TiVo

“Managing our core network services infrastructure required endless hours of labor from the IT department. Our DNS would be incorrect on one server and it would take hours and hours to troubleshoot. Infoblox made it easier for us to manage and determine where the issues were. We looked briefly at other vendors but once we saw the feature set, we knew – we did not need a big bake off with other vendors. This was the solution for us.”

—Richard Rothschild, Senior Director of IT Security and Facilities

The Customer

Founded in 1997, TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) developed the first commercially available digital video recorder (DVR). TiVo offers the TiVo service and TiVo DVRs directly to consumers online at www.TiVo.com and through third-party retailers. TiVo also distributes its technology and services through solutions tailored for cable, satellite, and broadcasting companies.

Since its founding, TiVo has evolved into the ultimate single solution media center by combining its patented DVR technologies and universal cable box capabilities with the ability to aggregate, search, and deliver millions of pieces of broadband, cable, and broadcast content directly to the television – an economical, one-stop-shop for in-home entertainment.

As of October 2009, TiVo had 2.76 million subscribers in the U.S. and offers service in multiple countries around the world.

Challenge #1

Like most organizations, for many years TiVo manually handled network configuration, change and compliance requirements.

To save time and reduce manual-task related errors, TiVo began looking for a solution that included: network change automation and proactive change and configuration management.

Solution #1

With their network rapidly growing and with little to no visibility or automation, TiVo found an answer with NetMRI purchased through NetCordia (acquired by Infoblox in 2010). NetMRI is a network management product focused on network change and configuration management (NCCM). It enables organizations to automate network change, see the impact of changes on network health, manage network configurations and meet a variety of compliance requirements.

Offering physical and virtual appliance deployment options, NetMRI audits multi-vendor infrastructures, identifies anomalies early, speeds resolution and automates network changes, allowing organizations to:

• Determine how change impacts both network health and compliance
• Maintain a predictable and consistent network with embedded best practices and proactive monitoring
• Increase staff efficiency via automation, problem isolation and improved remediation options
• Put a stop to user complaints and network issues

Instead of manually pushing and logging changes, TiVo could use NetMRI to automate network data collection, analysis and reporting of network infrastructure devices to greatly improve the efficiency and predictability of the network.

Challenge #2

After deploying NetMRI, it was time for TiVo to address their DNS, DHCP and IP Address (DDI) management functions. For more than 10 years, TiVo used a variety of open source products to manage their DDI. The use of these products did not provide visibility into the network and created needless hours of work managing the functions. TiVo’s IT department began looking for a solution to manage their critical DDI network management functions thereby allowing them to focus on other aspects of the business.

“Time was not on our side when it came to managing our DDI infrastructure,” said Richard Rothschild, Senior Director of IT Security and Facilities. “Whenever there was a problem with DNS or one of our other core network functions, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. As a relatively small IT team, we were spending too many hours troubleshooting. After a while, our little bits of irritation became larger and more frustrating and we decided to overhaul our systems.”

Solution #2

TiVo first made the decision to move to an Infoblox appliance-based DDI solution for their DNS, DHCP and IPAM needs. They were primarily concerned about securing, simplifying and automating administration of DNS, DHCP and IPAM

“Managing our core network services used to require endless hours of labor from the IT department,” said Rothschild. “Our DNS would be incorrect on one server and it would take hours and hours to troubleshoot. Infoblox made it easer for us to manage and determine where the issues were. We looked briefly at other vendors but once we saw the feature set, we knew - we did not need a big bake off with other vendors. This was the solution for us.”

In early 2010, TiVo purchased six Infoblox appliances, with the Company’s unique Grid™ technology and network services suite for DNS, DHCP and IPAM.

• Secure internal and external DNS
• Central management
• Significant administrative advantages
• Easy deployment

The Result

Using Infoblox DDI solutions and NetMRI both simplified and streamlined functions for TiVo. NetMRI helped automate a greater share of manual network-related tasks and procedures, reducing operating expenses. Similarly, Infoblox DDI appliances helped with both internal and external DNS and to run services with partners including NetFlix and Comcast, the foundation of their business. Infoblox solutions automated a majority of TiVo’s manual repetitive processes, such as making device changes, managing IP addresses or chasing problems with DNS and DHCP services, saving IT staff countless hours of time and effort.

“Not having automated, commercial solutions for core infrastructure services can lead to confusion, errors and lots of administrative overhead,” continued Rothschild. “We love having a system that tells us what we need to pay attention to. Infoblox takes a complex environment and simplifies. It’s like having a personal assistant. We have 100,000 things to pay attention to but now we are armed with better information automatically collected and analyzed, allowing us to sleep at night and make quick decisions and adjustments when necessary. It’s not often that we come across something this great.”