CASE STUDY

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ATMC Deploys A10 Thunder TPS to Protect Against Growing DDoS and Application Attacks

Atlantic Telephone Membership Corporation (ATMC) is a nonprofit cooperative that is

owned by its members, the people of Brunswick County, North Carolina. ATMC not only

offers local telephone service, but also a wide variety of additional services, including

high-speed Internet, cable TV, wireless, business communications and security. ATMC’s

top priority has always been to provide the highest quality communications services and

customer service. It is dedicated to excellence as it delivers value to the customers in the

communities it serves.

ChallengesDistributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are not only occurring more frequently, but

with greater volumes and increased sophistication. As organizations become increasingly

dependent on the availability of their services and on their ability to connect to the Internet,

loss of uptime means loss of revenue. A threat protection system that provides deep traffic

visibility to spot anomalies across the traffic spectrum is needed to protect against multiple

classes of attack vectors.

Faced with its particular security, performance and budget challenges, ATMC wanted a

solution that could handle high volumes of traffic while protecting against a growing

number of application and DDoS attacks. Modern Enterprise Solutions partnered with ATMC

to assist. “Our biggest challenge was finding something to handle the high volume of traffic

without negatively affecting the daily end-user experience,” says Mike Strider, Manager of

Data Services at ATMC.

Selection CriteriaArmed with a set of technical requirements, ATMC evaluated solutions from three different

companies to determine which would be the best fit. “A10 Networks was chosen because it

met all of our requirements,” Strider says. “It just works!”

“With the help of A10 Thunder TPS, disruption of multi-vector DDoS attacks and the elimination of useless traffic before it penetrates our networks have made a big difference to our business.“ Mike Strider

Manager of Data ServicesATMC

CompanyAtlantic Telephone Membership Cooperative (ATMC)

PartnerModern Enterprise Solutions

IndustryTelecommunications

Network SolutionThunder TPS line of Threat Protection Systems

Critical Issues• ATMC was seeking a solution that could

handle high volumes of traffic and protect against a growing number of application and DDoS attacks, without negatively impacting the daily end-user experience.

Results• The TPS line of Threat Protection Systems

is enabling service availability against a variety of volumetric, protocol, resource and more sophisticated application attacks.

• ATMC has also benefited from savings in overall bandwidth utilization, as well as the enhanced safety and security of its end users.

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Corporate Headquarters

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Part Number: A10-CS-80178-EN-01 March 2016

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How to Buy

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Jeff BirnerCell: (813) 415-9984Email: jbirner@modernenterprise.com

©2016 A10 Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. The A10 logo, A10 Harmony, A10 Lightning, A10 Networks, A10 Thunder, aCloud, ACOS, Affinity, aFleX, aFlow, aGalaxy, aGAPI, aVCS, AX, aXAPI, IDsentrie, IP-to-ID, SSL Insight, SSLi, Thunder, Thunder TPS, UASG, and vThunder are trademarks or registered trademarks of A10 Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. A10 Networks assumes no responsibility for any inaccuracies in this document. A10 Networks reserves the right to change, modify, transfer, or otherwise revise this publication without notice.

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Solution

ATMC selected A10 Networks® TPS™ line of Threat Protection Systems,

which enables service availability against a variety of volumetric,

protocol, resource and more sophisticated application attacks. Built

on the A10 Advanced Core Operating System (ACOS®) platform,

Thunder TPS delivers high performance and leverages a shared

memory architecture to provide efficient tracking of network flows, as

well as robust multi-vector DDoS protection enforcement for service

providers, website operators and enterprises.

Because ATMC is a service provider offering business and residential

broadband services, its network uses a multi-homed peering

configuration. In this deployment, A10 Thunder TPS has been

configured to protect the subscriber subnet in an asymmetric

proactive manner. ATMC is using Thunder TPS system logging to

establish a baseline alert threshold for its subscriber subnets. It then

creates DDoS events as required when under attack, and manages the

mitigations in effect for each incident.

ResultsWhen asked to describe the single biggest value that ATMC has gained

from its A10 Thunder TPS solution, Strider notes the savings in overall

bandwidth utilization as well as the safety and security of infrastructure

against DDOS attacks. ”Disruption of DDoS attacks and the elimination

of useless traffic before it penetrates our networks have made a big

difference to our business,” Strider says.

Next Steps

Based on this very positive experience, ATMC is planning to explore

other A10 solutions that could help further its mission of providing

excellence and value to the community. Initially, it will be automating

the threat protection process with Thunder TPS.

About ATMCA nonprofit, member-owned cooperative in North Carolina, ATMC

is dedicated to excellence in customer service and providing

communications services that add value to the communities it serves.

In the early 1950s, the large telephone companies of the day lost

interest in providing service to most of Brunswick County because

they thought it was too rural. A determined group of local people

worked to build their own telephone company, and in 1955, Atlantic

Telephone Membership Corporation (ATMC) was chartered.

Today, ATMC not only offers local telephone service, but also a wide

variety of additional services, including high speed Internet, cable TV,

wireless, business communications and security. Its top priority has

always been to provide customers with communications services at an

excellent value and with outstanding customer service.

About Modern Enterprise SolutionsFounded in 2003, Modern Enterprise Solutions was created to provide

customers with the absolute best overall experience possible for

their networking and telecom needs. Now recognized as one of the

fastest growing private companies in America by Inc. Magazine and

the Tampa Business Journal, Modern Enterprise Solutions continues to

grow and exceed our customers’ expectations.

About A10 Networks A10 Networks is a leader in application and security networking,

providing a range of high-performance application networking

solutions that help organizations ensure that their data center

applications and networks remain highly available, accelerated

and secure. Founded in 2004, A10 Networks is based in San Jose,

California, and serves customers globally with offices worldwide.

For more information, visit: www.a10networks.com

“A10 Networks was chosen because it met all of our requirements. It just works!”

Mike Strider, Manager of Data Services, ATMC