mitigating ddos attacks

["Dan Duplito" <danduplito () techie com>]

hi, guys. my apologies for the cross-post and if this topic was already posted before in this list...

i've been googling around for anti-ddos solutions/appliances and would just like to get inputs from gurus here who 
already have an idea or have implemented real-world anti-ddos systems in their own network.

i understand an anti-ddos appliance is not enough, but just the same, are these appliances worth it on their own (as 
opposed to load-balancing or scaling-out solutions)? what other technologies do i need to implement/know to mitigate 
such attacks?

related links/online resources will also be much appreciated.

regards,
dan