Hi everyone. I’m new to this side of things, coming from a Linux sysadmin background and trying to move into DevOps.
My team is looking at DDoS protection solutions, and Akamai Prolexic keeps coming up. The sales reps are really pushing for a full annual contract, but we just want to run a small proof-of-concept first to see how it fits with our Kubernetes setup and monitoring tools.
Has anyone here managed to get a PoC or trial set up with them? What’s the best way to ask for it? I’m worried about committing to something big before we even see how the API integrates or what the dashboard looks like day-to-day 😅
Any advice from your own experiences would be really appreciated.
Yeah, we hit the same wall with them a couple years back. The push for the annual contract is real, especially for the bigger names. What worked for us was framing the PoC as a technical integration validation phase, not a "try before you buy."
We got them to agree by laying out a very specific 30-day test plan. We sent over a doc listing the exact API endpoints we needed to test (like the real-time attack data feeds), the metrics we'd pull into our Grafana setup, and the expected outcomes. This showed we were serious about integration, not just kicking tires.
You might have more luck asking to speak with a solutions engineer instead of just sales. They tend to understand the need to validate the tech fit. Can you tie the PoC to a specific upcoming project or compliance need? That sometimes adds urgency.