Application architectures are evolving. The value of cloud-native approaches including faster delivery and better service levels is widely recognized and that is driving a rapid evolution of the Information Technology (IT) architectures in enterprises today. Certainly, the software development and delivery paradigm is shifting, but even organizations that don’t develop their own applications are seeing the value of containerized workloads and need to develop a strategy for adoption.
Right alongside the application architecture evolution, the enterprise IT operations paradigm has evolved rapidly. The simplicity of public cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) has led organizations to rethink how they purchase and operate on-premises equipment. Cloud is an operating model, not a place – meaning it is about how you’re using IT infrastructure not about where you run an application. There are opportunities for tremendous returns if that operating model is implemented for on-premises infrastructure.
These two forces are driving the requirement for some fundamental capabilities in enterprise IT today:
- The ability to simultaneously support both virtualized and containerized workloads in a production-ready environment.
- The automation of lifecycle management for private cloud infrastructure.
With VMware being the market share leader today in virtualization, most organizations have existing investments in the supporting infrastructure and skills to run that environment as well as current applications that are optimized to run there. Kubernetes is the de-facto standard for container orchestration and a key building block for any organization looking to add cloud-native software to the mix. It makes the most sense for organizations to implement Containers-as-a-Service (CaaS) n a way that embraces and extends their virtualization investments. This is why we’re so excited that Dell Technologies Cloud Platform supports VMware PKS on Cloud Foundation on VxRail, creating a truly unified platform for enterprise IT.
The simplicity of cloud operations may be best summarized by saying that users of public cloud don’t have to invest a lot of time or energy in standing up and patching/versioning/updating the underlying infrastructure. This is where the Dell Tech Cloud approach shines as well. With automated lifecycle management for both the IaaS and CaaS infrastructure, delivering significant improvements in efficiency and reliability. For example, patches are presented as packages that include updates to all components in an integrated bundle to include VxRail system software, hypervisor, management tools and all other parts of the VMware Cloud Foundation stack. This allows an operator to perform a non-disruptive cluster-aware rolling upgrade of all relevant components so that downtime is avoided, and the system stays up-to-date. PKS includes current upstream Kubernetes as well as other crucial cloud-native ecosystem software. The deployment and updating of VMware PKS is also automated as part of this solution so that organizations have a standardized CaaS environment that can always stay fresh and secure.
The evolution of application architectures and operating paradigms is placing new demands on enterprise IT. Having a single environment that supports both virtualized and containerized workloads and has automated lifecycle management across the full stack provides crucial support to organizations dealing with this dual dynamic. Dell Technologies Cloud Platform delivers the right capabilities to help organizations adopt a cloud operating model today. For more information please visit Dellemc.com/cloud
