The New Stack Analysts 2016 Wrap-Up: Docker, OpenStack and Open Source

Dec 27th, 2016 10:32am by Kiran Oliver

This week’s episode of The New Stack Analysts is our year-end wrap-up, with TNS staffers reflecting back over 2016 in scalable technology. Research Analyst Lawrence Hecht, veteran journalist Scott Fulton, Technical Editor Benjamin Ball, Managing Editor Joab Jackson, and founder Alex Williams discussed three of the biggest topics during the past year: The Docker fork, the future of OpenStack (and Kubernetes), and the effect of open source on the enterprise. The TNS squad also offered some predictions as to what 2017 may bring.

#127: 2016 Year End Wrap-Up: Discussing Docker, OpenStack, and Open Source

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1. Whatever happened to the Docker Fork?

Last August, rumors swirled around a group wanting to fork the Docker code-base, worried about the inclusion of the Docker Swarm orchestration engine into the core Docker runtime.

To many, this was Docker drawing a line in the sand for the future of containerization. “Up until then, Docker, Inc. had a policy it called, ‘Batteries included, but replaceable,’ the idea is, ‘We give you our suggestion of what will work best in our container stack, but please feel free to use what you will,’ The grafting puts it out in a space where it’s a little more difficult to replace it. It becomes ‘Batteries included, but bypassable,’” said Fulton.

Docker Engine 1.12 Comes with Built-in Orchestration Capabilities (TNS)
Container Format Dispute on Twitter Shows Disparities Between Docker and the Community (TNS)
A Docker Fork: Talk of a Split Is Now on the Table (TNS)
Red Hat, Google Engineers Work on a Way for Kubernetes to Run Containers Without Docker (TNS)
How CRI-O Would Put Kubernetes at the Center of the Container Ecosystem (TNS)
Use of CNI for container networking (GitHub)
Docker Spins out Containerd as an Independent Open Source Project (TNS)

2. The Future of OpenStack (and Kubernetes)

The latest news of HP selling its OpenStack assets and Cisco shutting down its OpenStack-based Intercloud have only added to worries about the OpenStack private cloud software losing momentum in the market. Add to these concerns is the emergence of the Kubernetes open source container orchestration engine, which can carry out some, though not all, of OpenStack’s duties in the enterprise.

Williams noted that the one factor driving people away from OpenStack was its overall complexity. “I think time has just passed and now we’re in a new era,” Williams said. Jackson later noted that OpenStack is geared more toward service providers, though Hecht adding that today’s developers will want to learn how to work with Kubernetes and microservices, rather than with OpenStack. Fulton attempted to give OpenStack the benefit of the doubt, stating that, “I think a bit of OpenStack’s misfortunes this year may not necessarily be OpenStack’s fault.”

SUSE to Acquire HPE’s OpenStack, Cloud Foundry Portfolio, Boost Kubernetes Investment (TNS)
Cisco to kill its Intercloud public cloud on March 31, 2017 (The Register)
OpenStack Summit: A changing of the guard? (Computerworld)
Six Years Old, OpenStack Has Grown Up Fast (TNS)
OpenStack Summit Silicon Valley: Kubernetes and the Future of OpenStack (TNS)
SUSE offers RHEL support for Mirantis OpenStack, While Red Hat Demurs (TNS)
Red Hat: Time for Telcos to Consider OpenStack (TNS)
Mirantis moves out of OpenStack BS-as-a-Service market (CIO)
Don’t Count OpenStack Out of Public Clouds Yet, Report Says (SDxCentral)

Intel’s Nick Weaver Discusses Orchestration

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3. The Growing Influence of Open Source in the Enterprise

The final topic of discussion was the future of open source software. Ball raised the question to the panel as to how managing open source projects has changed over the years, most notably with the growing influence of software foundations. Fulton quickly brought up the positive benefits to organizations such as The Linux Foundation, noting that it, “Provides a more positive experience than in prior years as to how to collectively organize and come across some type of a common agenda. Whereas the Apache Foundation was a lot more about providing a support structure for the software and the individual project, The Linux Foundation has been much more about the communication. Getting everybody in line to talk about what needs to be done.”

Want more podcasts? Be sure to check out our other shows: The New Stack Makers, The New Stack Context, and the New Stack at Scale.

TNS owner Insight Partners is an investor in: The New Stack, Mirantis, Docker.