Kubernetes is open source technology originally built by a Google team that has received support from several enterprises, including Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM. This containers orchestration layer has many advantages, including the ability to process an application on any public cloud. This makes it easy for Kubernetes to migrate from one cloud vendor to another.
At the AWS Re:Invent show last week, Amazon’s announcement that AWS will support Kubernetes received great acceptance from the AWS user base. The fear had been that AWS would wander in its own proprietary directions when it came to container orchestration, even though Kubernetes was the de facto standard.
The ability for AWS to adapt to dynamic movements in the technology market, even if it means moving away from technologies it created, is a check in the plus column. The fact of the matter is that public cloud providers need to serve what enterprises need, and not look after their own “vision” or selfish interests.
Cloud providers should offer the market many places to get the same technology. The fact that Kubernetes is available from Microsoft, Google, IBM, Oracle, and now AWS means that enterprises have a choice as to which they want to rent from.
In the larger market, this approach means the playing field gets a bit more level. Cloud providers can adopt best-of-breed tools, both proprietary and open source, and work from the needs of their enterprise customers to the technology they offer. This is not only the right thing to do, but it should drive even more enterprises into the awaiting arms of public cloud providers.
The struggle is not over, however. I suspect that the major public cloud providers will try to own a market using proprietary technology that they don’t share with their competition. In fact, this what the major public cloud providers alreadu do a lot today. Such proprietary offerings make them different from other public cloud providers, but I suspect that enterprises want them to be more alike.