Cisco announces analytics solution for greater data centre visibility
Thu 23 Jun 2016
Cisco is proposing a new data centre monitoring technology which tracks performance in real time and could help managers identify and patch security vulnerabilities.
The solution, called Tetration Analytics, is an open platform which monitors data travelling between computers to gauge performance and quickly respond to any technical issues. This capacity, according to Cisco, provides data centre visibility at a level and scale that has never before been attained in the industry.
The system collects data in real time from software and hardware sensors positioned in servers and inside chips that power networking equipment. Cisco explained that each sensor would be able to trace as many as one million digital events every second. The platform can store up to a year’s worth of data and uses advanced analytics to deliver critical information on the data centre’s operations.
Cisco chief executive Chuck Robbins noted in a blog post last week: ‘We’ve lost visibility into data centers at a very fundamental level… As a result, implementing change in the data center as part of an overall digital transformation effort can be very difficult, making more companies prone to vulnerability.’
Robbins explained that the new Tetration offering would also create a kind of ‘time machine for the data center’ which is able to gather and store ‘historical data and simulates what might happen.’ He argued that this would allow data centre managers to better plan for the future and help them set better policies for running the facility.
The new system differs from existing analytics tools which typically track a single hardware component, or feed samples of information rather than every single piece of data.
Cisco’s announcement marks another push towards software for the company as it looks to reduce reliance on its switch and routers business, which has seen demand shrink in the face of tough competition and significant loss of talent.
