Infoblox DNS Caching Appliance Helps Speed Web Experiences

Infloblox (NYSE: BLOX) has released a network appliance aimed at the service provider space that purports to speed performance of a legacy network up to 25 times by caching domain name server (DNS) requests.

Thanks to social media and web-based applications, service provider networks are slower than ever. The major culprit: the inordinate number of DNS requests emanating from those apps.

“The social media frenzy and on-demand and web-based app frenzy with smartphones has changed the performance requirements of the infrastructure,” said Steve Garrison, vice president of Marketing at Infoblox. “Now service providers need to take a look at their infrastructure and update it accordingly to address those new performance requirements.”

The Infoblox 4030 DNS Caching Appliance can sit on the edge or in the core of the network and speeds performance by holding onto DNS requests that, for some instances, can equal double-digits — just starting up an Apple iPhone, for example, generates a whopping 36 DNS requests, Garrison said. Having the appliance sit at different locations on the network helps reduce the network latency and improve service delivery throughout, yet gives IT administrators the ability to manage the appliances centrally thanks to Infloblox’s Grid technology.

Infoblox 4030 also protects against distributed denial of service attacks that attempt to overload the network to the point of failure and “cache poisoning” attacks, that redirect users unknowingly to fake websites, where their user and/or system credentials can be stolen.

The appliance includes detailed reporting and blacklisting capabilities that enable it to automatically detect certain attacks and disable the URLs of the attacking servers.

While the 4030 is aimed primarily at the service provider space, Garrison noted large enterprises — especially those with a mobile or device-hungry workforce — also are prime candidates for the appliance. He also hinted at a lower-end version of the appliance aimed downstream to be announced later in 2012.

“We fulfill 90 percent of business through the channel,” he said. “We know partners are excited to bring this to the service provider space.”

The Infoblox 4030 is available now.