IBM Containers add enterprise features to Docker containers

Docker containers and container technologies in general seem to be fairly mainstream at this point–and still gaining momentum. As popular as containers are, though, there are aspects of standard containers that don’t meet the needs of larger enterprises. IBM understands the needs of large enterprise customers as well as anybody so it combined the power and flexibility of Docker containers with Bluemix to infuse enterprise-class features into the container environment.

I wrote this post for ContainerJournal about the IBM Containers:

You’re familiar with the old saying, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”. When it comes to IBM and containers it seems like the philosophy is more like “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em…and also leverage ‘em to create your own new thing that could maybe beat ‘em”. IBM introduced its own enterprise-class container technology—IBM Containers—to infuse Docker containers with features and capabilities large enterprises need in order to use containers effectively.

The IBM Containers news followed closely on the heels of IBM’s allegiance as an influential founding member of the Open Container Project (OCP). The mission of OCP is to infuse containers with some standards and stability so organizations can embrace containers as a concept without getting locked into a proprietary, vendor-specific platform.

In that spirit IBM Containers are not a departure from Docker containers. IBM Containers are based on Docker containers and built on Bluemix—IBM’s platform-as-a-service model. The IBM Containers expand on the Docker container foundation to enable faster integration of and access to crucial analytics data for enterprises, as well as additional security services.

The list of features of IBM Containers shared by IBM in a press release looks impressive

• Integrated Tools such as log analytics, performance monitoring and delivery pipeline simplifying life cycle management
• Elastic Scaling and Auto Recovery providing resources when needed them most
• Zero Downtime Deployments utilizing Active Deploy ensuring users are never impacted by application enhancements
• Private Overlays, Load Balancing and Automated Routing enabling capabilities to address even the most complex business requirements
• Support for Persistent Storage allowing data-centric application creation
• Automated Image Security and Vulnerability Scanning with Vulnerability Advisor alerts to security weaknesses before deployment
• Access to Bluemix Services, a powerful catalog of over 100 cloud services including Watson, Analytics, IoT and Mobile

You can read the full story on ContainerJournal: IBM Containers merge Docker with Bluemix for enterprise-class container technology.