at Akamai. “In the past, these environments were extremely difficult to secure because the machines could not handle the overhead of traditional tools without risking a crash or slowing down vital calculations. Akamai and NVIDIA are changing that. By offloading segmentation and observability to the DPU, we’re giving organizations a way to stop attacks in their tracks while maximizing CPU power for the heavy lifting it was meant to do.”
“AI is fundamentally reshaping every business, and as automation scales, safeguarding enterprise data and resources is absolutely critical — but security cannot come at the expense of uptime or resilience,” said Kevin Deierling, Senior Vice President, Networking at NVIDIA. “By integrating Akamai’s segmentation capabilities directly into NVIDIA BlueField, organizations can enforce Zero Trust at the infrastructure layer, protecting their most sensitive operations without impacting system stability or production performance.”
This collaboration between Akamai and NVIDIA comes at a crucial time. Recent assessments from the U.S. federal government highlight that energy, and transportation sectors are now primary targets for adversaries looking to cause widespread disruption.
The joint solution is expected to be available globally in Q2 2026. For more information on the Akamai Guardicore Segmentation and NVIDIA BlueField integration, please visit the Akamai blog and NVIDIA blog.
About Akamai
Akamai is the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business online. Our market-leading security solutions, superior threat intelligence, and global operations team provide defense in depth to safeguard enterprise data and applications everywhere. Akamai’s full-stack cloud computing solutions deliver performance and affordability on the world’s most distributed platform. Global enterprises trust Akamai to provide the industry-leading reliability, scale, and expertise they need to grow their business with confidence. Learn more at akamai.com and akamai.com/blog, or follow Akamai Technologies on X and LinkedIn.
Contacts
Akamai Media Relations
akamaipr@akamai.com
Akamai Investor Relations
invrel@akamai.com
This press release was published by a CLEAR® Verified individual.
FAQ
When will Akamai and NVIDIA's agentless segmentation solution (AKAM) be available?
What does "agentless" Zero Trust segmentation mean for AKAM customers?
Which industries does the Akamai and NVIDIA integration target for AKAM security?
How will the NVIDIA BlueField DPU affect performance with Akamai Guardicore Segmentation (AKAM)?
Can the AKAM solution help organizations meet regulatory or cyber insurance requirements?
