Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM) said early Monday that it would acquire Prolexic Technologies, a Hollywood, Florida-based firm that specializes in DDoS (distributed denial of service ) protection solutions, for $370 million in cash.
The two companies have signed a definitive agreement under which Akamai will acquire all of the outstanding equity of Prolexic in exchange for roughly $370 million in cash, after purchase price adjustments and assumption of outstanding unvested options to purchase Prolexic stock.
The transaction is expected to occur in the first half of 2014, subject to closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
Akamai, which already provides cloud-based DDoS protection solutions, plans to leverage Prolexic’s technology and expertise in fighting DDoS attacks to provide customers with a line of security solutions designed to defend an enterprise’s Web and IP infrastructure against application-layer, network-layer and data center attacks.
Akamai is best known for its massive global network of over 100,000 servers that makes up what the company calls the “Akamai Intelligent Platform” which delivers content and provides Web security for companies around the world.
Through the acquisition, Akamai will inherit Prolexic’s scrubbing centers located in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
“Any company doing business on the Internet faces an evolving threat landscape of attacks aimed at disrupting operations, defacing the brand, or attempting to steal sensitive data and information,” said Tom Leighton, CEO of Akamai. “By joining forces with Prolexic, we intend to combine Akamai’s leading security and performance platform with Prolexic’s highly-regarded DDoS mitigation solutions for data center and enterprise applications protection.”
“We believe that, together, we will be able to deliver an unprecedented level of network visibility and protection,” said Scott Hammack, CEO at Prolexic.
Akamai will host a conference call to discuss the acquisition on December 2, 2013, at 8:45 a.m. Eastern time.