If you go to any developer conference in the world, there will definitely be mentions of Docker, Kubernetes, and other such names that sound straight out of a nautical environment. With so much information, it's natural to get confused about what containerization and its examples are, and why it is so relevant today. 

In this article, I will try to make containerization simple and answer questions such as—what it is, why the market for this software is growing so fast, and what are the latest trends in containerization software according to G2 data.

Understanding containerization

So is this like a shipping container?

Yes! Almost all articles on containerization show a picture of a shipping container and that’s on purpose. Shipping containers are used to move things across the world. The shipping industry set a standardized size for these containers, which made it easy to transport containers on ships, trains, and trucks. The contents of the containers do not matter. 

Similarly, a software container is a standardized software package. All the requirements to run the software are already present within the container. This includes any libraries, settings, or tools required for the software to run within the container environment. The user just needs to pack the code and any related software into the container which can then be run on any cloud computing platform.

What makes containerization relevant for businesses today?

Containerization has become a hot topic—either some companies are beginning their journey into containerization, or some are already using it at scale. Businesses are moving into this space since there are several positive outcomes that are associated with it. Some of the main benefits include:

Freedom: This is the key benefit of containerization. A user can package and run any application on any cloud since the standard format of a container is the same. Users can move workloads of their choosing to any cloud computing environment (public, private, or hybrid cloud) to ensure that their IT environment supports agility, flexibility, and scalability when required by the customer. In addition, since the user will have all the tools required to deploy the application within the container itself, it makes it easier to run any application of choice.

Faster time to market: With the freedom to run any application, businesses can develop and test new applications as well. Businesses can speed up new services and improve operational agility. The path from development to deployment is much faster, leading to improved time to market.

Operational efficiency: Since different applications are controlled by a single operation model, it allows more streamlined operations to manage numerous applications.

For developers, they understand that no matter where their software is deployed, it will always have an environment to run it. In addition, containers enable another feature known as microservices, wherein a large application can be broken down into smaller parts that can communicate with each other. A firm can employ different teams to manage different parts more efficiently, and as long as there are no major changes, each part can work independently. This allows for improved testing capabilities, faster deployment time, and improved efficiency.

Docker, Kubernetes—confused yet?

Now we know what containers are, so let's talk about the word that is most associated with it—Docker. 

Docker (now acquired by Mirantis) is an open-source containerization platform that can be used to create and run containers. Docker allows the user to develop and run any application on the cloud. Since it is open source, it prevents any vendor lock-in and a user can move their application to a new container environment anytime.

It’s easy to manage one container since all the time and resources can be directed to manage it. But what happens when a ton of new containers are created? Manageability becomes difficult and could lead to chaos. Container orchestration software ensures users don’t go crazy while creating multiple containers. Container orchestration software allows users to control and move all containers as per requirement. Just as a conductor of an orchestra would decide how many violins should play, how loud each instrument is, and who starts first, container orchestration software works the same way. The software decides how resources are deployed, the microservices needed, and how to manage all other requirements.

Container orchestration leads us to another often-used terminology—Kubernetes. 

Kubernetes is a container orchestration software that manages different container environments. Coming back to our shipping analogy from earlier, Kubernetes is the crane to move around all those shipping containers!

Fun fact, the name Kubernetes has Greek origin, which means helmsman or pilot or “sailing master”.

Kubernetes ensures that all containers are working. If there are any faults, it runs an automated process to autostart, or takes remedial measures. It tracks when applications need to be upgraded or scaled up or down. It monitors the health of the container. It can even “kill” containers that are not responsive or healthy, and move these applications onto a working container.

I know what containers are now, but how do I get started?

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong famously said while putting his left foot on the moon—“That’s one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.” For a business, to begin the container journey following in his footsteps (pun intended) is a good idea. It may be desirable to start with one container to understand how it works, the applications that run, and all the software capabilities ingrained within the container which is at the disposal of the developer.

Trends in containerization: what does G2 data say?

On the G2 marketplace, the Containerization software category contains several categories for buyers to explore.

Category traffic to G2’s Container Engine software category has seen significant growth—increasing 142% from April 2020 to March 2021. With the pandemic creating a huge demand for cloud computing services, conversations about containerization on the cloud began to gain traction since several companies were looking for faster ways to develop and deploy their applications much before their competitors and gain an edge.

The Container Orchestration software category has also seen stupendous growth in the last month. G2 saw a spike in May 2021 in the average category traffic which increased 380.46% as compared to the traffic seen in October 2020.

Such a spike in traffic can be attributed to some big announcements that were seen in the containerization space in May 2021. For example, Amazon announced the general availability of Amazon ECS Anywhere. This software acts as an extension to Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS). With ECS Anywhere, customers can run and manage several container-based apps on premises using the same APIs, workload management and scheduling, monitoring, deployment, and other activities that were ideally used with ECS. This means that customers can now scale applications in containerized environments on their local infrastructure and not be completely reliant on the cloud. 

With such new and ongoing investments happening in this space, the market for containerization is bound to grow significantly as businesses become more competitive and time to market with apps and products remains key.