Building an Enterprise-wide Framework for Containerization Across Hybrid Multi-Cloud Environments
Gartner predicts that more than 75% of global organizations will run containerized applications in production by 2022.
Container engines such as Docker and orchestration frameworks such as Kubernetes provide a standardized way to package applications — including the code, runtime, and libraries — and run them invariably across the entire software development life cycle.
Organizations must ensure that the business case is solid enough for the additional complexity and cost associated with deploying containers in production.
The keys for building an enterprise-wide framework for deploying containers across hybrid multi-cloud infrastructures is top of mind for executives. Exploring containerization frameworks should be considered a strategic priority for IT organizations with complex infrastructures and how they will affect IT operations and business processes.
BizTechReports caught up with Vikas Sidana -- a strategic technology advisor at IBM -- to discuss some of the central findings of today’s use cases.
Here is what he had to say:
“It's been fascinating to see how the conversation about containerization has rapidly evolved. Containers are a hot topic across the IT environment for several reasons. Organizations are moving away from treating IT as a cost center toward making IT a strategic differentiator. Containers play an important role because this technology helps businesses become more agile by allowing developers to deliver new features faster,” explained Sidana.
Vikas Sidana, IBM
A sense of urgency is growing around this issue, as Gartner predicts that more than 75% of global organizations will run containerized applications in production by 2022. Container engines such as Docker and orchestration frameworks such as Kubernetes provide a standardized way to package applications — including the code, runtime, and libraries — and run them invariably across the entire software development life cycle.
However, analysts note that the container ecosystem is in some ways still immature. As a result, organizations must ensure that the business case is solid enough for the additional complexity and cost associated with deploying containers in production. This is especially true among the vast majority of organizations making significant commitments to multiple cloud environments while upgrading their on-premises infrastructures.
“The good news is that containerizations are rapidly emerging as a way to avoid cloud service provider (CSP) lock-in, which makes it possible for organizations to deploy discrete workloads to the right cloud in the right environment,” said Sidana.
Related questions revolve around the role of standardization. Many executives express frustration with bringing things to market when they have multiple orchestration tools in place. Often this was the result of numerous containerization initiatives that were not coordinated.
“One of the important roles of an enterprise-wide framework is to determine what kind of orchestration is going to be needed for containers. This makes it possible to make architectural decisions that encourage consistency across the enterprise. It's imperative to define standards in terms of technology. While containers are useful, good orchestration platforms are needed to manage them across different infrastructure elements. There are multiple options available today, but the current market momentum -- and market share -- is with Kubernetes,” he said.
IT leaders that are just starting on their containerization journey would be well advised to make a comprehensive survey of where these activities are taking place and communicate operating procedures and platforms on which the enterprise intends to standardize. This is because orchestration sprawl can result in high additional costs.
It is difficult, these days, to have conversations about strategic enterprise technology without talking about the role played by the alphabet soup of emerging technologies. The roundtable discussion was no exception. Participants explored how artificial intelligence (AI), machine (ML), robotic process automation (RPA), and internet-of-things (IoT) technologies can be leveraged to optimize an integrated containerization strategy across the enterprise.
“Containerized platforms built on proper frameworks have the potential to be the centerpiece for innovation that optimizes the effect of emerging technologies -- like AI -- across the enterprise. The key is to start focusing on the workload-specific requirements using a framework that captures best practices that can be shared. Then, all these other technologies can be stitched together on the platform and create a force-multiplier effect for the organization,” concluded Sidana.
For more information on BizTechReport podcast interviews, please contact Melissa Fisher at MFisher@BizTechReports.com.