When you hear the phrase “network transformation,” what comes to mind? Massive infrastructure overhauls? Major business disruption? Huge capital investments? You could be forgiven for assuming that modernizing IT operations always comes with a lot of pain—because historically, that’s exactly how transformation projects unfolded.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
When we launched the Infoblox Universal DDI™ Product Suite in late 2024, the goal was to help businesses fundamentally rethink how they deliver and manage foundational DNS, DHCP and IP address management (IPAM), or DDI network services. Just over a year later—with more than 300 customers onboarded—we’re seeing that transformation take shape. Sometimes it does involve large initiatives. But the most compelling results come from something else entirely: customers achieving real, measurable outcomes without disruptive, rip-and-replace projects.
That’s by design. Universal DDI can absolutely accelerate large-scale modernization efforts. But more often, customers start small. They plug into a single API, target one or two high-impact use cases and start realizing concrete operational benefits almost immediately. These early wins reduce risk, build confidence and create momentum for broader transformation.
Here are six of the most common “quick win” scenarios we’re seeing today.
Quick Win #1: Modernize Microsoft DNS/DHCP Management—without Replacing Infrastructure
For organizations looking to update on-premises networks that rely on legacy Microsoft DNS and DHCP services bundled with Windows Server, Universal DDI provides a fast path to centralized visibility and control. With a lightweight agent providing bidirectional synchronization between Infoblox and Windows Server, Microsoft admins can continue using the same familiar tools. Meanwhile, NetOps teams gain the ability to use role-based access control (RBAC), fine-grained auditing and centralized change management, without touching domain controllers or replacing servers. These customers can still migrate away from those distributed controllers in the future, but now they can do it at their own pace, while minimizing many of the inefficiencies associated with them.
Where to Start:
- Learn more about Universal DDI for Microsoft Management.
- Deploy the Universal DDI for Microsoft Management agent to two to three Windows DNS/DHCP servers.
- Validate bidirectional synchronization and enable role-based access.
Immediate Payoff:
Centralized management replaces server-by-server changes, reduces configuration drift and creates a clean migration path away from Windows Server—when and if you’re ready.
Quick Win #2: Accelerate Site Turn-Ups, Simplify Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) without Adding Headcount
For new branches, clinics, retail locations or pop-up sites, Universal DDI helps customers turn up DNS and DHCP in minutes. No complex, months-long deployments. (And for those using infrastructure-free NIOS-X as a Service, no local appliances to deploy and maintain.) Just cloud-managed services with consistent policy and the ability to bring new sites online remotely with a few clicks.
Early customers have found these capabilities especially valuable during M&A activity. Universal DDI centralizes management of DNS, DHCP and IP policy so new entities are visible and centrally governed immediately, using software as a service (SaaS) where appropriate and NIOS where it already exists. The results? One customer, Truma, made new site turn-up so simple and automated, the company was able to expand to new sites across Europe with the same small team. “Standardizing with Universal DDI let us scale globally, onboarding 10 entities across seven countries, without local partners or additional headcount,” said Andreas Schmidt, IT system engineer, Truma Gerätetechnik. “That would have been impossible with our old systems.”
Where to Start:
- Read how Infoblox simplifies and protects infrastructure during mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.
- Create a reusable IP and DNS policy block for new sites and M&A scenarios.
- Apply it to one new location/acquired entity and measure time to first productive access.
Immediate Payoff:
Faster Day-1 integration and Day-2 operations, with less manual effort and more consistent governance.
Quick Win #3: Unify Cloud DNS Control across Hybrid, Multi-Cloud Environments—without Adding Hardware
Universal DDI centralizes DNS provisioning and policy for Amazon Route 53, Azure DNS and Google Cloud DNS through a single management plane and API. Customers can keep working with the providers they prefer while breaking down the silos that keep cloud assets isolated from the rest of the IT environment. Now, NetOps can manage critical network services across all environments and assets the same way, using the same authoritative IP information. And CloudOps teams can move faster with new deployments, with less coordination and overhead.
Where to Start:
- Learn more about Universal DDI streamlines DNS management in multi-cloud networks.
- Onboard one cloud DNS account or subscription.
- Standardize a single change workflow and automate a routine task via API.
Immediate Payoff:
Consistent, auditable DNS changes across clouds with fewer delays, errors and outages.
Quick Win #4: Prevent IP Conflicts across Clouds with Centralized IP Address Policy
IP overlaps are easy to create and painful to fix. Universal DDI lets you define IP address policies once and enforce them consistently across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and on-prem environments—preventing costly outages.
Where to Start:
- Learn more about how Universal DDI makes it easy to enforce consistent IPAM policy across on-premises networks and clouds.
- Enable IP policy checks for one cloud environment.
- Scan for conflicts or overlaps and remediate.
Immediate Payoff:
Fewer failed deployments, less late-stage rework and smoother application rollouts.
Quick Win #5: Simplify Operations by Managing Internal and External DNS Together
Reduce tool sprawl and risk by managing internal DNS alongside third-party external DNS services from providers like Cloudflare, Akamai, AWS, Azure and Google Cloud—all from the same API and interface. No need to change what you already use, you can now just manage everything together with unified DNS zone management.
Where to Start:
- Watch this demo of how easy it is to manage external DNS records in Cloudflare and Akamai with Universal DDI.
- Onboard one supported external DNS provider.
- Run a single end-to-end change workflow for a critical domain.
Immediate Payoff:
Cleaner change control, fewer handoffs and a consistent audit trail across environments.
Quick Win #6: Replace Spreadsheet Toil with API-Driven DDI Automation
Many teams still rely on spreadsheets and manual processes for DNS and IP changes. Universal DDI establishes a single, authoritative source of IP information across the enterprise and exposes it through one API. Suddenly, it becomes much easier to automate common workflows using Terraform or existing infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tools and achieve more robust and comprehensive automation at scale.
One customer, a global financial services firm, has already broken down Microsoft DNS and Route 53 silos that used to make even straightforward changes more complicated and riskier. Now, using Universal DDI and Terraform, they use the same standardized, automated workflows across regions.
Where to Start:
- Learn more about Infoblox IaC innovations.
- Identify one noisy, repetitive task (for example, DNS record cutovers).
- Automate it using the Universal DDI API and measure time saved.
Immediate Payoff:
Reduced human error, faster releases and safer change windows.
Choose Your First 30-Day Project
Notice some common themes in these scenarios? The best quick wins share three traits. They:
- Solve highly visible operational problems such as frequent tickets or recurring incidents
- Start small, initially focusing on one cloud account, one site or a handful of servers, to minimize effort and risk
- Provide measurable outcomes such as time to change, conflicts prevented and deployment speed to build momentum for ongoing transformation
Bottom line, the ability to deliver fast, measurable, compounding wins is not accidental. It’s what Universal DDI is built to do. Start with a modern management plane based on one API and cloud portal. Centralize what you already run, enforce IP policy and automate the changes you make every day. You’ll start seeing outcomes immediately—reduced risk and outages, faster deployments, less manual effort—even as you lay down a pragmatic, low-friction path to full modernization.
