BlueCat Ships Proteus

Aligning network controls with an organization’s business requirements is no easy feat. BlueCat Networks, however, believes it has discovered a solution.

The network appliance company has announced the release to market of its Proteus Enterprise Internet Protocol (IP) Address Management (IPAM) appliance which combines carrier-class control with secure end-to-end Domain Name System (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and IP inventory management.

Proteus is dedicated to designing, deploying and managing IP-based networks. Based on a multi-core architecture Proteus enables organizations to automatically translate business and industry regulations into functional error-free DNS and DHCP configurations. With the built-in web-interface and relational database, hundreds of administrators can concurrently manage the IP network with features such as Lateral Tagging, Built-In Error Checking and Pre-Admission Network Access Control. Proteus also handles DNS and DHCP appliances and manages millions of IP addresses on multiple networks/configurations for geographically dispersed IP networks.

The need for a dedicated IPAM appliance such as Proteus is driven by the explosive growth in core applications such as VoIP, Internet-based video conferencing, and mobile and wireless technology. These and other applications, combined with the growing demands placed on enterprise networks with the Internet's evolution from IPv4 to IPv6, make it increasingly challenging for network administrators to effectively manage IP-based networks. Proteus is a dedicated appliance that simplifies this process for large enterprises, government organizations and service providers, providing for streamlined operations, reduced costs and increased network responsiveness.

"Managing rapidly growing IP inventories is becoming one of the most critical roles for administrators of enterprise networks," said Bret Jones, Director of Technology Engineering at George Washington University.

Proteus, which combines a design and deployment environment with monitoring and reporting tools, leverages the strengths of BlueCat Networks' Adonis DNS/DHCP infrastructure appliance. At the heart of Proteus is a multi-core architecture design that models IP and DNS information separately, yet links them together seamlessly to ensure changes are reflected in each system. Proteus also enables organizations to tag and classify assets in accordance with an organization's existing data structures - i.e. by subnet, classes, service, geography, administrator or user. With this lateral tagging feature, Proteus can be adapted to meet the needs of every organization.

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Cindy Waxer is a Toronto-based freelance journalist specializing in business and technology. She has written for publications including TIME, Fortune Small Business, Business 2.0, Computerworld, Canadian Business, and Workforce Management. To see more of her articles, please visit Cindy Waxer’s columnist page.

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