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IP address management - be proactive with BlueCat, solve potential issues of tomorrow today


Johannesburg, 26 Oct 2010

IP address management (IPAM) is becoming a key issue for organisations, as most of their current networks run on Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), and less than 5% of this pool of addresses worldwide remains unutilised, according to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. This pool is likely to be fully committed by Q2 2011.

As a direct result of this, new networks will need to use the new IPv6 for future addresses and many companies will be using a combination of both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. Unfortunately, as IPv6 addresses are a formula instead of a simple IP-number, an automated IPAM solution will become a necessity, as without an IPAM tool, companies will find it very difficult to manage these new networks.

“The IPv6 issue is not the only reason for employing an automated IPAM solution,” commented David Naude, Product Manager at SecureData for BlueCat Networks' products. “Enterprises are buying and spinning off divisions and companies, and when merging IP networks, a tool is very much needed that can easily work with overlapping IP ranges, renaming networks, and so forth.

“In addition, organisations with multiple sites may require a mechanism of managing decentralised DNS/DHCP services from a centralised management console, and companies using a legacy IPAM solution, such as NORTEL NET-ID, which was declared end-of-life in 2009, have already identified the requirement for IPAM within their own networks,” continued Naude.

Some of the key benefits of IP address management are:

* Creating a mechanism of dealing with large or complicated networks through management of IP Address spaces and creating a view of IP consumption and assignment across the network.
* Centralised management of multiple geographically separated DNS/DHCP services.
* Reclaiming unused IP addresses.
* IPV6 management and dual stack support.
* IP reconciliation for managing overlapping IP addresses, which can be especially useful in merging two separate networks.
* Workflow and permission based provisioning to hand off the mundane task of IP assignment from the network engineers to helpdesk staff.
* Scheduled deployments to ensure that changes are automated to work within change control periods.
* Compliancy for historical auditing and tracking of IP assignment and usage.
* Managing the complexities of DNSSec key generation and exchanges.
* Creating redundancy in the DNS and DHCP infrastructure.

“IP address management is becoming more and more crucial in network environments today as network engineers and network managers cannot rely anymore on using the traditional Excel spreadsheets or legacy tools to manage these so called 'core services',” concluded Naude. “BlueCat Networks is a specialised network management vendor delivering IP address management DNS and DHCP solutions, and has become a market leader in this space.”

SecureData Africa, part of JSE-listed SecureData Holdings, is the leading sub-Saharan distributor for BlueCat Networks.

For further information, please contact David Naude at tel. +27 11 790 2500; fax +27 11 790 2599; e-mail davidn@securedata.co.za.

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BlueCat Networks

BlueCat Networks is the leader in IP address management (IPAM) and DNS/DHCP Core Services, including the centralised management of Microsoft Windows DNS/DHCP services. Available in both physical appliance and virtual (VMware) formats, BlueCat Networks has sold to the vast majority of Global Fortune 1000 companies, including many classified and unclassified government agencies. With the exponential growth in IP addresses, BlueCat Networks solves critical network management issues by centrally managing, controlling and auditing IPv4, IPv6, DNS and DNSSEC networks. BlueCat Networks' award-winning solutions provide unparalleled network uptime and scale for small to large organisations.

SecureData

SecureData is a specialist, value-added distributor of perimeter, application, network, endpoint, storage and identity information security solutions and risk management solutions for the African sub-continent and Indian Ocean islands. A cross-section of the available solutions from SecureData illustrates wide coverage of the following information security and risk management domains: business continuity, security appliances and devices, hardware authentication, identity and access management, security and vulnerability management, secure content management, threat management and security services.

SecureData's information security and risk management solutions include best-of-breed solutions, devices and appliances for the perimeter, data centres, applications, network, endpoints, messaging and Web. In addition, as a value-add to vendor, channel and customer, SecureData also provides a full complement of support, pre-sales and professional services around the solutions positioned in each discrete security vertical.

For more information, visit SecureData at http://www.securedata.co.za.

Editorial contacts

Paul Booth
Global Research Partners
(+27) 82 568 1179
pabooth@mweb.co.za