“With Infoblox, we are confident and assured that DNS will operate flawlessly, helping to maintain 24x7 network availability without incurring unnecessary IT overhead.”
—James Mozley, VideoNetworks Ltd.
VideoNetworks Ltd. is a leading provider in the UK of broadband entertainment through its interactive TV, video-on-demand (VOD) and broadband internet services, marketed under the brand name HomeChoice. Homechoice offers more than 15,000 subscribers throughout London over 5,000 TV shows, movies and music videos on demand.
At the press of a button, customers have the ultimate in TV convenience. They can order what they want, when they want it, simply through their remote control, and the video-on-demand programmes are delivered instantly to their television set. Programmes can be enjoyed using full DVD-type functionality, enabling customers to stop, start, pause, fast forward and rewind what they are watching so giving customers flexibility and control.
VideoNetworks Ltd.’s reputation and entire business model relies on providing 24x7 entertainment services and Internet access for its customers. If its domain name resolution (DNS) services—essential to the operation of any IP network—were to fail, VideoNetworks Ltd. would not be able to deliver the Internet or video on demand services to its customers, jeopardising it entire business model.
VideoNetworks Ltd. previously relied on a solution of Linux-based servers running a generalpurpose operating system and open source BIND software. As a services operator, maintaining a low total cost of ownership (TCO) is essential to preserving the company’s bottom line revenue. As a result, the VideoNetworks Ltd. team identified the following requirements for a new DNS system:
VideoNetworks Ltd. evaluated several options and selected Infoblox’s purpose-built, appliancebased solution because if its inherent deployment and management advantages. Since the devices have a hardened operating system and one-button upgrade capabilities, Infoblox eliminates the operating system and DNS software upgrade and management burdens associated with VideoNetworks Ltd.’s previous solution while reducing reliance on Linux experts to operate the system.
Additionally, high availability and failover advantages in conjunction with the central management capabilities delivered by the Infoblox Keystone module allow VideoNetworks to realize systemwide resiliency for nonstop DNS service delivery.
Jim Mozley, project manager with VideoNetworks Ltd. commented, “We selected Infoblox appliances because of the low maintenance model. And, using the Keystone module, the software can operate across a grid so that we can apply changes to one device and have them propagated throughout the system instantaneously without having to touch each one. The solution also provides us with improved resilience over our previous implementation.”
VideoNetworks Ltd. has deployed 15 Infoblox-1200 appliances running the DNSone package— offering integrated DNS and dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) services—in five of its facilities in and around London where the Homechoice footprint is served. The Infoblox appliances deliver DNS services supporting customers’ Internet access requests; performing internal domain name resolution for VideoNetworks Ltd.’s network infrastructure and resolving queries from the Internet. All traffic domain name (DNS) requests by Homechoice broadband subscribers will be handled by Infoblox appliances.
The appliances are linked into an ID grid using the Infoblox Keystone upgrade on each device, ensuring unparalleled network identity infrastructure availability and management benefits. Unified, grid-wide management simplifies administration, and powerful features such as onebutton, system-wide software upgrades lower operational costs and improve system uptime. Now with built-in IP address management (IPAM), the Keystone upgrade provides essential reporting and control over IP address utilization without the need for separate hardware or software. This enables organizations of all sizes, like VideoNetworks Ltd., to implement identity-driven networks that are reliable, secure, and cost-effective.
With its fault-tolerance features, the Infoblox solution eliminates single points of failure for the critical DNS network services that are required to maintain VideoNetworks Ltd’s availability overall. Additionally, saved IT resources are sure to add to VideoNetworks Ltd.’s bottom line.
Mozley commented, “Because it eliminates the need to install and manage an operating system and various open source applications, the purpose-built, appliance-based Infoblox solution is easy to deploy and simple to upgrade, saving us countless man hours, resources and costs. Additionally, the Infoblox approach has built in high availability capabilities, increasing reliability.”
“Further, the Infoblox appliances provide the essential foundation we require for nonstop operation of the DNS services that are fundamental to the operation of our business. With Infoblox, we are confident and assured that DNS will operate flawlessly, helping to maintain 24x7 network
availability without incurring unnecessary IT overhead.”
A leading provider of interactive TV, video-on-demand and broadband services in the UK
External and internal DNS
Needed simplified administration and increased resiliency
15 Infoblox-1200 appliances running the DNSone® package and Keystone™ upgrade for:
