Akamai Prolexic

Prolexic is Akamai's dedicated network-layer DDoS scrubbing platform. The sixth-generation platform launched in 2023 doubled dedicated mitigation capacity to more than 20 Tbps and runs as fully software-defined infrastructure across 32 global scrubbing centers. The platform is sized for the largest network-layer floods the public internet produces, and the 24/7 Security Operations Command Center includes more than 225 frontline defenders engaged before, during, and after every attack.

Always-on deployments route customer BGP announcements through Prolexic at all times and carry a zero-second mitigation SLA. On-demand deployments use BGP failover during an active attack and converge across the customer's announced prefixes within the time the BGP graph takes to settle. Hybrid coverage extends scrubbing into on-prem environments through a Corero-powered partnership and into cloud-native footprints through cloud-firewall integration. Prolexic Network Cloud Firewall (announced 2023) lets customers define cloud-firewall rules at the Prolexic edge instead of at the origin firewall.

Prolexic is operated, not just deployed. The customer's announced prefixes, BGP communities, mitigation thresholds, and SOCC engagement model are all decisions that need to be made before an attack and tuned during the program. Merito designs the BGP topology, authors the threshold matrix against the customer's traffic baseline, runs the tabletop exercises that validate the runbook, and stays on the program through the false-trigger review cycles that decide whether the customer's operations team trusts the platform during a real event.

Prolexic is the largest dedicated DDoS scrubbing platform by published capacity, and the capacity claim is real. The asset that drives renewals at customers Merito has worked with is the SOCC team. Customers in active attacks engage engineers directly. Programs that lean on the SOCC engagement model and run quarterly tabletop exercises stay defended through the kinds of attacks that overwhelm general-purpose CDN protections.

Always-on is the right default for financial services, healthcare, and government workloads with sustained attack exposure. The zero-second mitigation SLA is tied specifically to the always-on deployment shape. On-demand customers see a real BGP convergence interval before mitigation engages. Vendor copy occasionally elides that distinction, and Merito makes it explicit during scoping so the customer is not surprised during the first incident.

Prolexic is sometimes scoped against App and API Protector as if the customer needs to choose. They layer. Prolexic absorbs network-layer floods at L3 and L4 that an inline WAF cannot defend against. App and API Protector handles application-layer threats in line at L7. The dominant Merito recommendation for customers with sustained large-flood exposure is both products together, not one or the other.