Cisco’s new AI-driven observability solution enhances SAP application security and performance, ensuring compliance and control for sensitive sectors.
Cisco has introduced an innovation in the field of observability by incorporating AI-driven technologies into its AppDynamics On-Premises solution. This new virtual appliance aims to significantly enhance the detection of anomalies and the analysis of root causes in application performance, thus safeguarding business-critical applications and streamlining operations within on-premises SAP landscapes.
This novel observability solution is designed to address the complexities of managing business-critical applications through advanced AI capabilities that can automatically detect anomalies and pinpoint root causes faster and with greater accuracy. This development is a part of Cisco’s ongoing efforts to support IT operations teams by providing them with tools that can mitigate security vulnerabilities and maintain optimal performance of SAP applications and business processes.
With an increase in the adoption of SaaS-based observability solutions, many organizations, particularly those within sensitive sectors like finance, healthcare, and government, would continue to rely on self-hosted systems. These systems, often mandatory due to regulations concerning data residency and protection, would allow organizations to retain full control over their data and observability operations.
Ronak Desai, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Cisco AppDynamics and Full-Stack Observability, highlighted the importance of these developments. “We are thrilled to deliver these AI-powered innovations, enabling our customers to deploy new innovations faster and simplify lifecycle operations with our Smart Agent capability.”
Cisco’s New Solution: Key Features
Key features of Cisco’s new observability solution include the following:
- AI-Powered Detection and Remediation – Utilizing the Cognition Engine, the system enhances anomaly detection accuracy by analyzing dynamic baseline performance and historical data trends. This would reduce the mean time to identify application performance issues and facilitates quicker resolution through automated transaction diagnostics and root cause analysis.
- Application Security – The integration of Cisco Secure Application helps pinpoint security vulnerabilities within applications. It uses an automated business risk score that combines application intelligence with security intelligence to prioritize responses based on potential business impact. Additionally, Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP) is deployed to protect businesses from exploits targeting application vulnerabilities.
- SAP Landscape Resilience – Full-stack observability for on-premises SAP and non-SAP environments would ensure service availability and performance, offering insights to preemptively address performance issues. AI-powered intelligence for the Java stack aids SAP developers and BASIS admins in aligning performance with business outcomes and identifying SAP-related security vulnerabilities.
Moreover, Cisco announced the introduction of AppDynamics Flex, a new licensing model designed to facilitate the transition from self-hosted to SaaS-based observability solutions. This model allows organizations to adapt their observability strategies as their digital transformation requirements evolve, ensuring operational efficiency and continued control over their deployments.
Availability
Stephen Elliot, Group Vice President for IDC, commented on the significance of these advancements. “The inclusion of AI to autonomously detect anomalies and suspected root causes is a significant advancement for customers preferring to maintain control over their observability deployments.”
Jindřich Kasal, CEO of SG Solutions, a partner for Cisco AppDynamics, also expressed enthusiasm for the new offerings. “We are excited for the new virtual appliance for Cisco AppDynamics On-Premises and the value it brings to our customers in AI-driven intelligence and security.”
The virtual appliance for Cisco AppDynamics On-Premises is slated for general availability in May 2024, with additional features such as Automated Transaction Diagnostics and cloud-based deployment packages for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure set to roll out in the third quarter of 2024.
