Akamai acquiring anti-DDoS firm Prolexic for $370 million

Akamai Technologies today has agreed to acquire Prolexic Technologies, a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) mitigation services company, for $370 million.

The deal is expected to be completed by the first half of 2014, and Akamai CEO Tom Leighton says the intention is "not to dismantle" anything Prolexic now provides in terms of cloud-based DDoS service, but to eventually blend it into security services from Akamai. "This really accelerates the growth of our security business," he says.

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Akamai today provides cloud-based DDoS services of its own primarily intended for defense of Web sites and Web applications. Leighton says Prolexic's cloud-based anti-DDoS service is used more broadly to defend data centers and IP networks as well, and he has seen integration of Akamai and Prolexic services at some customer locations.

Leighton emphasizes that the questions related to branding, such as how the Prolexic name will be carried forward in marketing, have not yet been determined and will be answered at a future date. Leighton anticipates Akamai will be offering a "suite of services" related to cloud-based DDoS mitigation once the Prolexic deal is sealed.

Ellen Messmer is senior editor at Network World, an IDG publication and website, where she covers news and technology trends related to information security. Twitter: MessmerE. E-mail: emessmer@nww.com

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