Infoblox

Infoblox provides core network services covering DNS, DHCP and IP address management, collectively DDI, through its Universal DDI product suite. It unifies management of those services across on premises networks and cloud environments, and pairs them with threat intelligence built on the DNS traffic it sees.

DDI is unglamorous and absolutely load bearing. DNS resolution, address assignment and address tracking are what make a network function, and when they fail everything above them fails at once in ways that look like unrelated application problems. Managing them from one system rather than from spreadsheets and scattered configuration is what makes a large network diagnosable.

IP address management is the part most often underestimated. Organisations frequently track addresses in a spreadsheet that drifts out of date immediately, so nobody can say with confidence what occupies a given address, and that uncertainty makes every change risky.

Using DNS as a security signal is Infoblox's distinctive position. Nearly all activity begins with a name lookup, including malicious activity, so a DNS layer that recognises known bad destinations blocks threats before a connection is established. That places the security control at a chokepoint every device already passes through.