State & Local Government

Infoblox Brings IPv6-Ready Network Infrastructure Automation and Control to State and Local Government

Infoblox delivers business agility through network automation for installations of every size, from complex state networks to modest local operations—and every kind of network in between. We enable our state and local government customers to make IT more strategic and allow them to respond quickly to changing demands from their constituencies. Through our automation solutions, state and local governmental agencies streamline their operations, reduce their capital expenditures, and reallocate their skilled staff to concentrate on strategic programs.

With sophisticated technology in the hands of almost every citizen throughout the nation, expectations among constituencies are that those who govern them will be at least as technologically capable. So when a governmental network fails or is compromised, citizens are quick to point fingers and assign blame. These days, maintaining the safety, productivity and robustness of publicly supported networks are key responsibilities of all governmental agencies, large and small. Infoblox offers secure solutions that keep networks up and running efficiently and cost-effectively, while ensuring adaptability, robustness and reduction in human errors.

Today’s strategic projects at the state and local level are heavily focused on consolidation, virtualization, cloud computing, deployment of IPv6 and implementation of website security (such as DNSSEC). Typically, the efforts and focus for these projects are at the application and server level. Infoblox customers embrace the automation our solutions provide in order to help them manage these new, dynamic and complex environments. Because networks were originally designed to be static, with most changes being made manually, this time-consuming labor-intensive approach will not work with today’s new dynamic environments where virtual elements change in a network by the second. Infoblox brings automation to the network so that your network team can move on to more challenging and critical projects.

Key benefits of Infoblox network infrastructure automation:

• Delivers high-availability and secure infrastructure with easy to deploy, high-availability appliances
• Ensures continuous uptime with patented Infoblox Grid™ technology and centralized management
• Reduces cost and increases visibility with built-in, IPv6-ready, automated IP address management
• Eliminates unnecessary risk of human error or mis-configurations across multi-vendor environments
• Mitigates risk of malicious attacks or unplanned events with proactive monitoring and tracking
• Scales to meet the most complex, distributed environments within the government sector
• Enables staff to focus on business-impacting initiatives instead of the typical reactive, manual approach
• Shows the impact of changes to the health and stability of the network

Challenges

Let Infoblox Help You Do More with Less by Working Smarter, not Harder

In today’s world, state and local governments constantly face new challenges, none so daunting as those confronting IT departments. Information technology is key for emergency preparedness protocols, citizen privacy issues, federal security compliance, law enforcement, keeping up with technological advances, and a host of related and other data-centric responsibilities. At the heart of all these challenges is network health. Failure or even brief disruption in a state or local governmental agency’s network can affect any one of these components of modern life, and can even impact national security. Infoblox solutions meet these challenges at all levels of network health for state and local governmental agencies alike.

Network automation is the way that state and local governmental agencies can continue to function at the highest level while accommodating shrinking budgets, staff cutbacks, and increased workloads. Automating IP address management (both IPv4 and IPv6), DNS and DCHP, and implementing Network Change and Configuration Management (NCCM) is the way Infoblox helps state and local government IT departments meet today’s challenges. Strategic staff can be freed up when Infoblox solutions help you implement cloud projects, incorporate virtualization, deploy IPv6, and accommodate compliance issues.

Whether dealing with cloud computing projects, virtualization, the deployment of IPv6, or just staying abreast of the latest mandate, compliance is a critical responsibility for IT staff. Infoblox makes this problem a thing of the past by delivering “real-time IT compliance in a box.” Among our comprehensive compliance array are common external mandates or best practice standards, including HIPAA, SOX, PCI DSS, GLBA, ISO, NSA, DISA, IAVA, and ITIL compliance. With a solid understanding of all network infrastructure elements, their holistic behavior, configurations and changes, Infoblox enables compliance in the easiest and most efficient way possible. Instead of being reactive, users receive a list of violations for remediation. Simple one-click reporting verifies compliance.

