http://www.beet.tv/2009/01/inauguration-drove-unprecendented-global-demand-for-bandwidth-akamai-exec.html

Akamai, the world's largest private global computer network, which provides distribution services to many of the world's news organizations, had record traffic today during the speech of Barack Obama.
Total traffic on the Akamai network surpassed a rate of more than 2 terabits per second at approximately 12:15 p.m. ET. Akamai also delivered over 12,000,000 requests per second at the same time. It streamed 7 million Flash video streams, also by 12:15 p.m. Here is a page at Akamai where you can see this traffic in realtime.
Here is a statement from Akamai's Robert Hughes:
“In addition to the historic nature of the Inauguration, it is now clear that this event has driven unprecedented demand from a global online audience,” said Robert Hughes, executive vice president of Global Sales, Services, and Marketing at Akamai. “With the Inauguration occurring during work-day hours in the U.S., we witnessed record numbers of live streams served in support of many leading news businesses. For an event of this scale, Akamai’s globally-distributed EdgePlatform is unique in its ability to bypass congestion points on the Internet, and to ensure a reliable, high-quality experience for our customers."
I was at the Akamai headquarters in Cambridge in September. Suzanne Johnson shared a demo of the rotating globe with lights indicating location of the company's 40,000 servers.
Updates to follow.
-- Andy Plesser, Executive Producer
Disclaimer: Akamai is a sponsor of Beet.TV.