Morpheus Data LLC today introduced a new release of its cloud management platform with improved Kubernetes support and features that will help companies automate infrastructure maintenance tasks.

Morpheus Data says the release marks its biggest product update in a year.

The Colorado-based company provides a platform that enables information technology teams to manage public cloud environments, on-premises infrastructure and containers via one centralized console. The venture-backed startup counts Fortune 500 companies such as CenturyLink among its customers. Furthermore, Morpheus Data disclosed today that it recorded 70% growth in 2020, though it didn’t disclose specific numbers.

The main highlight of the new platform release is a set of features meant to ease the use of Terraform. That’s a ubiquitous open-source tool that enterprise IT teams use to automate common maintenance tasks such as configuring databases. By making the tool simpler to use, Morpheus Data is hoping to streamline day-to-day work for administrators and thereby enable companies to manage their infrastructure more efficiently. 

Administrators can now access Terraform’s features directly from Morpheus Data’s platform to avoid having to toggle among multiple interfaces. Additionally, they’re receiving new features for spotting technical issues. If the IT team uses Terraform to configure an application in a certain way, but an error causes one of the application’s configuration settings to change, Morpheus Data can display the problem.

The startup is pairing the features with a more narrowly focused addition: a Terraform plugin for on-premise environments.

Using Terraform to automate on-premises infrastructure requires administrators to connect the tool to various software components, such as the hypervisor that manages the infrastructure and  network management applications. Normally, each such integration requires a separate Terraform plugin. Morpheus Data says that its new plugin replaces separate integrations with an all-in-one connector and thereby reduces complexity.

Kubernetes is another focus of today’s platform update. Morpheus Data has added support for a newer version of the framework, Kubernetes 1.2, which will give users access to the enhancements included in the release. Those enhancements include, among other things, a command-line tool for debugging technical issues such as application crashes.

For Google Cloud customers, Morpheus is adding the ability to manage networks, firewalls and virtual routers from its native management console. VMware Inc. users, in turn, are receiving improved support for NSX-T, VMware’s software-defined networking platform.

Capping off the major enhancements announced today is a new set of customization options. Companies can now extend Morpheus Data’s features for tracking infrastructure health by building custom server monitoring dashboards.

The features will enable administrators to perform more parts of their day-to-day work in the Morpheus Data platform, which should in turn enhance its value proposition as a centralized hub for managing of an enterprise’s entire infrastructure. The startup claims on its website its centralized approach to IT operations can reduce cloud costs by 30% in some cases.

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