Overlooking the importance of automating network infrastructure services and, instead, maintaining the status quo can lead to:

• Unnecessary risk of downtime with limited and unreliable disaster recovery options across offices, buildings or campuses
• Exposure to penalties and sanctions for compliance standards and best practices violations
• Burdensome requirements for local expertise and knowledge to maintain disparate assets and tools
• Increased risk of change as more planned and unplanned modifications occur
• New risk and high vulnerability to both internal and external attacks and threats with multiple access points
• Disparate, inconsistent network infrastructure services with no centralized visibility and management
• Audit exposure with limited tracking and logs for compliance requirements and/or troubleshooting needs

Solutions

Automate DNS, DHCP, IP Address Management and Network Change and Configuration Management

Traditionally, the ability to collect IP address information has been completely dependent on the error-prone, static and time-consuming process of managing complicated spreadsheets. Infoblox puts the power to collect all that information—in real time, automatically—in your hands. By leveraging a distributed database to provide the ability to manage with a “single pane of glass” model, you can at last monitor what is occurring across every part of your network as it happens.

Now you can quickly and easily manage your multi-vendor IP infrastructure. Infoblox secure solutions allow you to minimize errors, such as a duplicate of an existing IP addresses. Your network will have increased stability, resulting in continual uptime for your infrastructure. Besides the cost-savings from reduced downtime, you will also enjoy the product of staff efficiencies when mundane tasks are eliminated, thus giving you the flexibility to reallocate key personnel to more strategic projects.

Infoblox also solves the problem of unforeseen and undiagnosed network change. We collect information intelligently by finding areas in your network that are at risk, or are potential errors that will cause an outage in the future. By identifying problems before they happen, you will be able to prevent them and the network disruptions they would have caused. We can also show you real-time network health as opposed to burning recurring hours for HIPAA, SOX, PCI or internal compliance management. For audits, a click of a button shows when changes were made and who made them. Real-time compliance means you and your staff save hours of time, freeing up critical resources for redeployment on more strategic projects.

Infoblox delivers secure solutions that ensure constant network uptime, at the primary installation and in all associated remote agency locations. With redundant Grid™ based technologies and hardened appliances, key network services such as DNS and DHCP are always on. Over 4,750 of the world’s largest organizations with the most complex networks—and many state and local governmental agencies—have deployed Infoblox to achieve continuity and network availability—everyday and through crisis situations.

Success Stories

A few of our state and local government customers

The Infoblox solutions for DNS, DHCP, IP address management and network change and configuration management, and those for cloud, virtualization, and IPv6 projects, have been deployed by over 5,000 customers worldwide. Many leading state and local governmental agencies have taken advantage of network infrastructure control and automation powered by Infoblox.

Here is a small sample of our state and local government customers:

Your peers in state and local agencies are leveraging Infoblox around the country

Leaders at the state and local level are discovering how Infoblox solutions can help maximize staff time and reduce capital expenditures in these tight-budget times. Here is how one of our state customers appraises the impact Infoblox has had on their operations:

“DNSone has managed our growth very well and the amount of work it saves is just unbelievable. It was the easiest cutover we have ever done.”

— Arizona Department of Transportation
Brian Quinn, TOC Manager of Network Services

Infoblox has worked to improve conditions at the local level with similar control efficiencies and management results:

“With more than 9,000 employees on our network, we realized our DNS infrastructure needed redundancy and automatic failover. DNS is a critical piece of network infrastructure and merits a dedicated appliance approach. Hennepin County chose Infoblox because it simplifies administration, improves security, and offered an easy migration path for existing data. Additionally, one of the biggest reasons was that it has a web-based management console. We really like the ability to easily update and manage the devices."

— Hennepin County Operations, Hennepin County, Minnesota
Marciene Ingram, Network Communications Security & Internet Team Lead

See for yourself how successful implementations of Infoblox solutions in state and local governmental agencies and in organizations around the globe are streamlining staff efficiencies, reducing human error, and saving on capital expenditures. Look at how our secure solutions ensure highly-available network service, and learn how leading organizations have taken charge of automation and control across their infrastructure with Infoblox. We have changed the way these organizations manage their networks today and prepared them for the networks of tomorrow. Let us show you how the power of Infoblox can do the same for your agency.

Visit our case study library

Demos & Resources

See the power of network automation and control in action

Since every network environment is unique, the best way to see the power of the Infoblox solutions is to request a one-on-one, interactive demo. Our experts will discuss your current requirements and future needs, and tailor the presentation to cover the aspects most critical to you. Sign up today.

Additional resources

• Overviews: Summaries of Infoblox and our solutions
• Data Sheets: In-depth descriptions of the Infoblox solutions, product lines, services and maintenance
• Case Studies: Real-world success stories from Infoblox customers
• White Papers: Business-level overviews and best practices in network services and network infrastructure management
• Solution/Tech Notes: Detailed technical discussions and instructions on network integration and specific applications