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Simple, scalable and secure DDI - next level network management
Wed, 14th Nov 2018
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Without DDI, there is no internet. Without reliable and secure DDI, there is no business.

Maybe you are already a DDI expert looking for an easier way, or perhaps you want to learn more about the world of higher-level networking.

For those not yet in the know, here is a brief explanation of DDI and exactly why it is so important.

An example first: My first draft of this article is written in a cloud-enabled document editor that is updating every character that I type in real-time, constantly streaming tiny bits of information between my laptop, and a distant data center.

Not one moment of this would be possible without the comprehensive networking infrastructure that facilitates the passage of these requests and replies to and from the right place, telling them where to go.

Infoblox CEO and president Jesper Andersen explains to me that DDI is an acronym of acronyms that comes from DNS (domain name system), DHCP (dynamic host configuration protocol), and IP address (internet protocol).

Together, these three are responsible for almost every aspect of our ability to navigate the internet:

  • DHCP - gives a host (e.g. a server or a computer) its IP address - e.g. 127.0.0.1,

  • IP addresses - the number that identifies hosts, and

  • DNS - points requests in the form of domain names - e.g. www.infoblox.com - to the correct IP address.

With the ever-growing hyperconnectivity of our world, this fabric that our connectivity is based on has never been more important, meaning that effectively managing it all is now of paramount importance.

“It's the most fundamental basic tier-one network service,” Andersen says.

“We can't afford to have all these initiatives towards SD-WAN and software-defined or -enabled WiFi without considering the impact on our most core network service, which is DDI.

DNS is a tier 1 service - it cannot be down. It is as vital to the running of an organisation as running water or electricity. Infoblox takes this very seriously which is a big part of how they have captured 50% of the global market in DDI management.

Now Infoblox has spent the last three years architecting a platform that leverages the potential of the cloud to take network management to the Next Level.

Infoblox is the first vendor in the DDI space to enable customers to scale their systems faster, deploy all the DNS and DHCP servers they want around the world faster and more economically.

While that may not have sounded like a big deal before the days of public cloud, today is a different matter.

“Two or three years ago, when we didn't have the platform but we were building it, I started talking to vendors about DDI in the context of SD-WAN and those kinds of things,” Andersen explains.

“I was getting a lot of blank stares and I was even getting, ‘well, I'm not sure why you want to talk about that, that's not what we're doing.' Now, when I walk into modern organisations it is always a topic of interest. Even if they're not ready today, they want to talk about it because they know they're going there.

Plus, Infoblox's platform allows all of the advantages of the recurring payment or OpEx model that allows for end-user flexibility and potential revenue for managed service providers.

It is the industry's first and best DDI-as-a-service - Next Level Networking.

And as Andersen says, “Isn't it important that you pick a vendor that is thinking ahead of you in those areas? Yes, it is.

Infoblox will still be a hardware vendor for those in need of some solid tin but this opening up of their services offers more than just the flexibility of the cloud.

With Infoblox, not only does an end-user get 24/7 support from the foremost DDI experts, they will have access to Next Level cybersecurity that provides protection in an unprecedented way.

Click here to find out more about simple, scalable and secure DDI management with Infoblox.