Universal Asset Insights

Infoblox Universal Asset Insights is a cutting-edge solution designed to automate the discovery, monitoring, and analysis of assets across diverse networking environments, including public clouds, on-premises networks, and third-party applications. Universal Asset Insights addresses the growing complexity of networking infrastructures by providing a comprehensive and continuously updated inventory of all assets within an organization, without the need for manual intervention.

Discovery and Monitoring Across Diverse Environments

Universal Asset Insights provides insights about discovered assets. At its core, Universal Asset Insights excels in its ability to seamlessly discover and monitor assets across a wide range of environments. In public cloud environments, it integrates with major cloud service providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform to automatically detect and inventory virtual machines, storage resources, network configurations, and other cloud-native services. Universal Asset Insights pulls detailed metadata about each cloud resource, including its type, configuration, location, and usage metrics.

For on-premises networks, Universal Asset Insights leverages network scanning technologies, including IP address management (IPAM) and domain name system (DNS) services, to identify physical and virtual devices connected to the corporate network. This includes servers, workstations, network switches, routers, and more. By continuously scanning the networks, Universal Asset Insights detects new devices as they come online, tracks changes in existing devices, and flags any unauthorized or unknown devices that could pose a security risk.

The Universal Asset Insights solution is also adept at handling the unique challenges posed by IoT (Internet of Things) and OT (Operational Technology) devices. These devices often operate on specialized protocols and may not be as easily discoverable using traditional IT asset management tools. Universal Asset Insights includes support for a variety of IoT and OT protocols, enabling it to discover and monitor devices ranging from industrial control systems and sensors to smart devices and appliances. By doing so, it ensures that even the most obscure or specialized assets are accounted for in the organization's inventory.

Automated Analysis and Real-Time Updates

One of the features of Universal Asset Insights is its ability to automatically analyze the data it collects, providing organizations with valuable insights into their assets' status, performance, and potential risks. The solution employs advanced algorithms and machine learning techniques to analyze usage patterns, detect anomalies, and predict potential issues before they become critical. For example, if a cloud resource is being underutilized or if a network device is showing signs of impending failure, Universal Asset Insights can flag these issues and provide recommendations for remediation.

The automation extends to keeping the asset inventory continuously updated. Traditional asset management approaches often rely on periodic manual audits or static tracking methods, which can quickly become outdated as assets are added, removed, or reconfigured. In contrast, Universal Asset Insights continuously monitors the environment, automatically updating the asset inventory in real time as changes occur. This ensures that the organization always has an accurate and up-to-date view of its assets, which is crucial for effective management, security, and compliance.

Security and Compliance Benefits

The real-time, automated nature of Universal Asset Insights also provides significant security and compliance benefits. By maintaining an always-current inventory of assets, organizations can more effectively enforce security policies and respond to potential threats. For example, if a new device connects to the network without proper authorization, Universal Asset Insights can immediately detect this and alert the security team, helping to prevent unauthorized access or potential breaches.

In terms of compliance, many regulations require organizations to maintain detailed records of their IT assets and ensure that all assets are properly secured. Universal Asset Insights simplifies this process by automatically generating comprehensive reports on asset inventory, usage, and security status. These reports can be used to demonstrate compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements, reducing the burden on IT teams and minimizing the risk of non-compliance penalties.

Integration with Broader IT Ecosystem

Universal Asset Insights is designed to integrate seamlessly with the broader IT ecosystem, including other Infoblox solutions and third-party tools. This integration enables more efficient workflows, as asset data can be automatically shared and acted upon by different teams within the organization.

Universal Asset Insights represents a significant advancement in IT asset management, offering automated discovery, real-time updates, and deep analysis across a wide range of environments. By providing a continuously updated and accurate view of all assets, it enables organizations to improve their operational efficiency, enhance security, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Whether deployed in public clouds, on-premises networks, or IoT/OT environments, Universal Asset Insights is a powerful tool that helps organizations manage their increasingly complex IT landscapes with greater ease and confidence.

Universal Asset Insights allows you to configure network discovery and import network discovery data from other sources into the Infoblox Portal. For example, you can configure network discovery for the following:

• On Premises - NIOS Grid Connector service installed to connect with NIOS Grid and NIOS appliances. Network Insight service installed for discovering on-prem assets.

• Cloud - AWS, Azure, or GCP.

• Third party - Service Now or Crowdstrike.

The following illustration notes the steps to create a configuration for network discovery:

You can perform the following actions: