So Ice Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky apparently said: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been” and today the ability for VMware to continue to be a visionary aligned 100% with that position shone through.
Docker opened the day talking about taking legacy applications into containers (Modernize Traditional Apps) they called it, and whilst it’s perhaps not quite true that just running Websphere in a container modernizes the application, it’s certainly true that doing this can bring portability benefits – something that’s important when looking at the management lifecycle of applications. Also for some use cases, using a container to package an application makes them easier to work with than a VM.
Enter vSphere Integrated Containers (VIC) which it just happens that Enterprise Management Associates recognized as having the “Best Integration with IT” for Containers and Microservices (report here) – and is perfectly positioned for this use case. Nothing better allows traditional IT to benefit from the power of their existing VMware investments whilst bringing valuable integrations into IT Operations workflows (through vRealize Automation) and building in the ability to integrate directly into NSX networking, security updates allowing registry whitelisting and deep integration into Active Directory and Single Sign On – critical for any Enterprise wanting to move into Containers.
Docker also announced that they were going to (finally) admit Kubernetes was the container scheduler that the market had chosen, and whilst there is still a huge (and growing) use base of Swarm customers – going forwards I think todays announcement just about promoted Kubernetes to the status of ‘winner’.
VMware has embraced Kubernetes (driven by demand from our customers) at an astonishing rate and has been working on it’s Kubernetes strategy for well over 18 months. This came to fruition when we launched Pivotal Container Service (PKS) (full details here) which brings together the combined resources of Google Compute, Pivotal and VMware to produce one simple Kubernetes ‘Dialtone’ service which when deployed onto VMware’s technology stack benefits from a range of integrations that accelerates time to market, operational insight, day to operations – and leverages some of VMware’s wider investments such as Wavefront, our SaaS based monitoring service which on the DockerCon stand was generating huge interest.
Attendee after attendee at our stand was blown away by the maturity of the approach, often arriving at the stand wondering quite why a ‘VM” company was at a ‘Container’ event, but I think I can say without exception – I have never heard so many people use the words ‘simple’, ‘no brainer’, ‘elegant’ to describe the approaches that VMware is taking.
It’s great to have Docker now following the lead taken by others, embracing Kubernetes – while introducing concepts like Modernize Traditional Applications that allow VMware’s customers to get so much value out of their existing investments without having to re-invet the wheel.
It really has felt like a two days of being where the puck will be, and it’s so so satisfying to know as you listen to a customer asking a question, that you know you’ve got such a rich, deep and compelling answer to give them when attending an event.