Palo Alto Networks™, the leader in next-generation firewalls, today announced that Cricket Communications, Inc., a leading provider of unlimited wireless services, has upgraded its data center infrastructure with PA-4000 Series next-generation firewalls for high-performance threat prevention. Deployed as a replacement for its current data center firewall, the platform is also allowing Cricket to consolidate a number of other devices for security and traffic management.
Cricket Communications supports more than 4 million subscribers and offers flat-rate unlimited service over the latest technology, high-quality, all-digital CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO wireless network. Designed for customers whose basic and advanced wireless needs have not been met by traditional communications companies, Cricket is the pioneer of unlimited services with no long-term commitments or credit checks required. According to Doug Bird, vice president of IT operations and security for Cricket, the company must balance the need for data center and corporate user security with the assurance of high-quality service delivery, particularly for voice services. During capacity planning activities the current firewall platforms could not handle the load as it continued to scale.
"Though our prices and unlimited services continue to drive high customer demand, the quality of that service is what keeps customers happy," said Bird. "As our bandwidth grew, it was clear we needed a new approach. Palo Alto’s products are the best we’ve seen for traffic identification, and they’ve handled loads in excess of five times what our previous vendors could. Additionally, they’re easy to use, very accurate and it’s extremely easy to drill down into the information to pinpoint abusers or threats and block them before they impact service."
"The problems facing service providers like Cricket are similar to those facing many enterprises – just at a much higher volume," said Larry Link, vice president of sales for Palo Alto Networks. "Legacy ‘port blocking’ firewalls just can’t keep up, and adding other devices into the mix adds complexity and drag – not to mention cost. Organizations are replacing their firewall infrastructure with the PA Series to not only better understand the new application landscape, but to have the ability to deal with it while maintaining the highest levels of performance."
About Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto Networks™ is the leader in next-generation firewalls, enabling unprecedented visibility and granular policy control of applications and content – by user, not just IP address – at up to 10Gbps with no performance degradation. Based on patent-pending App-ID™ technology, Palo Alto Networks firewalls accurately identify and control applications – regardless of port, protocol, evasive tactic or SSL encryption – and scan content to stop threats and prevent data leakage. Enterprises can for the first time embrace Web 2.0 and maintain complete visibility and control, while significantly reducing total cost of ownership through device consolidation. For more information, visit www.paloaltonetworks.com.
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