If there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned leading product teams, it\u2019s that you can\u2019t stay competitive by standing still. Over the last few years, the organizations that embraced hybrid, multi-cloud environments early have raced ahead\u2014while others are still trying to catch up. <\/p>\n
Now, with the rise of AI, that gap is about to widen again. The companies that modernize their networks for agility and intelligence will move faster, operate smarter and innovate at scale. But too many businesses are still being held back by an old, familiar bottleneck: critical network services that can\u2019t keep up with business evolution.<\/p>\n
More than 90 percent of organizations now rely on multiple cloud providers.1<\/sup> That\u2019s great for flexibility\u2014but it also makes the network infinitely more complex to manage, secure and scale, leading to fragmented, inefficient operations and costly service disruptions. Network configuration errors remain the number one source of outages,2<\/sup> which can cost enterprises up to $1.4 million per hour.3<\/sup> Lack of enterprise-wide visibility into IP address usage and DNS records continues to impede automation efforts and increase risk. NetOps and CloudOps teams still operate in silos\u2014often relying on help desk tickets to communicate\u2014delaying deployments. All these issues make the network less reliable, performant and secure\u2014which in turn makes strategic AI and cloud initiatives slower, riskier and more expensive. <\/p>\n While these issues affect businesses differently, they share a common cause: a reliance on outdated approaches to the foundational DNS, DHCP and IP address management (DDI) services that keep the digital business running. In fact, companies without enterprise-grade DDI have 44 percent more outages and take 38 percent longer to recover.4<\/sup> That\u2019s time and money no organization can afford to waste\u2014especially as AI workloads drive new levels of demand and complexity. <\/p>\n When we introduced<\/strong><\/a> the Infoblox Universal DDI\u2122 Product Suite<\/strong><\/a> last year, our goal was simple but ambitious: to turn network services from an operational bottleneck into a strategic accelerator. <\/p>\n We built the industry\u2019s first comprehensive software-as-a service (SaaS) platform for DNS, DHCP and IP address management (IPAM)\u2014giving enterprises unified visibility and control across hybrid, multi-cloud environments. And the response has been remarkable. In just 12 months, more than 200 customers worldwide\u2014from Fortune 500 leaders in financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and retail to fast-growing innovators\u2014have adopted Universal DDI to modernize their networks. <\/p>\n Even more exciting is how quickly they\u2019re seeing results. A major U.S. retailer switched to Infoblox cloud-based DNS and DHCP. They\u2019ve seen a 30 percent efficiency improvement in deploying and scaling new appliances, and they now bring up new stores in minutes. One of the world\u2019s fastest-growing AI innovators modernized DDI for its corporate network and now plans to extend it into AI data centers. <\/p>\n According to Alex Barrere, Senior 2 Core Network Engineer with Nordstrom, \u201cInfoblox Universal DDI has transformed how we manage DNS. Whether it\u2019s supporting 6,000 internal DNS queries per second or standing up new stores with cloud-managed DHCP, Infoblox is helping us modernize our infrastructure and prepare for the future.\u201d These aren\u2019t just architecture upgrades, they\u2019re operational transformations. NetOps, CloudOps and SecOps teams are working together more fluidly, driving automation, reducing outages and accelerating time to market.<\/p>\n One of our core design principles for Universal DDI has always been choice\u2014meeting customers where they are. Today, we\u2019re expanding<\/strong><\/a> that commitment with new integrations with Microsoft and Google that make it easier for customers to manage and automate critical network services across hybrid, multi-cloud environments. With Universal DDI embedded directly into the platforms they already use, customers can modernize even faster.<\/p>\n These integrations give customers the freedom to modernize at their own pace, working with the platforms and partners they already trust.<\/p>\n Hybrid, multi-cloud complexity doesn\u2019t just affect internal IT. Now, with the Infoblox for External Authoritative DNS portfolio, customers can apply the same industry-leading resiliency and simplicity they have for internal networks to the external DNS services that keep their websites, email and other internet-connected apps online.<\/p>\n With these capabilities, organizations can establish a robust business continuity and disaster recovery architecture. In the event of a disruption to external DNS services hosted by a cloud or SaaS provider like Cloudflare or Akamai, the service can seamlessly fail over to Infoblox.<\/p>\n Finally, we\u2019re helping customers ensure they have the foundational capabilities required for AI transformation. As a longtime leader and pioneer in AI and machine learning (ML), Infoblox built Universal DDI from the ground up to power the data-driven innovations of the future. Infoblox Universal Asset Insights\u2122, for example, provides AI-powered analysis of hybrid, multi-cloud networks to surface IP conflicts, dangling DNS records and other hidden risks. Infoblox Threat Defense\u2122, our Protective DNS solution, uses AI to inspect customer traffic to detect and stop domain generation algorithms (DGAs), zero-day DNS attacks, lookalike domains and other threats before they impact the business. <\/p>\n Together, these innovations give businesses powerful tools to succeed in the AI era. They simplify hybrid, multi-cloud network operations, reduce errors and outages, and break down operational silos for pervasive visibility\u2014providing the reliable, high-performance network foundation AI workloads demand.<\/p>\n With all the challenges of the status quo\u2014siloed operations, fragmented visibility, stalled automation and frequent delays and service disruptions\u2014enterprises were already challenged to meet the accelerating pace of cloud transformation. Now, as we enter the age of AI, things will only get faster\u2014much faster. But no matter how forward-looking, organizations can only move as fast as the slowest part of the business. For too long, that has been the network, straining under the demands of all those next-generation applications and clouds and AI workloads. <\/p>\n Most IT leaders know they need to modernize the foundational DDI services that keep their networks running but when they think about \u201cmodernization,\u201d they envision long, disruptive overhauls and stalled innovation. With Universal DDI, you can start small, plug into a single API and see value almost overnight\u2014with the network and partners you have right now. Whether launching new AI initiatives, unifying global branch operations or just building a more reliable foundation for existing applications, Infoblox can help you get there faster. <\/p>\n Because in the age of AI, speed is everything\u2014and the network should never be the thing that slows you down.<\/p>\nWhy We Built Infoblox Universal DDI\u2122<\/h3>\n
Expanding Choice and Control with New Integrations<\/h3>\n
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Extending Visibility and Security to External DNS<\/h3>\n
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Building an AI-Ready Network Foundation<\/h3>\n
Modernize at Your Own Pace\u2014and Start Seeing Results<\/h3>\n
Footnotes<\/h3>\n
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