Cisco Systems Inc. may have a been a bit late to the software container game, but it’s hoping to make up for lost time with the launch today of its own Kubernetes distribution, wrapped up in its new “Container Platform.”

The networking giant said the Cisco Container Platform is designed for managing containerized software applications across a range of environments. Software containers are all the rage with software developers, allowing them to build applications once and run them anywhere, regardless of the underlying hardware or software platform. Kubernetes is the most popular software for managing those containers.

Specifically, Cisco said its new Kubernetes-based platform provides a way to deploy and manage software containers on-premises and across both public and private cloud infrastructure. It can also be used to help manage containers on hyperconverged infrastructure, bare metal infrastructure and virtual machines, the company said.

Cisco added in its pitch that the Container Platform is designed to maintain consistent app experiences across those environments. As such, the platform can serve as a stepping-stone for companies looking to move to a hybrid or multicloud model, the company said. Cisco Container Platform also expands on the company’s other offerings, meaning it could potentially move some customers deeper into its ecosystem.

“Cisco is focused on enabling customers’ multicloud ambitions,” said Kip Compton, vice president of Cisco’s Cloud Platform and Solutions Group. “Cisco Container Platform helps customers realize the potential of Kubernetes and containers, simplifying the deployment and management of Kubernetes clusters in a multi-cloud environment with enterprise-class security and compliance.”

Another of the platform’s obvious benefits is it means that companies won’t have to give up on any expensive infrastructure investments made in the past in order to run it. In addition it can help them to optimize applications for specific environments where they run most effectively, Cisco said.

The company said the Container Platform takes care of the “setup, orchestration, authentication, monitoring, networking, load balancing and optimization” of containers. Deployment of containers is also simplified through automation, as the platform takes care of the most repetitive tasks in this process. It can also be extended to other important aspects of IT, such as networking, security and more, officials said.

Cisco said it plans to follow up the release with new services that can assist its customers in modernizing their legacy apps for container infrastructure. For starters, it’s releasing the platform on its Cisco HyperFlex 3.0 infrastructure platform. Customers will be able to license the product separately, or as part of an integrated solution combining other products.

Cisco added that it’s also working closely with Google LLC’s cloud platform so as to optimize the service for production environments. “Cisco Container Platform is optimized in collaboration with Google Cloud to deliver a next-generation open hybrid cloud architecture, and represents an important milestone for our integrated Google and Cisco hybrid cloud solution coming later this year,” said Eyal Manor, vice president of engineering at Google Cloud.

Cisco Container Platform is set to be released in April, initially for its own on-premises infrastructure and private clouds. Deployments on VMware infrastructure, bare metal servers and public clouds will become available in the summer, with pricing based on the number of cluster nodes deployed.

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