How the Open Container Project will transform computing infrastructure

Today Rancher Labs joins a group of industry leaders to create the Open
Container Project(OCP). With OCP, the
Docker container format and container runtime form the basis for an
industry standard.

At Rancher Labs we decided early on to focus on
developing our Rancher and RancherOS products specifically for Docker,
even though the underlying technology can apply to other container
formats as well. We are so excited about OCP because we can now focus on
delivering the best user experience with a singular container standard
knowing it will be supported by every major vendor in the industry.
While the computer industry has created many standards, perhaps not
since the establishment of W3C and HTML has the industry created a
standard with the potential impact of OCP. Just like HTML revolutionized
web publishing and transformed the Internet, OCP will revolutionize
application publishing and transform IT. The big winners with the
establishment of OCP are the millions of developers who were the early
adopters of Docker technology. These developers, often thought leaders
in their organizations, promoted Docker with so much passion. Soon all
application and system vendors began to hear from their customers the
same question: “When are you going to support Docker?” The lineup of
major computing infrastructure vendors in OCP is testament to the power of
developers. In his article “The geek shall inherit the earth: The age
of developer-defined
infrastructure,”
Docker investor and Greylock partner Jerry Chen makes a compelling case
that:

“Developers are making decisions on how, what, and where their
applications should run.”

We completely agree with Jerry’s assessment.
We also like the term application defined infrastructure because it
recognizes the role operations team will continue to play in application
deployments. There was a time when application developers dictated the
infrastructure choices. Software installation guides from 10 years ago,
for example, used to spell out the server configuration, network setup,
and storage requirements. Organizations could then choose infrastructure
implementation from a variety of vendors who offered compatible
products. Recent developments in cloud infrastructure have, ironically,
resulted in far fewer choices of infrastructure for application
developers. Cloud vendors are not compatible with each other, forcing
application developers to write software that adapts to the
characteristics of the underlying infrastructure provider. With Docker
containers, developers can again focus on building the best application
experience unconstrained by infrastructure limitations. Docker images
capture application logic, whereas Docker Compose templates capture
infrastructure requirements. Based on Docker Compose templates, Rancher
can then build and operate application-defined infrastructure. Since
Rancher creates container infrastructure out of universally-available
Linux servers, infrastructure becomes a commodity. Application
developers have freedom to write software independent of infrastructure
concerns and then choose the right infrastructure vendor to run their
applications.

With the increasing popularity of Docker, the demand for
application-defined infrastructure continues to rise. OCP will
accelerate the transition process. We look forward to working with
industry leaders and other startup companies to make OCP a success and
bring the benefits of application-defined infrastructure to
organizations around the world.