A diagram from the Arbor Networks website illustrates a Peakflow SP architecture
Network security solution company Arbor Networks announced this week that it has launched version 5.8 of its Pleakflow SP infrastructure security and traffic monitoring platform, an appliance designed for hosting and cloud providers.
While DDoS attacks have been a threat for many years, the prevalence has increased dramatically as the tools for building and operating botnets have improved. While attacks were once unusual, they are now commonplace, and frequently motivated by criminal intent. These days, hosting customers are aware of the DDoS threat, and looking to protect their systems from attack, creating both an opportunity and a degree of responsibility for the hosting provider.
The Peakflow appliance combines specific functions for mitigating DDoS attacks with a broader set of tools for traffic engineering and managing service quality. According to Arbor, Peakflow SP 5.8 includes a range of new functions designed to add more capacity and functionality to the platform.
On the capacity side, a new application processor module card boosts mitigation capacity, and enables the platform to handle larger attack volumes, up to 40Gbps of mitigation capacity, depending on the configuration. The new version also more than doubles the number of customers that can be provisioned onto a single Peakflow SP deployment, to 1,000, says Arbor, enabling service providers to rely on more opportunity for growth within a single investment.
From a function standpoint, the new version of the platform includes capacity to handle advanced attack mitigation demands involving CDN and proxy traffic; a BGP Flowspec offramp that enables more diversion criteria and makes DDoS attack mitigation easier for service providers; and a new function for creating profiles to monitor traffic levels at specific network interfaces.
“For more than 12 years, Peakflow SP has been deployed in the most demanding network environments in the world,” says Arbor president Colin Doherty, quoted in the press release. “The robust platform has evolved significantly over the years. Today, Peakflow SP addresses security issues like DDoS, operational issues such as service quality and network performance and even serves as a platform for revenue generation as a feature of managed security services, which are increasingly in demand by enterprises looking for an added layer of security protection,”
Talk back: are you currently providing customers with a solution for mitigating DDoS attacks? Have you looked at Arbor Networks’ Peakflow SP as a possible tool for dealing with malicious traffic? What has your experience been with delivering DDoS protection as a part of your service?
About Liam Eagle
Liam Eagle has worked as a contributor to the Web Host Industry Review since its inception in 2000, and as editor since 2003. He has been editor of the WHIR's print magazine since its launch. His daily involvement in the gathering and reporting of Web hosting news and his regular interaction with Web hosting leaders gives him an uncommonly broad appreciation of the issues and tends facing the business. Through his WHIR blog, Liam spots Web hosting trends and offers opinions on the industry-wide impacts of major developments and the motivation behind big announcements. Follow him on Twitter @liameagle
