StackPath Launches Next Generation of Platform and Services

DALLAS, July 02, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- To transform internet security and the cloud's edge, StackPath, the world's only secure edge platform, today unveiled multiple launches, updates, and upgrades. This includes:

• a new network of highly-scalable, advanced edge Points of Presence (PoPs)
• new secure edge services
• a new customer portal with self-service signup and simplified service setup and management
• a new platform model and pricing
• new branding and corporate web site

"Our founding mission is to make the Internet safe. The cloud's edge is the strategic location for doing just that, but it's been overlooked and under-developed. It has to evolve," said Lance Crosby, StackPath co-founder and CEO. "That's why I'm proud to unveil StackPath 2.0. It's more than just the next generation of our platform and services. It brings, for the first time, cloud-scale and design all the way to the edge, transforming this critical dimension of the internet."

Since its founding in late 2015, StackPath has acquired six companies with key security and edge-centric technologies. StackPath 2.0 marks the integration and advancement of these technologies into a unified, frictionless platform that delivers multiple, inherently-secured edge services, including edge delivery (for CDN, API acceleration, file distribution, media streaming, and more), a web application firewall, managed DNS, website monitoring, and DDoS mitigation. The design and implementation of the new platform also paves the way for StackPath to enable customers to use its services and technologies to build their own innovative edge services and solutions.

"StackPath is building for the future in a sector that is undergoing significant change," said Philbert Shih, research analyst and managing director at Structure Research. "There are many CDNs and traditional infrastructure service providers that were built in a way and at a time when things like scalability and extensibility were less of a factor. Today, it is crucial to build a platform in a way that is easy to upgrade, scalable and allows new products to be built on top. The openness and flexibility to partner with third parties is a big part of the overall value proposition as well. This is the direction StackPath is moving in as it looks to build a unified secure cloud infrastructure services delivery platform."

New Network
The new StackPath network was built from the ground up using cloud design principles that until now have not been used by edge service providers. These include extensive automation, virtualization capabilities, and industry-leading computing, storage, and networking configurations. Moreover, each StackPath network point of presence features multiple connections with tier-1 network carriers , premium peering, and a full infrastructure deployment?as opposed to other providers' PoPs that might be just a single collocated server. The result is a global platform that is more secure, performant, scalable, and reliable, capable of delivering every secure edge service from every location and providing rapid deployment of future services.

Key details include:

• 40 Tbps of global bandwidth on a single platform, with additional planned by end of year
• 45 advanced secure edge PoPs in prime locations, with aggressive expansion scheduled
• full hardware acceleration capabilities deployed in every node

"We've focused on scaling the technologies that came from each acquisition and deploying them in a virtualized, flexible manner. When you look at other edge platforms, they're a Frankenstein of old, single-service architectures," said Wen Temitim, StackPath CTO. "We insisted on creating an architecture that supports all of our services and technologies in a single platform that is extensible for all of the services we have in the works. It's the only way to deliver a better experience for our more than one million customers already on the platform, and establish the scalability needed to meet the threats of tomorrow."

New Secure Edge Services
Available today, StackPath has released new and expanded versions of the company's secure edge services, as well as new services the company has not previously offered. These include:

• New Content Delivery Network (CDN)
  The new StackPath CDN consolidates the powerful features and performance of Highwinds' enterprise-grade CDN; the speed, flexibility, and self-service features of MaxCDN and StackPath SecureCDN; and the built-in security features of SecureCDN such as platform-level DDoS protection and integrated WAF. While integrating the services, the delivery technology was further engineered to make it even more adaptable for developers' wide and growing range of delivery needs beyond CDN, including API delivery, file/firmware distribution, and video delivery.
  
  
• New Web Application Firewall (WAF)
  The industry-leading StackPath WAF has been updated with even more advanced functionality, including a custom rules engine that allows WAF administrators to create and manage their own traffic management rules. In addition, for the first time, customers can use StackPath WAF with infrastructure and applications running outside of the company's platform, providing StackPath protection for third -party services.
  
  
• Managed DNS
  StackPath now provides global, managed DNS for secure, fast, and reliable domain name resolution from the edge. Engineered in-house, StackPath DNS leverages the same global, geographically-distributed Anycast network as other StackPath services, running within the company's new advanced infrastructure network. As with all StackPath services, the DNS service is easy to set up and configure, and inherently secure.
  
