As they prepare to implement IP phones, most organizations place heavy emphasis on testing and enhancing network quality of service (QoS) to ensure that the network can deliver the required bandwidth and latency necessary for voice traffic.  However, a number of other equally important network services—like DHCP, TFTP, and NTP—are often overlooked as part of VoIP deployments leading to undesirable consequences in reliability, security, and ease of management.  

General-purpose servers and other ad hoc methods for provisioning these services are costly, difficult to maintain, and do not provide the level of reliability that users in telephony environment expects. Furthermore, new requirements for security and mobility in next-generation IP telephony deployments rely even more on IP infrastructure services to operate. An Infoblox hardened appliance running multiple services in a highly reliable, centrally managed, and scalable platform provides the ideal "network dial-tone" for enterprise-class, IP-based voice applications. Some of the specific benefits include:

Better Total Cost of Ownership of IP Phone Systems

• Infoblox grid-based file delivery services for IP phone firmware and configuration files makes managing your IP phones more cost effective than ever
• Specialized VoIP toolset manages the intersection of VoIP and network services (DHCP, TFTP, NTP, etc.)
• Centralized management, powerful GUI, real-time IPAM, and one-button upgrade of services simplifies administration

Reliability

• High availability for DNS, DHCP, TFTP, NTP, and other network services deliver service resiliency between paired appliances
• DHCP failover between sites expands the resiliency of the system by enabling service resiliency across geographically distributed units
• Infoblox grid technology delivers local survivability by allowing remote units to provide services even when disconnected from a central office

Security

• Hardened and dedicated appliances enhance security with no open ports and no general-purpose operating system
• Communication is secured using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)-encrypted VPNs for protection against management compromise