The Cloud Native Computing Foundation

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation has an impressive charter and governance structure; but more importantly, as InfoWorld’s Serdar Yegulalp summarizes in his article:

The CNCF’s work could bring an open source hybrid cloud ecosystem where applications can and do run anywhere, as well as be orchestrated on or moved from one cloud to another, whether public or private, commercial or open source.

Glad to see NetApp join as a Founding Gold Member of the CNCF; and NetApp’s Val Bercovici elected to the governing board.

So..what is “Cloud Native”?

Click the image for a great slideshow and explanation by David Linthicum

“Cloud native” refers to applications or services that are container-packaged, dynamically scheduled and micro services-oriented. The Open Container Project is addressing container standardization but getting container management programs, such as Kubernetes, and containerized applications to common ground are another matter. This is the primary focus of the CNCF.

Cloud native applications have enabled companies to scale their businesses to meet the seemingly-endless scaling needs that the Internet and global audiences bring. Tying together programs and services above the level of such mechanisms such as Representational State Transfer (REST) is not easy. The work is resource-intensive and costly, requiring companies to assemble expert teams that can integrate disparate technologies and maintain all of them. The CNFC aims to find an easier way, and Kubernetes appears to be a good starting point.

To answer one of the most common questions in Silicon Valley (and any similar tech brainstorm arena) about such new technologies:

Will it scale and be enterprise-friendly?

The answer for now: Yes.