Twitter Chat: Key Container Considerations

Containers are one of the hottest technologies in IT today, and for good reason. Containerization of applications promises benefits that are hard for businesses to ignore, especially in this era of digital transformation: speed, agility, and efficiency.

So it's no surprise that containers are quickly gaining traction in the enterprise. In fact, analysts at 451 Research said they've seen significant growth of container applications beyond development and testing to production use. A survey of enterprise IT buyers by the research firm last year found that about a third of those using containers were using them in broad implementation of production applicaitons while 28% had started initial production use.

"This is an impressive adoption growth profile for a technology that's only been in the enterprise for a few years," according to 451 Research.

Although container technologies have been around for years, the arrival of Docker in 2013 sparked the surging interest in the enterprise, making containers a seemingly overnight sensation.

451 Research predicts the application container market will grow faster than any other cloud-enabling technology, including virtualization, over the next three years. According to the firm, the container market will reach $2.7 billion by 2020, up from $762 million last year.

Clearly, containers are not just a passing fad. But how can enterprises get started with containerizing applications? What should they know before deployment? What potential pitfalls should they look out for?

On Thursday at 11 a.m. Pacific, Network Computing will team with Interop ITX to host a Twitter chat to discuss containers with Stephen Foskett (@SFoskett), organizer of the popular Tech Field Day events and a thought leader in the social media scene. He has expertise in a wide range of technologies, including virtualization, cloud, networking, and storage. At Interop ITX in May, Foskett is presenting "The Case For Containers: What, When, and Why?" where he will cover container fundamentals as well as what the technology means for IT operations.

containerchat.jpg

If you're looking for container guidance or have your own experience or advice to share, please join the chat. This is a community discussion, so we welcome everyone to join. Use the hashtag #InteropChat to monitor the Twitter stream for the discussion. Please remember for your comments to appear in the stream, they must include the same hashtag #InteropChat.

I'll be there moderating the chat. I hope to see you there!

You can learn more about containers at Interop ITX. In addition to Foskett's session, there is a Container Crash Course an all-day event designed to equip attendees with core knowledge of containers and understanding of how the technology can apply to their business. The summit features a panel of experts in container technologies, microservices, and DevOps from companies such as Docker, Red Hat, Amazon Web Services.

Later in the week, Brian Gracely, director of product strategy at Red Hat and well-known cloud expert, will present "Managing Containers in Production: What You Need to Think About." The session will cover networking, storage, security and other considerations for containerized applications. Register now for Interop ITX, May 15-19.