The State of the Application Container Market

Transcription

1 GAME CHANGER The State of the Application Container Market JAN 2017 Jay Lyman, Principal Analyst, Cloud Management and Containers 451 Research assesses leading providers in the application container market, highlighting what makes winners and losers in this rapidly evolving ecosystem. In addition to container market sizing and enterprise adoption insight, the report also provides our expectations for containers in the coming years RESEARCH, LLC

2 ABOUT 451 RESEARCH 451 Research is a preeminent information technology research and advisory company. With a core focus on technology innovation and market disruption, we provide essential insight for leaders of the digital economy. More than 100 analysts and consultants deliver that insight via syndicated research, advisory services and live events to over 1,000 client organizations in North America, Europe and around the world. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in New York, 451 Research is a division of The 451 Group Research, LLC and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction and distribution of this publication, in whole or in part, in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The terms of use regarding distribution, both internally and externally, shall be governed by the terms laid out in your Service Agreement with 451 Research and/or its Affiliates. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. 451 Research disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Although 451 Research may discuss legal issues related to the information technology business, 451 Research does not provide legal advice or services and their research should not be construed or used as such. 451 Research shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. NEW YORK SAN FRANCISCO LONDON BOSTON 20 West 37th Street 3rd Floor New York, NY P F Geary Street 9th Floor San Francisco, CA P F Paxton House (Ground floor) 30, Artillery Lane London, E1 7LS, UK P +44 (0) F +44 (0) Federal Street 5th Floor Boston, MA P F ABOUT THE AUTHOR JAY LYMAN PRINCIPAL ANALYST, CLOUD MANAGEMENT AND CONTAINERS Jay Lyman is a Principal Analyst in the Development, DevOps & IT Ops Channel. He covers infrastructure software, primarily private cloud platforms, cloud management and enterprise use cases that center on orchestration, the confluence of software development and IT operations known as DevOps, Docker and containers. Jay s analysis encompasses evolving IT operations and software release models, as well as the technology used to create, deploy and support infrastructure and applications in today s enterprise and service-provider markets. Key areas of research also include OpenStack, PaaS and enterprise end users. II

3 Key Findings The application container market is characterized by a high volume of participating vendors, including container pure-play startups and established heavyweights. Both categories contain the top vendors in the market. Rapid enterprise adoption and vendor competition in the application container market are driving innovation as well as disruption to existing enterprise IT technologies and approaches, including operating systems, VMs, IaaS and PaaS. Open source software is a pervasive and critical component of the application container ecosystem and market the closer vendors are to open source projects, code and communities, the more likely they are to succeed. Enterprise users are demanding support for migration and modernization as well as net-new applications. They are also seeking central support for containers and VMs as they implement a mix of containers inside, separate from and in place of VMs. The presence of both startups and established vendors, the prominence of open source software and the high level of integration and partnership in the application container market make it fertile ground for consolidation via M&A. III

4 Executive Summary INTRODUCTION The enterprise application container software market continues to grow in terms of both providers and end users. Key drivers include container advantages in speed of application development and deployment, simplicity amid more complex architecture and applications, efficiency and cloud-readiness. Containers are also well-timed to coordinate with enterprise adoption of the cloud, particularly in hybrid multi-cloud scenarios where the portability of containers is also useful. Containers are also being driven by adjacent trends where they can play a prominent role, such as big data, DevOps and microservices. At the same time, there are significant challenges for enterprises seeking to leverage application containers, including security, data persistence, networking and storage. In this report, we assess the leading vendors in containers based on key enterprise needs and dynamics driving the market. The report also discusses the state of enterprise container adoption and the stakes in this emergent market, providing 451 Research enterprise survey and market sizing data. METHODOLOGY To assess the leading vendors in the application container market, we score them across 10 criteria focused on features and capabilities, developer and IT operations reach, open source software participation, partnerships and enterprise experience. Our list of 16 evaluated vendors is obviously not an exhaustive survey of the modern application container market, which includes more than 125 participating vendors. Nevertheless, the list indicates the enterprise demands and offerings that are most prevalent in the market. Similar to our coverage of OpenStack, our market analysis is focused on container offerings, rather than companies that may use software containers internally to produce their products and services. This report is based on interviews with vendors, investors and end users, as well as attendance at industry events and research from the 451 Research Market Monitor market sizing and Voice of the Enterprise IT buyer survey services. Reports such as this represent a perspective on key emerging markets in the enterprise IT space. However, these markets evolve quickly, so 451 Research offers additional services that provide critical marketplace updates. These updated reports and perspectives are presented on a daily basis via the company s core intelligence service, 451 Research Market Insight. Forward-looking M&A analysis and perspectives on strategic acquisitions and the liquidity environment for technology companies are also updated regularly via Market Insight, which is backed by the industry-leading 451 Research M&A KnowledgeBase. Emerging technologies and markets are covered in 451 Research channels including Business Applications; Cloud Transformation; Data Platforms and Analytics; Datacenter Technologies; Development, DevOps and IT Ops; Enterprise Mobility; European Services; Information Security; Internet of Things; Mobile Telecom; Multi-Tenant Datacenters; Networking; Service Providers; Storage; and Systems and Software Infrastructure. Beyond that, 451 Research has a robust set of quantitative insights covered in products such as Voice of the Enterprise, Voice of the Connected User Landscape, Cloud Price Index, Market Monitor, the M&A KnowledgeBase and the Datacenter KnowledgeBase. All of these 451 Research services, which are accessible via the web, provide critical and timely analysis specifically focused on the business of enterprise IT innovation. For more information about 451 Research, please go to: IV

5 Table of Contents 1. MARKET SIZE, ENTERPRISE ADOPTION AND VENDOR EVALUATION 1 MARKET SIZE Figure 1: The Application Container Market Is Growing ($M) ENTERPRISE ADOPTION Figure 2: Container Use Is Almost as High as Use of More Established SDI Figure 3: Container Implementation Moves Fast VENDOR SCORING CATEGORIES KEY MARKET PLAYERS SUMMARIES AND SCORING 5 Figure 4: Vendor Scoring Chart SCORING HIGHLIGHTS, WINNERS AND LOSERS 9 Figure 5: Equal Interest in Net-New Applications, Migration and Modernization CONCLUSIONS AND EXPECTATIONS FURTHER READING INDEX OF COMPANIES 13 V