Microsoft Acquires Containers Talent with Deis Purchase

Microsoft isn’t new to containers. It developed Hyper-V containers and it has partnered with and embraced Docker within its Azure platform. Recently, Microsoft expanded its support for DevOps and containers with the acquisition of Deis.

I’m sure it’s not news to you that containers are a hot concept. If you were looking for proof or validation of that fact, though, look no further than the news that Microsoft is acquiring Deis—a company focused on helping customers build and maintain container ecosystems.

Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise Group, discussed the acquisition of Deis in a blog post. “At Microsoft, we’ve seen explosive growth in both interest and deployment of containerized workloads on Azure, and we’re committed to ensuring Azure is the best place to run them. To support this vision, we’re pleased to announce that Microsoft has signed an agreement to acquire Deis – a company that has been at the center of the container transformation.”

Deis CTO, Gabe Monroy, also wrote a blog post announcing the news. “Microsoft has a storied history of building tools and technologies that work for developers,” he wrote. “Paired with their cloud leadership and unambiguous support for open source software, we are impressed by the breadth, depth and reach of Microsoft to help define, shape and build new cloud-native applications.”

If you haven’t heard of Deis, you’re not alone. Docker, Chef, Puppet, Jenkins and other dominant tools get most of the attention, but DevOps and containers have also created an explosion of smaller companies seeking to fill niche roles or solve specific problems.

“The Deis acquisition again signals Microsoft’s dedication to the cloud native developer community,” said Dave Bartoletti, principal analyst for Forrester. “Deis was not a large company, nor does it bring a large set of clients, but the Deis team very early on embraced Docker and Kubernetes, and those skills are in short supply.

“I expect Microsoft will leverage the skills and experience of the Deis team to help customers adopt cloud-native architectures. This was probably more of a skills acquisition than a platform buy,” he added.

Monroy said: “We will continue our contributions to Workflow, Helm and Steward and look forward to maintaining our deep engagement with the Kubernetes community. The future of open source infrastructure at Microsoft is very bright.”

You can read the full story on ContainerJournal.com: Microsoft Doubles Down on Containers with Deis Acquisition.