FYI - I received the following email from Authorize.net:
Over the coming months, Authorize.Net will be upgrading access to the Internet connections that serve our data centers. Instead of allowing direct connections, all Internet traffic will be routed through Akamai, a third-party cloud network service that routes and delivers Internet traffic.
Using Akamai network technology will help decrease latency and improve the reliability of our payment gateway. It will also help safeguard against interruptions caused by issues beyond Authorize.Net's direct control, such as Internet congestion, fiber cable cuts and other similar issues. Additionally, come October, merchants connected to Akamai should no longer be affected by planned downtimes.
Implementation Plan And Timeline
We are implementing Akamai's technology into our network in two phases.
• Phase One (Now through June 2016) — We have created three new URLs for transaction processing that are hosted by Akamai. Your merchants can update their website or payment solution to point to the new transaction URLs today, which will provide them with the immediate benefits detailed above. Come October, they should no longer be affected by planned downtimes.
• Phase Two (June 2016) — We will automatically direct all of our existing transaction processing URLs to connect through Akamai in June of 2016. After this change, all transaction URLs will connect to Authorize.Net through Akamai.
IMPORTANT: To take advantage of the uptime benefits Akamai offers, we recommend your merchants proactively update their website or payment solution during Phase One rather than waiting to be automatically updated during Phase Two.
Updating Their Solution
The new Akamai transaction URLs that are available now are:
• https://api2.authorize.net/xml/v1/request.api
• https://api2.authorize.net/soap/v1/Service.asmx
• https://secure2.authorize.net/gateway/transact.dll
Please have your merchants contact their web developer or solution provider for assistance in updating to one of these new Akamai URLs. We will begin sending our initial emails about Akamai to your merchants starting tomorrow.
Firewall And IP Address Considerations
If your merchants do not use a firewall or do not connect directly via an IP address, then they can disregard this section. If your merchants are unsure, please have them contact a web developer or solution provider. Click here if they need help finding a developer.
Using Akamai technology, Authorize.Net's IP addresses will become dynamic rather than static. If your merchants' websites or payment solutions use a firewall that has whitelisted Authorize.Net's IP address or connects to Authorize.Net directly via an IP address, they will need to make additional changes.
• Firewall Considerations — If their solution uses a firewall to filter outbound connections, make sure that the firewall is set to permit outbound traffic to flow to the Akamai cloud by configuring their outbound firewall to "ANY."
If they do not update their firewall ahead of June 2016, they will be unable to process transactions after Phase Two is implemented.
• IP Address Considerations — If their solution connects to Authorize.Net directly via an IP address, they will need to update it to connect by domain name. Continuing to connect directly via an IP address is strongly discouraged as merchants will not receive the benefits of routing through Akamai, and could suffer a loss of service if transactions are re-routed among our various data centers.
Akamai is available for testing now in our sandbox environment. We strongly encourage your merchants to test their solution prior to making any production change to ensure that they will not experience any disruptions to transaction processing.
Questions?
If you have any questions about the Akamai upgrade, please refer to our Akamai FAQs or submit an eTicket by logging into the Affiliate Interface and clicking Contact Us from the upper right corner of any page.
Thank you for your attention to this important email. We appreciate your ongoing partnership and are excited to bring you the benefits and reliability that this enhanced service provides.
Sincerely,
Authorize.Net