IT analyst firm IDC predicts that in just the next three years alone, adoption and deployment of container instances will grow into a multi-billion dollar industry around the world.[1] IBM Storage solutions such as the DS8880F family of all-flash data systems are ready today to enable and support this powerful new technology trend.
Containers are an operating system-level virtualization method for deploying and running distributed applications without launching an entire virtual machine for each application. Instead, multiple isolated systems or containers are run on a single control host and access a single kernel. Because containers share the same OS kernel as the host, containers can be more efficient than VMs, which require separate OS instances.[2] Thanks to these advantages, containerization is becoming an attractive technology for flexibly delivering workloads to private and public cloud environments.[3]
Adoption of container solutions is expected to continue to rise rapidly. Beyond traditional and cloud environments, containers may be used to run applications in cars, in kiosks, cruise ships, airport terminals, and in gateways to the Internet of Things, among many other use cases.[1]
Containers offer significant advantages in many modern IT use cases, but they also come with certain disadvantages. For example, they essentially do not allow applications to store data on external storage. This creates a serious challenge for enterprises seeking to use containers with conventional applications, which must retain data across any kind of disruption. To address this requirement for use of persistent storage with containers, IBM provides IBM Spectrum Connect.[3]
Deploying IBM Spectrum Connect and an orchestration layer such as Kubernetes or IBM Cloud Private enables applications within containers to store data separate from their containers – for example, in persistent, highly available DS8880F block storage.
IBM DS8880F data systems are where enterprises, universities, and research centers around the globe turn when mission-critical applications require high availability and system reliability, especially in mainframe environments.
DS8880F systems deliver unique enterprise capabilities for containers, with:
- Superior all-flash performance that enables ultra-low application response times
- Near-zero downtime with advanced business continuity features and three and four site replication
- Storage consolidation of all IBM Z, IBM Power Systems, and container applications under a single management point
Adoption of container-based solutions is accelerating, because this technology provides valuable advantages in both virtualized and multi-cloud environments. IBM has quickly responded with a suite of solutions that enable containerized applications to leverage persistent storage. At the heart of IBM solutions for containers, you’ll find IBM storage systems such as the DS8880F family. In distributed, mainframe, and IBM Power environments alike, DS8880F data systems provide the performance, reliability, and functionality demanded by IBM customers looking to deploy leading-edge technologies with confidence.
Visit
ibm.com/ds8000f to see how IBM DS8880F can help your organization.
[1] IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Enterprise Infrastructure 2018 Predictions, October 2017, IDC #US43137417
https://www.idc.com/research/viewtoc.jsp?containerId=US43137417[2] TechTarget: Containerization
https://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/definition/container-based-virtualization-operating-system-level-virtualization[3] IBM IT Infrastructure Blog: IBM Storage systems go cloud native, November 2017
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/systems/ibm-storage-systems-go-cloud-native/#_ftn1#DS8000#DS8880#EnterpriseStorage#Flashstorage