Contact Information: Media Contact: Jennifer Jasper Infoblox 408.625.4309 Email Contact
New Infoblox Solution Enhances Security and Availability of Wireless Networks for Extended Enterprises
Appliance-Based Solution With Unique Grid Technology Overcomes Shortcomings of Traditional RADIUS Services for 802.1X Authentication
| Source: Infoblox
SANTA CLARA, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- December 4, 2006 -- Infoblox Inc., a developer of essential
infrastructure for identity-driven networks (IDNs), today announced
availability of new software package for its award-winning line of
appliances. The Infoblox Network Services for Authentication (NSA) package
delivers distributed Remote Access Dial-in User Services (RADIUS) across a
collection of Infoblox appliances that can be easily deployed at multiple
remote sites, reducing the cost and ensuring the security and availability
of wireless networks for extended enterprises.
Forrester shows that more than half of the enterprises that it surveyed
plan to increase wireless LAN (WLAN) spending in 2007. When asked which
factor was most important when adopting on-premise wireless technologies to
support voice or data, two network characteristics were, far and away, the
most important to enterprise buyers -- reliability and security." ("WLAN
Adoption In The Enterprise 2006," Forrester Research, Inc., November 2006)
To prevent unauthorized access to wireless networks, most organizations
deploy wireless equipment that supports 802.1x authentication, which
requires users to supply a valid user name and password prior to gaining
network access. 802.1x authentication relies on RADIUS services to compare
user-supplied credentials with those stored in a local directory or with a
back-end user repository, such as Microsoft Active Directory. If the
wireless equipment cannot reach the RADIUS server, users cannot connect to
the wireless network.
As distributed organizations deploy wireless access across the enterprise,
they face the challenge of ensuring the availability of RADIUS
authentication services at remote locations. The traditional approach has
been to provide a central RADIUS server at the data center and rely on WAN
links to carry authentication traffic to and from remote sites. This
approach is vulnerable to multiple points of failure. For example, a
failure of the central RADIUS server or a WAN outage will prevent remote
users from gaining wireless access.
To improve availability, some organizations provide redundant WAN links to
remote sites; however, this can double the cost of WAN connections and
still leaves remote sites vulnerable to a failure of the central RADIUS
server. Another approach to providing RADIUS services that survive WAN or
central RADIUS server outages is to deploy RADIUS servers at each remote
site, using standard servers and commercial or open-source RADIUS software.
But, conventional RADIUS servers must be managed and synchronized manually,
one at a time, making it impractical to deploy them at a large number of
sites.
Infoblox Network Services for Authentication Package
The NSA package from Infoblox addresses these shortcomings by making it
possible, for the first time, to reliably and securely distribute RADIUS
authentication services to remote sites with simple, centralized
management, assuring high-performance authentication services that can be
deployed with any desired level of availability and survivability at a cost
dramatically below any alternative.
The NSA package includes the new RADIUS and Infoblox grid modules.
Infoblox's award-winning ID grid technology centralizes and simplifies the
management of a collection of distributed appliances and synchronizes data
across all appliances in real time. Credentials (user names and passwords)
that are stored in the appliances designated as the grid master are
automatically replicated to all appliances throughout the grid. The
optional Infoblox agent for Active Directory automatically synchronizes
credentials from Microsoft Active Directory into the Infoblox appliances,
allowing customers to use their existing user directories and eliminating
the need to provision and manage user credentials specifically for wireless
access.
The Infoblox NSA solution provides several layers of resiliency to ensure
nonstop authentication services. Users at remote sites are normally
authenticated using the local Infoblox appliance. This takes the load off
of central directories and enables wireless deployments to scale easily.
If the appliance at a remote site should fail, network equipment can be
configured to authenticate to the Infoblox grid master located at the data
center over the WAN link. Additionally, appliances at remote sites can be
deployed in high-availability (HA) pairs, ensuring continuous service even
in the event of multiple remote appliance and WAN link failures.
"Customers increasingly view wireless access as strategic to business
operations," said Doug Laird, vice president of Marketing at Trapeze
Networks. "As wireless networks become ubiquitous across the enterprise,
the availability of supporting services that ensure security, such as
RADIUS, must be assured. By providing a unique solution that makes it easy
and inexpensive to provide survivable authentication services across remote
locations, Infoblox is helping to extend mobile networking."
A Full Suite of Core Network Services
Infoblox solutions integrate, distribute and manage the core data that link
networks and applications. The hardened appliance design of Infoblox's
solution allows delivery of domain name system (DNS), dynamic host
configuration protocol (DHCP), IP address management (IPAM), trivial file
transfer protocol (TFTP), network time protocol (NTP), and RADIUS services
with higher security, reliability and easier management than the
traditional approach -- typically software deployed on general-purpose
servers.
"Infoblox appliances are the only platforms available that provide DNS,
DHCP, IPAM, TFTP, NTP, and now RADIUS services," said Richard Kagan, vice
president of marketing for Infoblox. "Infoblox is delivering on our
promise of providing customers with an integrated platform for the
essential services that enable identity-driven networks."
Pricing and Availability
The Infoblox Network Services for Authentication package is now available
worldwide on the Infoblox-500, -550, -1000, -1050, -1200, -1550 and -1552
platforms. Pricing for the standard NSA package on the Infoblox-550
appliance starts at $5,495 in the United States. The RADIUS module is also
available as an optional upgrade for Infoblox appliances running the DNSone
with the Keystone upgrade (enables ID grid technology), Network Services
for VoIP, and VitalQIP™ Integration packages.
About Infoblox
Infoblox develops essential infrastructure used for establishing
identity-driven networks (IDNs). Infoblox network identity appliances
deliver nonstop DNS, DHCP, IPAM, RADIUS and related services with
unparalleled reliability, manageability, scalability and security. Over
1,500 organizations worldwide, including many of the Fortune 500, use
Infoblox solutions for the critical naming, authentication, authorization
and IP management services that make their networks secure, robust,
manageable and compliant. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA
and operates in more than 30 countries. For more information, call
+1.408.625.4200, email info@infoblox.com, or visit www.infoblox.com.