LAS VEGAS -- BlueCat Networks Monday announced upgrades to its flagship Proteus IP address management platform   with features designed to streamline IP address change approval processes and automate the provisioning and reclamation of IP addresses. Compare IP address management products.)

BlueCat will be using Interop Las Vegas 2008 to introduce Proteus 2.5, the most recent update to its flagship IPAM platform. The appliance combines name services, dynamic IP assignment and IP inventory. The appliance handles IP address inventory control, DNS management and DHCP provisioning. It has built-in auditing and reporting capabilities as well as centralized policy management. It has a back-end relational database that supports all of its activities.

Proteus 2.5 includes a change approval mechanism, dubbed Workflow, which details the necessary steps to make IP address changes to enable lower-level technicians to complete IPAM tasks. A self-provisioning portal lets network administrators automate requests for new IP addresses. For instance, users request an IP address through the portal, the request is automatically added to Proteus and the platform notifies an administrator in real time to the request. From there, the administrator can approve or deny the request, reducing the time it takes to provision new addresses.

On the flip side, BlueCat added an IP reconciliation feature that keeps the Proteus platform up-to-date on used and unclaimed IP addresses. This capability enables network administrators to track the usage of IP addresses against the information stored in Proteus. Those addresses no longer in use can be reassigned, and IP addresses not in Proteus' repository should be further investigated by IT as they could pose a potential security risk, BlueCat says.

The enhancements to the Proteus platform reflect a maturity in the IPAM market, says Michael Hyatt, CEO and co-founder of BlueCat.

"Proteus 2.5 really brings intelligence and automation to an IPAM system. It answers two questions for customers: How do I manage all these addresses and how do I do it with better quality of service?" Hyatt says.

BlueCat also offers DNS and DHCP technologies with its Adonis appliances, and until recently Hyatt says the company led sales discussions with those services instead of trying to sell network managers on IPAM.

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