Cisco has entered the world of containers with the launch of its Kubernetes-based Cisco Container Platform (CCP).
CCP will help businesses design and build multi-cloud environments with consistent application and deployment functionalities on Cisco Hyperflex, VMs and on-premise servers.
The container platform is set to be an integral part of Cisco and Google's hybrid cloud offering that will roll out later this year, enabling businesses to run containers on any infrastructure with Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), part of the Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
This flexibility means businesses would have more options about where's best to run each application they're using.
"In the multicloud era, enterprise IT executives are looking to modernise traditional applications, and manage containerised applications in a consistent way across public and private clouds," Stephen Elliott, programme vice president of IDC, said.
"Container deployment, management and monitoring are key requirements to drive speed and quality improvements for the business, and enable scale for IT operations teams. In addition, operations teams also require multiplatform support, including Kubernetes, while helping customers address the end-to-end lifecycle management of container clusters."
The platform offers end-to-end management of cluster containers, from setup to orchestration, authentication to monitoring, networking, load balancing, through to optimisation, Cisco said, adding that this means IT departments can spend their time on other projects, rather than attempting to run multiple systems at once.
"Cisco is focused on enabling customers' multicloud ambitions," Kip Compton, VP of Cisco's cloud platform and solutions group, said. "Cisco Container Platform helps customers realize the potential of Kubernetes and containers, simplifying the deployment and management of Kubernetes clusters in a multicloud environment with enterprise-class security and compliance."
Support for Kubernetes' container technology has gained widespread acceptance, with even Amazon Web Services (AWS) opting to support it alongside its own ECS service late last year.
