Cisco has launched Smart Agent for Cisco AppDynamics, a new application that simplifies application instrumentation for full-stack observability and allows customers to onboard new applications faster.

According to Cisco, the Smart Agent aims to reduce the need for manual intervention, increasing operational efficiency and software compliance.

The rapidly evolving nature of applications, which have become more distributed, modular, and scalable, has led to a rise in the number of agents' management complexity. As such, companies often use outdated versions, leaving them vulnerable to security risks. The Smart Agent will allow IT and operations teams to alleviate these problems, simplifying the process of installing and upgrading agents, and providing quick access to new capabilities with push-button upgrades, the company states.

Cisco's Smart Agent will also allow IT infrastructure and operations teams to gain valuable application performance and business insights at speed. Traditionally, process discovery and agent deployment can become complicated and time-consuming, making it a challenge to offer optimal user experience and business outcomes. By automating the new application instrumentation process with a single agent install that identifies all processes running on the host, and automatically providing the necessary agents, the Smart Agent will enable customers to start collecting data and visualise application topography in minutes instead of days.

"Cisco is committed to using automation and intelligence to give time back to our customers, helping them to reduce the stress and inefficiencies caused by increasingly complex technology environments," said Ronak Desai, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cisco AppDynamics and Full-Stack Observability. Desai underlined the benefits of the Smart Agent, stating that it will "alleviate that pressure, allowing IT teams to focus less on agent management and more on innovation."

Brad Johns, Manager of Solutions Architecture at Sabre, expressed enthusiasm about the new Smart Agent for Cisco AppDynamics. He noted the difficulty in always keeping application performance monitoring agents updated with the latest versions, especially in large-scale applications. "We are eagerly looking forward to using Smart Agent for Cisco AppDynamics to simplify this process, allowing us to be more responsive and take advantage of new agent-based features as they are released," said Johns.

The Smart Agent for Cisco AppDynamics is now generally available. The auto-deployment functionality of the smart agent will be generally available in CYQ2 2024. A webinar on Smart Agent for Cisco AppDynamics is set for February 14, aiming to provide further insight into the new tool’s capabilities and uses.