  
• Monitoring
  StackPath introduces a new monitoring service built on industry-leading technologies created by Server Density (Server Density joined StackPath in June of this year). At launch, the new service provides exceptional website monitoring to help customers maintain the best performance and end-user experiences, with the ability to choose one or many monitoring locations to finetune create customized monitoring maps. The service will grow to monitor additional endpoint types and include even more features as Server Density technologies are completely integrated into the StackPath platform in the coming weeks.

New Customer Portal
StackPath has launched an all new customer portal that supports the cloud scale and speed of the new infrastructure network and makes it easier than ever for customers to manage StackPath accounts and services. It features intuitive, streamlined workflows that make setup and management simple, and for services to be configured and running immediately. Perhaps most important, the new portal is built on a modular application framework and fully leverages StackPath platform and service API, abstracting the web app from the services it manages. This architecture will significantly accelerate the time to market of future StackPath services and features.

"It doesn't matter whether you are talking about services in the middle of the cloud or at the edge?developers demand control and they expect it to be fast and well-documented," said Ben Gabler, StackPath VP of Product Engineering. "That's why we built everything in our platform API first. We have built the customer portal around the same customer-facing API to surface all that functionality in the simplest, easiest-to-use user interface imaginable."

New  Platform Model and Pricing
A key dimension of the new StackPath platform and customer portal is "stacks," a new way to deploy and manage StackPath services. A stack is a collection of one or more StackPath services, configured specifically for that stack's use case, such as content delivery, API distribution, or even standalone WAF.

Simple workflows walk customers through creating and deploying their stacks. Services can be added to or removed from a stack at any time, or further customized, as needs change. Customers are able to build their own stack from the ground up, selecting and configuring their individual services. Or they can use a stack template, preconfigured to deploy multiple services, based on common use cases and best-practices security and performance configurations.

StackPath CDN, WAF, Managed DNS, and Monitoring are individually priced at $10/month, each with a generous level of included monthly consumption. At launch, three stack templates preconfigured for Edge Delivery are available, each including CDN, DNS, WAF, and Monitoring with bundled pricing starting at only $20/month. More stack templates will be introduced in the coming weeks.

All packages are available month-to-month and with cost-effective rates for additional consumption, with the first month of a single-service package or the $20/month Edge Delivery package free for new accounts. Customers that need StackPath services at significantly higher volumes than included in any of these packages are encouraged to contact StackPath sales for a custom quote.

MaxCDN, Highwinds, and StackPath SecureCDN Transitions
The StackPath platform now meets and exceeds the performance and capabilities of the legacy MaxCDN, Highwinds, and StackPath SecureCDN platforms and services. Starting today, new StackPath accounts will only be onboarded to the new platform. Existing MaxCDN, Highwinds, and SecureCDN customers' services, pricing, and customer portals are unchanged; existing customers may continue using and accessing their services as before. Existing Highwinds accounts may add and access the new platform capabilities with their existing accounts (new services and functionality are available through the new customer portal). At a later date a seamless migration path will be provided for legacy MaxCDN and SecureCDN accounts, but customers are welcome and invited to try the new platform at any time.

"Today is the biggest single milestone for any company I've ever been a part of. It's the result of countless hours of strategy, development, and execution from every StackPath department and team," said Crosby. "I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is not just a milestone for our company. We won't stop short of transforming the industry's definition of the edge."

To learn more about all of today's announcements and see details on the new products and pricing, visit www.stackpath.com.

StackPath®
Protect your edge.tm

StackPath is a platform of secure edge services that enables developers to protect, accelerate, and innovate cloud properties ranging from websites to media delivery and IoT services. With an innovative global edge network infrastructure, StackPath delivers enterprise-grade security and performance in a frictionless, on-demand platform with cloud-scale control and flexibility. More than one million customers, including early-stage and Fortune 100 companies, use StackPath services. StackPath is headquartered in Dallas and has offices across the U.S. and around the world. For more information, visit stackpath.com and follow StackPath at www.fb.com/stackpathllc and www.twitter.com/stackpath

For more information, media and analysts may contact: 
Susie McDonald
StackPath
VP, Corporate Communications
[email protected]
503-806-3841

Bill Lessard
PRwithBrains for StackPath
[email protected]
914-476-6089