Talking of Akamai I remembered a condition placed on students that worked as interns for the company - if they dropped out of university the wouldn't be offered a full-time job. As usual Google came up trumps: Class Struggle: MIT Students, Lured To New Tech Firms, Get Caught in a Bind --- They Work for Professors Who May Also Oversee Their Academic Careers --- Homework as `Nondisclosure'

Since its founding, Akamai has aggressively used its MIT connections. Of the firm's 104 employees, 20 were students in the last semester, including 16 who were undergraduates or enrolled in a joint bachelor's-master's degree program. Ten more students have been hired to work for the summer.

"This company exists because of students," says Paul Sagan, the company's president. MIT, plus its faculty and students, now have about 40% of the company's shares.

But to maintain good ties with the school, Akamai has had to negotiate some tricky policy positions.

For one, the company voices a strong stance against students dropping out. Early on, Mr. Sagan says, some students approached him about going full time. "I told them that if they drop out of college before completing their undergraduate degree because they want to work full time at Akamai, we won't offer them a full-time job," says Mr. Sagan.