Cisco Intersight simplifies data center operations by enabling "as-a-service" systems management, eliminating the need to maintain isolated on-premises infrastructure management systems. The solution allows for the management of the entire systems lifecycle through machine learning, analytics, and automation.
Today, most IT departments are adopting a multi-cloud strategy, requiring a scalable and consistent management environment across their data centers and public and private clouds. Organizations also demand consistent management and policy enforcement across their bare metal server, converged infrastructure, and hyperconverged infrastructure environments. Cisco Intersight offers the unique ability to connect and manage all these environments holistically.
In turn, multi-site and scale-out deployment models, facilitated by containers and microservices, are transforming application architectures, whose development is also being accelerated by DevOps methodologies. Cisco Intersight addresses all these challenges, helping IT departments optimize operations and enjoy a more intuitive user experience.
Intersight is designed to provide a higher level of simplicity and intelligence intuitively from the start, with the ability to continue learning and evolving over time.
• Ubiquitous simplicity: Cisco Intersight includes a dynamic user interface that can be customized for each user role. As a cloud service, new features are integrated via online updates, with seamless scalability as new systems are connected. The platform constantly learns to help simplify everyday IT operations. In turn, analytics combined with tight integration with the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) continuously improves the support provided through the recommendation engine.
• Best practices: Tight integration with the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) and insights from Cisco and the UCS Community provide recommendations and best practices.
• Continuous optimization: The ability to deliver actionable intelligence increases over time thanks to cloud-based machine learning. The platform can learn from the collective experience of the UCS user community, as well as best practices from Cisco experts and contributors. The result is improved predictive analytics provided by the recommendation engine.
• Agile response: IT departments can respond quickly to changes and business demands while maintaining and reinforcing policies. Cisco Intersight is API-based, and Cisco UCS and HyperFlex are fully programmable systems, supporting development and operations processes to ensure continuous delivery and integration.
• Constant protection: Cisco Intersight integrates with Cisco InfoSec security standards and helps establish secure communication between the Cisco Intersight SaaS platform and managed endpoints, facilitating secure application deployment and updates.
Cisco Intersight will be available in the last quarter of 2017 and will coexist with existing UCS and HyperFlex management tools, allowing customers to deploy it as they wish. It also supports third-party hardware and software integrations and will be available in the future as an on-premises deployment. The first two versions available will be:
• Cisco Intersight Base Edition, which will be free. It includes global inventory monitoring and management, a customizable dashboard, HyperFlex Installer for rapid cluster deployment, and the ability to use UCS Manager and the IMC and HyperFlex Connect element managers in an integrated way.
• Cisco Intersight Essentials Edition, which includes all the functionality of the Base Edition plus policy-based configuration with service profiles, firmware management with scheduled updates, Hardware Compatibility Listing (HCL) compliance checking and upgrade recommendations, among other capabilities.
Cisco recently announced the fifth generation of UCS servers, including the high-performance UCS M5 range and a version of UCS Manager with integration capabilities for Cisco Intersight. UCS M5 systems are also now available in Cisco's hyperconverged infrastructure solution with the new Cisco HyperFlex M5 nodes, including HyperFlex Edge, and with Cisco Intersight facilitating the deployment of cloud-based clusters in its Base Edition. Cisco leads the market with the most comprehensive offering of converged infrastructure solutions, and Cisco Intersight further expands integration opportunities for partners and offers greater operational simplicity.
As organizations adopt Cisco UCS, HyperFlex, and Intersight to modernize their IT infrastructure and operations, Cisco offers a full range of proven data center services, from consulting and optimization to managed, technical, and training services, to help simplify operations, reduce risks, and improve efficiency.
