When it comes to IT security, there's strength in numbers. With that concept in mind, Infoblox launched a Technology Alliance Program (TAP), under which it is building connectors between its Domain Name System (DNS) appliances and complementary third-party networking and security products and cloud services.
Infoblox plans to leverage application programming interfaces (APIs) to create connectors, as well as to give partners access to development tools to build connectors between Infoblox appliances and other technologies as they see fit, said Prakash Nagpal, vice president of product marketing for Infoblox. That level of integration, he said, will make it simpler to detect any time a new device is connected to the network, identify potential vulnerabilities and discover any malicious software that might be lurking on that device.
"Today, there's a lot of custom integration," Nagpal pointed out. "But we want that integration to be more of an out-of-the-box experience."
The ability to create connectors is crucial because it enables partners to craft higher-margin solutions that span multiple vendors, said Chris Zwergel, application solutions practice manager at solution provider Groupware. He added that by building its own reusable connectors, Groupware would be more likely to be invited to participate in more projects by the Infoblox sales team.
"We want to be seen as the go-to partner for Infoblox," Zwergel said.
Interest in new approaches to DNS has been on the rise in the wake of several high-profile distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. While there is no silver bullet for defending against these attacks, Infoblox has created a federated DNS architecture that helps mitigate their impact by dynamically scaling DNS requests.
Zwergel said that Groupware has seen a twofold to threefold increase in its Infoblox business over the past several years, as organizations invest in more robust approaches to managing DNS in the face of escalating DDoS attacks. As those DDoS attacks continue to grow in both size and volume, most existing DNS server implementations won't be able to keep pace.
That should create a lot more demand, and many more solution providers are likely to see similar increases in opportunities to sell a broad range of products and services that all tie into DNS.