One of the main technology trends, as reported by the press for 2017, are containers, a form of serverless computing that enable the isolation of software processes. Research firm Forrester corroborates these claims, stating that Linux containers will be available in every major public and private cloud platform by the middle of the year.
Advocates for hybrid cloud deployments have also declared containers to be a major reason as why organizations should transition since there is an increased level of visibility and portability towards application performance. Furthermore, containers that run in a public cloud environment also provide a level of agility and cost-savings that is not as present in virtualization, making older platforms relevant and useful again.
Docker is one of the most popular container technologies on the market today, owning over a third of the market according to RightScale’s 2017 Cloud Computing Trends Survey. Docker is built specifically on Linux containers and has its own file system, storage, CPU, RAM, and more, offering the existence of a virtual machine without the effects of the host device. The portability of Docker was noted by 451 Research senior analyst Jay Lyman who noted that enterprise organizations are struggling to make applications more portable, saying:
“Just as GitHub stimulated collaboration and innovation by making source code shareable, Docker Hub, Official Repos and commercial support are helping enterprises answer this challenge by improving the way they package, deploy and manage applications.”
The Joy of Open Source
The benefits of Docker do not end there. As the platform is open source, it also ties into mainstream DevOps technologies including IBM UrbanCode Deploy to help organizations accelerate time to market, simplify repetitive tasks, and lower and flexible costs. Furthermore, the cross implementation also allows for successful hybrid cloud scenarios including deployment of software for testing, conversion of large applications into microservices, or the automation of image management between cloud registries and on-premises Docker registries.
Our work at Perficient centers on the intricacies of container and cloud work with the goal of helping organizations test, manage, and deploy their innovations. If you are looking to migrate to containers for your organization, we have the session for you. Visit us at IBM Interconnect March 19-23 in Las Vegas and join our own Cloud Strategist, Joel Thimsen as he dives deeper into this topic on Tuesday, March 21 (1:30 – 2:15 p.m.).
Additionally, you can also send us an email at sales@perficient.com or download our hybrid cloud below.
Learn more about our IBM practice here.
