Surprise Announcement Changes Container Landscape at DockerCon EU

Docker Inc. shook up the entire container market at its DockerCon EU 17 conference with the announcement that Docker will embrace the rival open-source Kubernetes container orchestration system. The DockerCon EU 17 event ran from Oct. 16-19 in Copenhagen, Denmark; it was the second DockerCon 17 event this year, following the Austin, Texas, event which took place in April. At DockerCon EU, another big piece of news was IBM’s announcement that it is joining Docker’s Modernize Traditional Applications (MTA) program, which helps organizations transform legacy applications into modern cloud-ready, container-delivered applications. In this slide show, eWEEK looks at some of the highlights of the DockerCon 17 EU conference.

Docker founder Solomon Hykes announced the big news of the DockerCon EU 17 event: Docker is now building support for Kubernetes into its Docker platform. “I’m really excited to announce that the next version of Docker will support two orchestrators—Swarm and Kubernetes—surprise!” Hykes said as the audience erupted into a loud round of applause.

Docker had been directly competing against Kubernetes with its Swarm container orchestration system. Now with Docker Enterprise Edition (EE), the plan is to provide a seamless platform that supports a heterogenous deployment that can include both Swarm and Kubernetes clusters.

The DockerCon EU event also marked the debut DockerCon keynote for new CEO Steve Singh. Singh replaced Ben Golub as Docker’s CEO in April following the DockerCon 17 event.

Jason McGee, vice president and CTO for IBM’s cloud platform, went on stage at DockerCon EU to announce that IBM has joined the Docker Modernize Traditional Applications program. IBM will provide customers with professional services, IBM Cloud services and Docker EE to enable legacy application transformation. “With this partnership, we can help you easily and quickly understand the value of modernizing your applications,” McGee said.

A DockerCon tradition has been to honor the so-called “Demo Gods” by making some kind of offering at the event, in an effort to help make sure that demos work. At the DockerCon EU 17 event, speakers put their own LEGO minifigure on a playset to appease the demo gods.

Docker isn’t the only vendor that supports multiple container orchestration systems. Amazon Web Services (AWS) evangelists Abby Fuller and Tiffany Jernigan provided tools and tips for DockerCon EU attendees on how to use Docker containers on AWS, including Kubernetes.

Diogo Monica, security lead at Docker, explained in a container security session that security is really the wrong word for what organizations want. Rather, he argued, safety is a better description. Monica explained to session attendees how IndyCar and F1 race cars are made safe for drivers and provided examples of how similar concepts for safety can work for data and containers.

DockerCon is also a place to learn by experience, with hands-on labs providing attendees with the opportunity to figure out how to use Docker.

Kubernetes co-founder and Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft Brendan Burns used the DockerCon EU 17 keynote stage to praise Docker’s new support for Kubernetes.

Docker Inc. uses its own software to power its operation and platforms. All of Docker’s software-as-a-service offerings are delivered on top of Docker EE.

The new Docker Community Edition 17.09 update includes a number of new features, including experimental support for the Docker Trust security feature that allows administrators to view, revoke and digitally sign images.

The container market is larger than just Docker Inc. itself, with multiple vendors demonstrating their products on the DockerCon EU 17 expo floor.

Among the highlights of the exhibitor booths was the Star Trek Bridge Commander virtual reality (VR) game that benefits from technology from IBM Watson.

The Hallway Track at the DockerCon EU 17 event had a foam pit that attendees could jump into, when not learning about containers.

The DockerCon EU 17 event was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The next event for the company is DockerCon 18, which is set for San Francisco in early 2018.