Infoblox unveils new Universal DDI features for AI-ready networks

Infoblox has announced new capabilities for its Universal DDI Product Suite, following adoption by more than 200 organisations, including several Fortune 500 companies operating across sectors such as financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail.

Universal DDI is designed to unify core network services, with a focus on offering a software-as-a-service (SaaS) management solution to organisations operating in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. The solution aims to reduce operational risk, improve resiliency, and accelerate digital transformation initiatives.

Network outage risks

As companies increase their digital presence, Infoblox notes that outdated approaches to managing core network services can result in disruptive and costly outages. According to industry research referenced by the company, nearly 40 per cent of organisations have experienced a major outage due to configuration errors in the past three years, with large enterprises facing average downtime costs of USD $1.4 million per hour.

Fragmented and siloed network management tools have made it difficult for IT teams to efficiently oversee and protect mission-critical services, increasing both financial and security risks. Infoblox contends that without unified tools, enterprises are also less able to adapt to new technologies and shifting operational demands, such as those created by artificial intelligence (AI) workloads.

Customer experience

"Infoblox Universal DDI has transformed how we manage DNS across our complex, multi-cloud environment," said Alex Barrere, Senior 2 Core Network Engineer, Nordstrom. "By consolidating fragmented components from Windows AD, AWS, Google Cloud, Azure and soon OCI, we've reduced latency, improved observability and increased operational performance by 30 per cent. The deployment was seamless, and scaling with Infoblox has been effortless - whether it's supporting 6,000 internal DNS queries per second or standing up new stores with cloud-managed DHCP. Infoblox is helping us modernise our infrastructure and prepare for the future of enterprise DNS, DHCP and IPAM."

New capabilities

The latest Universal DDI updates introduce several new features, including enhanced integration with Microsoft management tools, Google Cloud Internal Range, and support for managing both internal and external DNS systems. This includes:

• Centralised management of DNS and DHCP hosted on Microsoft server platforms, to simplify operations and provide a transition route to more modern infrastructure.
• Application of consistent IP address management (IPAM) policies across Google Cloud, on-premise systems, and other cloud environments, aiming to prevent IP overlaps and accelerate application deployment.
• Unified DNS management for providers such as Akamai and Cloudflare, offering a single dashboard for both internal and external DNS control.
• Protection for self-hosted DNS infrastructure against distributed denial-of-service attacks and other DNS security risks, through DNS Infrastructure Protection.
• AI/ML-powered analysis for detection of IP conflicts, unresolved DNS records, and other risks, supporting 'AI-ready' network requirements.

Leadership perspective

"In an era where every app, user and AI workload depends on the network, one of the weakest links remains the foundational network services that keep everything running, which too many companies take for granted without investing in their modernisation," said Scott Harrell, President and CEO, Infoblox.

Harrell added, "That's why we launched Universal DDI, and in just one year we've seen remarkable momentum, with customers proving its impact through faster rollouts, stronger resiliency and the freedom to modernise on their own terms. Universal DDI isn't just a better way to run the network; it's a cornerstone that is required for modern enterprises to be able to move fast with confidence in their pursuit of the latest technologies, like AI."

According to Infoblox, customers adopting Universal DDI have reported benefits such as reduced manual workloads, centralised oversight across diverse network environments, automation of operations, fewer outages, and greater ability to scale and innovate.

Product development

"Network teams have been forced to choose between control and speed for far too long," said Mukesh Gupta, Chief Product Officer, Infoblox. "With our new Universal DDI capabilities, that trade-off disappears. Customers can now centrally manage Microsoft DNS and DHCP without disruptive overhauls, eliminate IP conflicts in AWS and Google Cloud through seamless IPAM integration and unify both internal and external DNS on a single management plane. We also built AI-powered analysis directly into Universal Asset Insights so teams can surface risks across hybrid, multi-cloud networks before they cause outages. These updates aren't just incremental improvements; they're actively enabling AI and multi-cloud transformation and driving a step change in how enterprises operate their networks at scale."

Infoblox states that these latest enhancements are a response to organisations' growing demand for resilient, automated, and high-visibility network services that underpin digital business operations.