Infoblox

Infoblox, Inc.

Type	Public company
Traded as	NYSE: BLOX
Industry	Computer networking
Founded	Chicago, Illinois, United States, USA (1999)
Founder	Stuart Bailey
Headquarters	Santa Clara, California
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Jesper Andersen (CEO)
Number of employees	600+ (2012)[1]
Website	infoblox.com

Infoblox is a technology company in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1999 in Chicago, Illinois, by Stuart Bailey, who was at the time a technical lead for the Laboratory for Advanced Computing/National Center for Data Mining at the University of Illinois.^[2] Within the general field of IT management tools, the company focuses on software and hardware for managing Internet addresses and identifying devices connected to networks—specifically solutions for Domain Name System (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), and IP address management.^[3] The company moved to Santa Clara, California, in 2003 to take advantage of the large pool of technical talent there.^[4]

Technology

In 2010, Infoblox acquired network automation vendor Netcordia to complement its core network services products with technologies for network task automation.^[5] Later in the same year, the company followed up by integrating Infoblox IP address management (IPAM) technology with Netcordia's network configuration and change management (NCCM) technologies.^[6] As virtualization and cloud computing became increasingly prevalent in enterprise IT, the automation capabilities of the Netcordia solution gave Infoblox a role to play in reducing the time and effort involved in configuring networks to support complex and frequently changing distributed virtual infrastructures.^[7] The company has since added DNS security products to its line,^[8][9] and it also supplies hardware appliances to host its software.^[10] In addition to its commercial research and development, Infoblox has stayed active in the IT community at large with memberships in industry standards bodies, commercial and government certifications,^{[11][12][13][14]} and independent research such as the network complexity index developed by CTO Stuart Bailey and Professor Robert Grossman at the University of Chicago,^[15] and made generally available as open-source software.^[16]

Market trends

The main entrance of Infoblox Inc. headquarters campus in Santa Clara, California

Two factors have contributed to Infoblox’s position in the overall market for IT management tools: Network management has become increasingly crucial,^[17] and there has been a sharp rise in hacking, especially attacks that exploit DNS servers, such as DNS spoofing and distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. In 2012, 7.8 million new malware threats emerged.^[18] Mobile threats grew by 1,000 percent, and 865 successful breaches compromised 174 million records.^[19] DNS servers in particular are vulnerable to hacking attacks, and often used in destructive attacks such as the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) attack that hit The New York Times and Twitter in 2013.^[20][21] The applicability of its products in addressing these trends has given Infoblox a market that spans vertical industries.^[22] As of December 2013, it had more than 6,000 customers,^[23] which included government organizations as well as businesses.^[24][14]

Growth and profits

Infoblox has received $80 million in five rounds of financing (2000, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005) since its launch in 1999. The company's main investor was Sequoia Capital, which also funded Net Appliance and NetScreen.^[25] The company went public on April 20 of 2012 with an IPO of $16 per share. The stock price advanced 40 percent in the first day of trading.^[26] In 2012, after adding 250 employees in the space of a year, Infoblox outgrew its headquarters, moving to a facility in Santa Clara that could accommodate up to 500.^[27] Earnings leading up through Q4 2013 showed financial as well as physical growth. Total net revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 was $63.1 million, an increase of 40 percent on a year-over-year basis. Total net revenue for fiscal 2013 was a record $225.0 million, an increase of 33 percent compared with the total net revenue of $169.2 million in fiscal 2012.^[28] Immediately on the heels of this strong showing, however, first quarter results for 2014 fell short of Wall Street expectations, causing a drop in share prices that analyst Jason Ader at William Blaire & Company attributed to a "modest slowdown due to normal fluctuations of the business."^[29] For its fiscal third quarter (2014) Infoblox reported $61 million in revenue, up a mere 5% on a year-over-year basis. Infoblox lost $7.4 million the period on a GAAP basis, a larger deficit than the year-ago period. Infoblox’s non-GAAP earnings also slipped, from $6.0 million to $3.8 million.

References

1. "Infoblox Profile," Yahoo Finance, retrieved 12/9/13.
2. "Infoblox Inc. (BLOX: New York)," Bloomsburg BusinessWeek, retrieved 10/14/13.
3. "InfoBlox targets corporate IP services,” November 3, 2003, NetworkWorld, retrieved 12/1/13.
4. "Santa Clara software company Infoblox jumps higher in IPO," San Jose Mercurynews, retrieved 10/21/13.
5. "Infoblox Acquires Netcordia,” InformationWeek, May 5, 2010, retrieved 10/14/13.
6. "Infoblox Announces World's First Integration Between IP Address Management and Network Change and Configuration Management," Businesswire, retrieved 10/18/13.
7. ”Infoblox Debuts Network Infrastructure Automation Tools,” channelinsider, May 13, 2011, retrieved 10/27/13.
8. "Infoblox Expands Security Offerings to Help Protect Against DNS Security Threats and BYOD Risks,” MarketWatch, June 10, 2013, retrieved 11/27/13.URL
9. ”Infobox Introduces a New Defense Against Advanced Persistent Threats,” MarketWatch, October 30, 2013, retrieved 11/27/13.
10. “Infoblox targets corporate IP services,” NetworkWorld, November 3, 2003, retrieved 11/27/13.
11. Trusted Computing Group Members list,(contributors), retrieved 11/1/13
12. "Infoblox Joins PCI Security Standards Council as Newest Participating Organization," BusinessWire, retrieved 11/1/13.
13. Common Criteria Certified Companies list, retrieved 11/1/13.
14. ”Infoblox Earns Approval For $2.25 Billion Federal E-Rate Program,” CommSolutions, April 4, 2011, retrieved 11/27/13.
15. "How complex is your network?,” Fierce Enterprise Communications, November 11, 2013, retrieved 11/27/13.
16. "Infoblox’s Tapestry open-source tool sizes up network complexity,” ZDNet, September 25, 2013, retrieved 11/27/13.
17. "The Importance of Network Persistence Plays to Infoblox’s Strengths,” Motley Fool, April 15, 2013, retrieved 10/27/13.
18. ”McAfee Threats Report: Third Quarter 2012", retrieved 11/27/13.
19. ”2012 Data Breach Investigations Report," Verizon, March 2012, retrieved 11/27/13.
20. "Half of DNS servers vulnerable to attack,” ZDNet, November 20, 2007, retrieved 11/27/13.
21. "Twitter and New York Times still patchy as registrar admits SEA attack," The Guardian, August 28, 2013, retrieved 12/1/13.
22. "Santa Clara software company Infoblox jumps higher in IPO," San Jose Mercurynews, retrieved 10/21/13.
23. "The Importance of Network Persistence Plays to Infoblox’s Strengths,” Motley Fool, April 15, 2013, retrieved 10/27/13.
24. ”Infoblox NetMRI diagnoses root cause of U.S. Army’s network problems,” Government Security News, April 8, 2011, retrieved 11/27/13.
25. “Infoblox targets corporate IP services,” NetworkWorld, November 3, 2003, retrieved 11/27/13.
26. "Santa Clara software company Infoblox jumps higher in IPO," San Jose Mercurynews, retrieved 10/21/13.
27. "Bay Area commercial real estate boom on track for record year,” Beyond Marin, November 18, 2013, retrieved 11/27/13.
28. “Infoblox moves to profit on stronger sales," Bloomsberg BusinessWeek News, September 5, 2013, retrieved 10/27/13.
29. "Infoblox Sinks on Outlook, but No 'Smoking Gun,'"Investors.com, November 27, 2013, retrieved 12/2/13.