Infoblox acquires Netcordia

Summary: The acquisition of Netcordia extends Infoblox leadership in the IPAM and DNS and DHCP appliance category into the billion dollar NCCM category.  It is a bold move that sets the stage for network automation by supplementing existing DDI and NCCM solutions with complementary layer 2 and 3 data for more visibility, control and closed loop processes.

Just as the rise of the enterprise web (“webified” enterprise applications) and the branch office boom fueled a layer 4-7 revolution in networking, we’re about to witness an even more spectacular boom at layers 2 and 3.  This boom will be driven by the three horsemen of: 1) network-attached devices, 2) virtualization and, 3) the rise of cloud computing.

In the same way that the web delivery of enterprise apps designed for LANs created network problems which set the stage for the rise of the application front end and the WAN appliance market; the sheer connectivity, load, partitioning and dynamism demands of the three horsemen will force a sizable investment cycle in solutions that automate manual layer 2 and 3 tasks.

The combination of the networked endpoint explosion with virtualization and cloud is a trifecta for layer 2 and 3 vendors, or at least those who get the synergistic power of solutions which can integrate data and control between both layers.  Pure play NCCM and IPAM vendors will find themselves falling further and further behind as new capabilities, including IF-MAP create intelligent data linkages between greater populations of management, infrastructure and policy automation features.

The new network is all about real-time: real-time visibility; real-time control (over an even greater surface area of the network); real time linkages between outcome and action.  We’re talking about the kinds of tools that can have a strategic impact on the ability of the network to flex, partition and adapt to faster paces of change with minimal economic impact.

That’s why I’m particularly excited about the recently announced Infoblox (my employer) acquisition of Netcordia.  It represents the pairings of two market leaders in two distinct (network management IPAM DNS DHCP) fast growth markets.

While the latest Interop "Why Networking Must Change" panel was packed with large company spokespeople leading the charge backwards to today’s version of a classic mainframe model and market (lock-in with limited choices) at least a few companies (including Infoblox and Best of Interop winner Arista Networks) stood up to lead the infrastructure 2.0 revolution.

Innovation is merely a land grab to some vendors, an opportunity to increase billing and stifle innovation; yet to others it is an opportunity to turn billion dollar markets into multi-billion dollar markets.

Infoblox has now voted with its feet by acquiring Netcordia and has put into play a host of possible new IPAM DNS DHCP and network change and configuration capabilities into each of their individual product lines.  The result will be even more robust and powerful visibility, control and automation solutions (in each market) as Infoblox continues to shrink the amount of manual effort and processes to operate a network. People will start talking about compliance automation.

Imagine a network pro discovering something as common as an unmanaged IP address in a network and then having the capability to immediately isolate it.  That same pro can gain visibility into both the critical address space as well as physical and virtual devices attached to the network and can take proper action based on role. 

Network infrastructure automation is a requirement for network automation which is the requirement for the accelerated spread of virtualization in the data center.  Without network infrastructure automation, CIOs will indeed by stuck returning to mainframe era lock-in and choices.

The only alternative to mainframe-era lock-in is network automation, or infrastructure 2.0, including the ability for virtual machines to move from one physical location to another while maintaining security, application and delivery policies.  That capability along can unleash the power of virtualization beyond the VLAN barrier now confining larger virtualized deployments.

Here is a link to the announcement: Infoblox Acquires Netcordia

I’m a vice president at Infoblox.  You can follow my rants in real-time at www.twitter.com/Archimedius