How Kron Network PAM Scaled Network Management for 200,000 Devices and 5,000 TPS

In the high-stakes world of telecommunications, infrastructure isn’t just critical — it’s colossal. One of the largest telecom providers in Eastern Europe recently faced a daunting challenge. With a sprawling network of over 200,000 devices, from core routers to access switches and firewalls, they needed to authenticate and authorize access to these devices in a secure, fast, and reliable manner.

But the scale wasn’t their only problem. Their operations were powered by sophisticated automation and monitoring tools, running scheduled scripts across every device — every 30 minutes. Each script triggered authentication requests, adding up to more than 5,000 transactions per second. Most solutions buckled under this load. Some crashed, others became unreliable. Latency issues compounded operational problems. The result? Security vulnerabilities, failed monitoring cycles, and operational delays that no enterprise — let alone a telco — could afford.

The Search for Scalable Access Control

Before adopting Kron Network PAM, the telecom giant explored multiple commercial and open-source TACACS+ and RADIUS solutions. They were looking for a system that could keep up with the demands of their infrastructure while providing robust security and integration with their existing enterprise identity systems.

Every attempt fell short. Performance collapsed at scale. Authentication lag spiked. Integration with Microsoft Active Directory or LDAP was patchy at best. And none of the solutions could guarantee session stability under constant high-load conditions. Shared passwords were still in use across many devices, making things even riskier from a security and compliance standpoint.

They needed something better — something purpose-built for scale, with deep enterprise integration, dynamic credential handling, and reliable performance under load.

That’s when they turned to Kron Network PAM.

Kron Network PAM: Built for This Moment

From the first proof-of-concept, Kron Network PAM demonstrated what differentiated it from the rest: it was engineered for performance, integration, and enterprise-grade policy enforcement.

At its core, Kron Network PAM delivered what the telco had been searching for all along — a high-performance TACACS+ and RADIUS platform that didn’t choke under stress. It integrated seamlessly with their Active Directory and Entra ID environments, allowing their network engineers and automation tools to authenticate using enterprise credentials. There were no more hardcoded credentials or shared passwords floating around. Instead, every access request was tied to an individual identity, governed by a robust set of policy rules.

But Kron didn’t stop there. By connecting Kron Network PAM with Kron PAM's password vault and session manager, the customer unlocked a powerful capability: SSH key-based access with real-time credential injection. Now, even when automation tools logged into sensitive devices, no credentials were exposed or stored locally. Everything was orchestrated centrally, securely, and invisibly to the end user.

Performance That Changed the Game

Perhaps the most remarkable result was how Kron Network PAM handled the 5,000+ TPS load — not just once, but consistently.

During peak monitoring windows, thousands of devices were hit with authentication requests within seconds. Previous solutions had either dropped requests or slowed down significantly under this kind of pressure. With Kron, the system simply absorbed the traffic. Authentication times remained consistently low. There was no noticeable latency, no session drops, and no operational disruptions.

Behind the scenes, this was the result of a highly optimized architecture: horizontal scalability, stateless request processing, intelligent caching, and elastic load balancing. Kron Network PAM had been designed not just for reliability, but for relentless, high-frequency environments like this one.

Securing the Future of Telco Infrastructure

Today, this major telecom operator runs their entire network authentication stack on Kron Network PAM. Every script, every login, every policy enforcement — all flows through a platform designed to handle it.

They’ve eliminated static credentials. They’ve achieved full enterprise SSO across their network devices. They’ve gained visibility, control, and auditability. Most importantly, they’ve future-proofed their infrastructure, ensuring that no matter how their environment grows, security and scalability are no longer trade-offs.

For a telco that operates across multiple regions, with millions of customers and billions of packets in motion, that peace of mind is priceless.

Closing Thoughts

What Kron Network PAM proved in this case wasn’t just technical capability — it proved that security at scale is possible. You don’t have to compromise performance to get enterprise-grade access control. And you don’t need to tolerate legacy practices like shared credentials or fragmented session auditing just because you’re operating at the edge of scale.

If your organization is grappling with similar challenges — high TPS, complex device networks, or the push toward Zero Trust — this story should give you confidence: it can be done. And Kron Network PAM is ready to help you do it.

For more information and to request a demo, feel free to get in touch with our expert team.

> https://krontech.com/contact

*Written by Erhan YILMAZ. He is a PAM Product Management Director at Kron.