Cisco Systems Inc. is expanding its lineup of data center management tools with a new cloud service designed to take some hassle out of day-to-day operations.

Dubbed Intersight, the platform works with the company’s Unified Computing System and HyperFlex hyperconverged appliances. It augments the traditional on-premises management software that Cisco has offered for the systems until now. Satinder Sethi, a senior vice president at the company, wrote in a blog post that all the features of the existing tools will eventually be carried over to Intersight.

The platform is accessible through a web-based console that can be customized for each user. Access controls enable companies to restrict what an administrator may do based on their job description, seniority and other considerations.

Operations personnel can use Intersight to monitor hyperconverged infrastructure for potential issues, as well as carry out maintenance work. In the background, diagnostics data from each appliance is sent to an analytics environment for processing. Cisco said Intersight uses machine learning algorithms to scan activity throughout the installed base and distill the information into operational recommendations for customers.

Important information is also made available to the data center giant’s support teams. If the personnel at Cisco spot a deployment experiencing problems that may have gone under the radar, they can alert the affected customer to the issue.

Rounding out the feature set is a collection of application programming interfaces and a complementary connector framework. They enable organizations to integrate Intersight with their other management tools to automate operations.

Intersight is slated for release later this year. Cisco will make the service available in two versions on launch: a free “base edition” and a paid tier that offers more advanced features such as the ability to schedule updates in advance. Further down the road, the firm plans to add an on-premises edition geared toward customers that require full control over their management infrastructure.

Image: Cisco