Among a handful of start-ups trying to solve the distributed denial-of-service problem, Arbor Networks stands out for its technology, speed to market and investors.

Spun out of a research project at the University of Michigan, Arbor already has its antidistributed denial-of-service system deployed across Michigan's Merit educational network. Cisco, in addition to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Intel, helped fund the original project, and now is helping Arbor commercialize the research. Arbor has received $11 million from Cisco and Battery Ventures.

Arbor places appliances in the background of a service provider's network that gather IP traffic data from other network equipment. The devices are designed to trace distributed denial-of-service attacks and filter out offending traffic without affecting network speed.

Companies will pay a monthly fee for the distributed denial-of-service protection service, which is expected to be available through service providers and Web hosting companies this spring. Beta testers include an Internet telephony provider and an online brokerage, as Arbor plans to pursue both service providers and companies as customers.

While building staff, Arbor is keeping its academic roots. Only five employees are located at corporate headquarters near Boston. The 20 members of the development team have stayed in Ann Arbor, Mich.

» posted by ITworld staff

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