Google and Docker Recharge the Container Revolution
Google and Docker Recharge the Container Revolution
Bryan Cantrill says that cloud computing is on the cusp of revolution.Today, when companies use services like Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud or the Google Compute Engine, the idea is that they're running their websites and software applications on virtual machines—computer servers that exist only as software. But eventually, says Cantrill, the chief technology officer at cloud computing outfit Joyent, we'll think in different terms. The virtual machine will give way to the software container, a more efficient means of running modern applications.Thanks to companies like Docker, Google, and others, this is already starting to happen. And today, the revolution gained some additional momentum, with the arrival of a new independent foundation dedicated to the idea of containers. Known as the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, it's backed by such names as Cisco, eBay, Goldman Sachs, IBM, Intel, Joyent, and Twitter as well as Google and Docker. As it stands, many companies are now offering technologies that facilitate the use of containers, and according to Google's Craig McLuckie, the foundation aims to "pull together and harmonize all of [those] technologies."The new organization is backed by the Linux Foundation, the non-profit that oversees the Linux open source operating system. And if all this sounds familiar, that's because the Linux Foundation is also behind a (https://www.wired.com/2015/06/software-containers-bringing-tech-giants-together/), or OCI. But whereas OCI seeks to provide a common container specification—a standard that ensures any container can run on any machines or cloud computing service—the Cloud Native Computing Foundation has a wider remit, aiming to hone myriad tools needed to run and manage containers.For instance, Google offers a tool called Kubernetes that's designed to juggle containers across a large collection of machines, and other companies offer similar tools. The foundation seeks to improve these tools and ensure they can all work together. Google has donated Kubernetes to the foundation, and others are contributing other open source code.Kubernetes was already open source, meaning it was freely available to the world at large. But now, it will be overseen by many different companies, not just Google. And that's what's needed. The container idea is most powerful when it's embraced by everyone.