February 27, 2007; 03:09 AM
Santa Clara, CA — Infoblox Inc. announced availability of a new flagship
appliance, the Infoblox-2000 – the industry’s highest performance
platform designed specifically for providing core network services,
including domain name resolution (DNS), IP address assignment (DHCP),
IP address management (IPAM), authentication (RADIUS), file transfer
(TFTP / HTTP), network time (NTP) and others.
Additionally, Infoblox introduced significant enhancements to its
unique NIOS™ software that increases the resiliency, security,
administrative controls and IPAM capabilities for its growing core
network services appliance family.
The resiliency and manageability of core network services directly
impacts the ability to operate all applications, such as email, web
services, Microsoft Active Directory, Voice over IP (VoIP) and
wireless, and there is growing evidence that conventional solutions for
core network services – typically general purpose servers and software
– are showing signs of stress.
A recent Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) report: “The Network Services
Disconnect” (February, 2007), which includes a survey of more than 200
enterprise IT organizations, indicates that roughly half of all
organizations surveyed experienced at least one DNS, DHCP or RADIUS
outage in the past year.
ESG survey respondents indicated that the most common consequences of a
DNS, DHCP or RADIUS outage are “dissatisfied customers” and
“application downtime”, while more than one-fourth of respondents said
that a DNS outage results in a “direct loss of revenue.” The report
recommends that core network services be classified as mission critical
and architected accordingly.
Further, a Feb. 6, 2007 distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on
the global DNS root name servers crippled several global and local
Asian nodes for hours, underscoring the repercussions of DNS attacks
and indicating a need for increased attention on DNS systems. (For more
information on this attack, visit http://www.isc.org/ops/f-root/.)
New Infoblox-2000 Appliance Delivers “Utility-grade” Performance
The Infoblox-2000 extends the company’s product line to provide the
highest performing integrated DNS and DHCP appliance.
It delivers up to 75,000 DNS queries and 750 DHCP leases per second,
and includes high-availability features such as redundant,
hot-swappable RAID disks, fans and power units for ensuring nonstop
operation.
The Infoblox-2000 can be deployed as a high-performance, standalone
DNS/DHCP server in large enterprises and service provider environments
that must support the growing demands resulting from proliferation of
IP-enabled devices and applications, such as VoIP and mobility.
Additionally, the Infoblox-2000 can be deployed as a master for an
Infoblox grid, which links together multiple Infoblox appliances into a
unified system, enabling distribution and local survivability of
services while allowing central management. And, with the new
Infoblox-2000 platform and software enhancements, hundreds of
appliances can be supported in a single Infoblox grid.
New Software Enhancements Deliver Resiliency, Security and Manageability
The newest version of Infoblox’s NIOS operating system includes
enhanced networking, security and IPAM features for increased
scalability, resiliency and manageability.
New security features of NIOS version 4.1 include support for secure
dynamic DNS (DDNS) updates using Microsoft-compatible GSS-TSIG
security. GSS-TSIG is a standard Microsoft means to ensure that only
trusted Windows clients can send updates to the DNS server. Infoblox
support of GSS-TSIG allows enterprises to offload DNS from Microsoft
servers without compromising the security of client dynamic DNS
updates.
New networking features in NIOS version 4.1 include support for Anycast
addresses, which improve the performance and resiliency of DNS services
by distributing DNS requests across a number of appliances in a grid
and ensuring that requests are only sent to appliances that are able to
respond. This is a proven method for minimizing service downtime and
simplifying configuration of robust DNS infrastructures.
Anycast helped minimize the effects of the recent ISC DNS root name
server denial-of-service attack referenced above. In a bulletin issued
Feb. 13, 2007, ISC claims that its’ effective use of Anycast “helped
counter this attack by fragmenting it into smaller pieces that were
easier to deal with...” Enterprises can mitigate the effects of similar
threats and effectively distribute DNS requests for increased
resiliency by taking advantage of the built-in Anycast functionality
now available in Infoblox solutions.
New IPAM features include DNS hostname and network templates, global
search functionality and enhanced granular administration control.
Hostname templates standardize hostname configuration and reduce
outages due to user errors. Network templates standardize IP address
assignment practices for large-scale DHCP deployments. These templates
allow for the definition of all parameters normally configured with a
network. For example, ranges within the network can be defined for
dynamic addresses, fixed addresses and specific ranges for routers,
printers, servers, etc. to reduce inconsistencies and help simplify
delegation of related tasks.
Global search allows administrators to quickly and easily locate
specific data objects (e.g. DHCP leases, DNS records), for easy
configuration, editing and change management. And, Granular Access
Control allows restricted administrative views and rights.
Administration can be restricted to specific appliances, networks,
ranges, and even specific resource-record types. For example, a member
of the messaging team can be restricted to modify records relating only
to mail servers on specific networks. This helps distribute the DNS and
DHCP administrative workload, while preventing inadvertent or
unauthorized changes.
Richard Kagan, vice president of marketing at Infoblox, commented:
“Core network services are the essential ‘glue’ that binds networks,
users and applications. The Infoblox platform, extended with the new
Infoblox-2000 appliance and software features, enables organizations to
deliver core network services with a new level of system resiliency and
integrity for continued application availability and business
continuity.”
Pricing and Availability
The new appliance platform and the NIOS version 4.1 operating system
are available March 1, 2007. Pricing for the solution on the
Infoblox-550 appliance with the DNSone package (including DNS, DHCP,
IPAM, RADIUS, TFTP and NTP capabilities) starts at $4,995 in the U.S.
Pricing for the Infoblox-2000 with the DNSone package starts at
$47,995.
About Infoblox
Infoblox appliances deliver utility-grade core network services,
including domain name resolution (DNS), IP address assignment and
management (IPAM/DHCP), authentication (RADIUS) and related services.
Infoblox solutions, which provide the essential “glue” between networks
and applications, are used by hundreds of organizations worldwide,
including many of the Fortune 500. The company is headquartered in
Santa Clara, Calif., and operates in more than 30 countries. For more
information, call +1.408.625.4200, email [email protected], or visit www.infoblox.com.
| Media Contacts: Jennifer Jasper, Infoblox, 408.625.4309 |
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