Akamai Enables Motorcycle Superstore to Cost-Effectively Protect Against Application-Level Attacks, While Maintaining Optimal Site and Mobile Performance

CHICAGO, June 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- INTERNET RETAILER CONFERENCE -- Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere, today announced that Motorcycle Superstore has implemented multiple Akamai solutions to help protect its site against application-level attacks, as well as accelerate performance for its online and mobile properties.  According to Motorcycle Superstore, since leveraging Akamai, it has reduced capital expenditures on security hardware by 15 percent and reduced bandwidth costs associated with handling attack traffic by 10 percent. 

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Motorcycle-Superstore.com is one of the leading online retailers in the motorcycle and powersports industry.  Ranked #186 on the Internet Retailer Top 500 list, the ecommerce site generated online sales of $71 million in 2010 and $106 million in 2011.  As a market leader, Motorcycle Superstore needed a business partner that could block application-level attacks that could threaten its consumers' credit card data while maintaining optimal site and mobile performance and an outstanding user experience.  The Akamai solutions stood out on a number of fronts, but the capability of Akamai's Web Application Firewall, part of the company's KONA security solutions, to catch and block bad traffic at the network edge entirely outside of Motorcycle Superstore's datacenter, was the most compelling.

"With Akamai Web Application Firewall, we're confidently positioned to drive more site traffic while safeguarding our brand and shoppers' information," explained Jason Miller, Vice President of Technology, Motorcycle Superstore.  "With Akamai, we can scale to handle peak traffic and continue our aggressive growth without over-provisioning our security infrastructure."

Using Akamai Web Application Firewall, Motorcycle Superstore can easily configure, enable and disable users in the Akamai LUNA Control Center, as well as enforce IP whitelists and blacklists.  While gaining more protection from threats, Motorcycle Superstore can also enjoy greater visibility through event logging, reporting and auditing.  "By monitoring traffic for threats, we found that 6-10 percent of traffic trying to access the Motorcycle Superstore site violated the company's firewall rules and was stopped at the edge," added Miller.  "Because Akamai Web Application Firewall helps ensure the highest level of application security, it allows us to maintain our PCI compliance."

In addition to the Akamai Web Application Firewall, Akamai Dynamic Site Accelerator, part of the company's AQUA Web Solutions, is also supporting Motorcycle Superstore to ensure PCI compliance without negatively impacting the site visitor experience. 

Like many businesses, Motorcycle Superstore is seeing a growing number of shoppers accessing its site from mobile devices.  To aggressively keep pace with growing mobile usage, the company has developed a range of new capabilities targeting a variety of mobile devices.  Motorcycle Superstore turned to Akamai's AQUA Mobile Solutions, deploying the Akamai Mobile Accelerator and Mobile Detection and Redirect services.  These Akamai services are designed to allow the company to ensure the right mobile-adapted content is served to the device, without having to keep track of the ever-growing list of devices and mobile browsers, and that the content loads as quickly as possible.  "Akamai's mobile services helped enhance the user experience, encourage more time on our mobile site, and drive a 200 percent increase in mobile channel sales," concluded Miller.

"Today's shoppers who are on a mobile device are much younger, have fewer brand loyalties and are faced with more distractions disrupting their attention during a shopping session," said Lelah Manz, Chief Strategist, Commerce, at Akamai.  "Performance on a mobile device is more important than ever.  Leveraging Akamai's comprehensive set of solutions for site performance, mobile and security, retailers like Motorcycle Superstore are well positioned to provide a fast and secure online experience for their end users across all devices."

Editor's note: To hear directly from Jason Miller, Vice President of Technology, on how Motorcycle Superstore uses Akamai to help accelerate their ecommerce business and get the best performance for their customers, please visit blogs.akamai.com.

About Motorcycle Superstore

Motorcycle-Superstore.com is the leading online retailer in the motorcycle and powersports industry.  Serving motorcycle riders for over 12 years, Motorcycle-Superstore.com specializes in selling motorcycle and powersports helmets, riding apparel, accessories and parts at the lowest prices possible.  Internet Retailer magazine has ranked Motorcycle Superstore in the top 10 of all sporting goods sites and in the top 200 of all e-commerce sites.  Powered by a dedicated staff of motorcycle enthusiasts, Motorcycle-Superstore.com continues to impress customers by constantly raising its online shopping standards.  Visit www.motorcycle-superstore.com.

About Akamai

Akamai® is the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere.  At the core of the Company's solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform™ providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise.  Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud.  To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit www.akamai.com or blogs.akamai.com, and follow @Akamai on Twitter.

Akamai Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act

This release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, the effects of any attempts to intentionally disrupt our services or network by hackers or others, failure of Akamai services to operate as expected, unexpected termination of Akamai's relationship with Motorcycle Superstore, a failure of Akamai's network infrastructure, and other factors that are discussed in Akamai's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.

SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.