Prolexic Technologies

Prolexic Technologies was established in 2003 by Barrett Lyon as a specialist provider of protection against distributed denial-of-service attacks. Its central business problem was the difficulty faced by organizations whose public websites, data centers, or enterprise applications could be overwhelmed by malicious traffic. Rather than requiring every customer to maintain a large in-house defensive network, Prolexic operated a managed service that redirected traffic to its own mitigation infrastructure, removed harmful traffic, and returned legitimate requests to the customer’s site. The company developed a global network of traffic-scrubbing centers and operated a 24-hour security operations control center. Its technology addressed attacks at network, transport, and application layers. This layered approach was significant because attacks were not limited to large botnet-driven floods: increasingly targeted application-level attacks could be directed at organizations of many sizes and could require fewer resources to launch. Prolexic’s service was therefore marketed to businesses whose availability and online transactions were operationally important. Prolexic’s stated customer markets included airlines and hospitality, e-commerce, energy, financial services, gambling, gaming, government and other public-sector organizations, and software-as-a-service providers. Reference material names Sony as a customer and reports that the company served some of the largest banks, but it does not provide a complete verified customer roster. The company’s public profile also extended beyond its commercial operations: founder Barrett Lyon was associated with the book Fatal System Error by Joseph Menn, which examined cybercrime and online attacks. The business received industry recognition in 2005, when Red Herring listed it among North America’s 100 Hottest Private Companies. Prolexic subsequently raised outside capital to expand its people and infrastructure. Financing in 2011 totaled $15.9 million across two rounds led by Kennet Partners. In 2012, Camden Partners invested $6 million and American Trading and Production Corp. invested $2 million in an $8 million Series B round; Jason Tagler of Camden Partners joined Prolexic’s board. The company stated that the financing would support staffing and network expansion. In 2013, Prolexic raised a $30 million Series C round led by Trident Capital and Intel Capital, with participation from Kennet Partners, Camden Partners, and Medina Capital. Akamai Technologies acquired Prolexic in a $370 million transaction completed in February 2014. The acquisition ended Prolexic’s period as an independent company and placed its technology within Akamai, a larger provider of Internet content delivery and cloud services. The Prolexic name continued as a DDoS security brand and platform under Akamai. In 2023, Akamai announced the sixth generation of the Prolexic platform. It described the system as fully software-defined and scalable and reported that its dedicated attack-mitigation capacity had doubled to 20 Tbps. Prolexic’s history therefore combines an independent specialist-company phase with its continuing role as an Akamai security offering.

• 2023

  Sixth-generation Prolexic platform launched

  [2]Akamai Technologies official websiteakamai.com

  Akamai launched the sixth generation of Prolexic, describing it as software-defined and scalable and reporting 20 Tbps of dedicated mitigation capacity.

• 2014

  Acquired by Akamai Technologies

  [1]Prolexic Technologiesen.wikipedia.org

  Akamai completed its acquisition of Prolexic in February, reportedly valuing the transaction at $370 million.

• 2013

  Raises $30 million Series C

  [1]Prolexic Technologiesen.wikipedia.org

  Trident Capital and Intel Capital led a $30 million Series C round joined by existing investors.

• 2012

  Raises Series B financing

  [1]Prolexic Technologiesen.wikipedia.org

  The company received $8 million in Series B financing, including investments from Camden Partners and American Trading and Production Corp., to support staffing and network expansion.

• 2011

  Completes two financing rounds

  [1]Prolexic Technologiesen.wikipedia.org

  Prolexic completed two financing rounds led by Kennet Partners, totaling $15.9 million.

• 2005

  Named a Red Herring Hottest Private Company

  [1]Prolexic Technologiesen.wikipedia.org

  Red Herring included Prolexic among its 100 Hottest Private Companies in North America.

• 2003

  Prolexic is founded

  [1]Prolexic Technologiesen.wikipedia.org

  Barrett Lyon founded Prolexic Technologies as a provider of managed protection against distributed denial-of-service attacks.

Enterprise-grade, cloud-delivered DDoS protection built around global traffic scrubbing, continuous monitoring, and mitigation across network, transport, and application layers.

• Cloud cybersecurity service

  Prolexic DDoS Mitigation Platform

  Prolexic’s core service protected websites, data centers, and enterprise IP applications from distributed denial-of-service attacks. Customer traffic could be redirected to Prolexic’s mitigation infrastructure, where malicious or unwanted traffic was identified and scrubbed before legitimate requests were sent onward. The platform addressed network, transport, and application-layer threats and was supported by continuous monitoring from a security operations control center.

• DDoS protection platform · 2014

  Akamai Prolexic

  After Akamai acquired Prolexic in 2014, the Prolexic name continued as part of Akamai’s security portfolio. The offering combines managed DDoS defense with Akamai’s broader cloud and Internet infrastructure. In 2023, Akamai introduced a sixth-generation version described as fully software-defined and scalable, with reported dedicated attack-mitigation capacity of 20 Tbps.

• 2023

  Launch of the sixth-generation Prolexic platformGeneration change

  Background

  Akamai continued developing Prolexic as an enterprise DDoS mitigation platform after the acquisition.

  Action taken

  Akamai launched a sixth-generation platform described as fully software-defined and scalable.

  Aftermath

  Akamai reported that dedicated attack-mitigation capacity had doubled to 20 Tbps.

  Source

• 2014

  Akamai acquires ProlexicM&A

  Background

  Prolexic had built a specialist DDoS mitigation business serving organizations that needed protection for Internet-facing websites and applications.

  Action taken

  Akamai Technologies completed the acquisition of Prolexic Technologies in February 2014.

  Aftermath

  Prolexic ceased to operate as an independent company, while its technology and brand continued within Akamai’s security portfolio.

  Reported transaction value. $370 million (February 2014)

  Source

• 2023

  Akamai launches sixth-generation Prolexic DDoS platform[2]Akamai Technologies official websiteakamai.com

  Product launch · Product generation

  Akamai introduced a sixth-generation Prolexic platform described as fully software-defined and scalable, with dedicated attack-mitigation capacity reported as doubled to 20 Tbps.

• 2014

  Akamai completes acquisition of Prolexic Technologies[1]Prolexic Technologiesen.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  Akamai Technologies completed its acquisition of Prolexic in a transaction valued at $370 million, bringing Prolexic’s DDoS mitigation capabilities into Akamai’s security business.

1. 1Prolexic Technologiesen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Akamai Technologies official websiteakamai.com