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| Source: CA Technologies. Arredondo. |
Some of these trends include:
Containers as the new cloud computing model
Containers, which are provided by companies like Google, Docker, CoreOS, and Joyent, have become a key area of discussion in the cloud computing space, the Head Geeks from SolarWinds* said. "Put simply, a container consists of an entire runtime environment (an application, its dependencies, libraries and other binaries, and configuration files needed to run it) bundled into one package. This move to containerisation puts pressure on the ability to understand what tools are available as well as how they can be best implemented," said the company.
"We predict the future for containerisation is in education and better understanding how to best utilise them for their applications and services. While some may be reluctant to adopt containers due to a familiarity with virtualisation, containers are much more lightweight, and use far fewer resources than virtual machines."
Arredondo of CA Technologies says 2016 will be the year that organisations take IT complexity by storm, using containers and microservices to simplify the current software architecture and development process. "Container technology is set to shape the future of software development standards, making it easier and more efficient for developers to move an application from one system to another. Microservices will focus on enabling smaller services to be deployed independently, delivering new features continuously without the need to wait until a new version of an entire application is ready.
"These technologies will completely transform how we build, deploy or upgrade applications today, and are a perfect response to organisations’ increased focus on agility and the need to keep pace with changing market demands," he said.
Containers are not only 'in' but will go enterprise-grade in 2016, said John Roese, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, EMC. "Once the preserve of web-scale companies such as Facebook and Netflix, containers have been generating considerable interest as an agile and effective method for building next generation mobile, web, and big data applications. In 2016 container technologies will evolve as functionality is added make them suitable for enterprise application deployments," he said.
Roese explained that enterprise-grade containers have to support run-time data persistence, which is less of a requirement for the social media companies which pioneered the architecture. "...persistence is vital for providing a consistent enterprise-grade service where all data is easily recoverable in the event of a fault. The solution to persistence is to build present enterprise-grade storage products into the container specification via both existing protocols and new container specific abstractions," he said.
Containers will also need to mature to support enterprise security and governance requirements. "At present, containerised architectures delivered as microservices are not fully enterprise-ready. There are limited or no concepts of audit, trust or validation. Even the basic concept of an enterprise firewall does not currently exist in containers. This is something we expect to see remedied in 2016 as enterprise-grade security and governance features are re-envisioned and applied to the container specification in native ways," he said.
Roese explained that enterprise-grade containers have to support run-time data persistence, which is less of a requirement for the social media companies which pioneered the architecture. "...persistence is vital for providing a consistent enterprise-grade service where all data is easily recoverable in the event of a fault. The solution to persistence is to build present enterprise-grade storage products into the container specification via both existing protocols and new container specific abstractions," he said.
Containers will also need to mature to support enterprise security and governance requirements. "At present, containerised architectures delivered as microservices are not fully enterprise-ready. There are limited or no concepts of audit, trust or validation. Even the basic concept of an enterprise firewall does not currently exist in containers. This is something we expect to see remedied in 2016 as enterprise-grade security and governance features are re-envisioned and applied to the container specification in native ways," he said.
DevOps is a software development practice where development and operation teams collaborate on building an application in an iterative process. Brocade predicts its rise this year in a media alert: "DevOps, or any agile software development methodology that closely matches services with business demands, will gain widespread influence and uptake among both enterprises and service providers as a way to ensure they remain competitive.
"According to IDC, enterprises pursuing digital transformation strategies will more than double their software development capabilities by 2018. Companies that build and use field-focused development teams that operate without the constraints of rigid traditional product development processes will have a significant advantage in customer-focused innovation. This advantage extends to both the speed of development and to customer intimacy and retention."
"One thing that is clear is that DevOps is about culture, enabling cross-functional teams to quickly deliver value in a sustained manner which can lead to teams planning, coding, building, testing, releasing, deploying, operating, and monitoring in a continuous loop. In 2016, businesses will be more aware of the benefits of DevOps, which will lead to more places implementing it," concurred the SolarWinds Geeks.
The fly in the ointment, says SolarWinds, is that engineers, analysts, and product managers are all interpreting DevOps differently.
"Businesses and IT organisations continue to struggle to integrate the DevOps culture, but, slowly, they’re realising the potential competitive advantages of continuous delivery and continuous integration. 2016 will whet the appetite of both big and small businesses to embrace DevOps as the benefits, such as faster time to market and reduced support costs in the long run, become clearer," said the Geeks from SolarWinds.
Software-defined networking and network functions virtualisation grow in strength
Over the past year, software has transformed the data centre and networks in general, with service providers and enterprises turning to software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualisation (NFV) to create new services quickly, scale them easily, and deliver them in user-centric ways, says Brocade in the media alert.
"2016 will bring about the expanded adoption of innovative, open, and automated software networking platforms as enterprises and service providers migrate to New IP networks. The increasing deployment of x86 server architecture will accelerate this transformation, replacing specialised networking hardware in multiple network roles, such as application delivery controllers (ADCs)," the company predicted. "ADCs have already begun transforming to a virtual (vADC) model to help enterprises and services providers scale capacity on demand to handle peak workloads. Software is increasingly permeating every aspect of this virtualisation transformation."
David Hughes, CEO of Silver Peak, observed that the network software revolution has continued in 2015. "It should get even stronger as more network stalwarts release software versions of their legacy products. Companies on the leading edge of the network software revolution are shipping more than 75% of their products as software, and that adoption curve should continue," he said.
"And while the industry continues to navigate its way through the deluge of varying SDN technologies and products, the adoption of NFV within service providers will start to take off. Service providers are realising they can start virtualising network functions using software today, and in 2016, we will see more NFV adoption, independent of SDN roll-outs."
Brocade agreed, saying that mobile network operators (MNOs) that have been struggling to keep up with fast-changing customer needs and market opportunities will be compelled to embrace SDN and NFV in 2016. "The risk of falling behind is set to intensify with each passing day as carriers and service providers that embrace change will become the winners in the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem and 5G race by 2020," the company stated.
Interested?
Read the TechTrade Asia blog posts for 2016 trends, including:
Citrix outlines cloud, IoT and security trends for 2016
What will happen to cloud computing
Vodafone M2M Barometer shows increased adoption for M2M
New challenges for the Internet of things in 2016
Security in 2016
What will happen to cloud computing
Vodafone M2M Barometer shows increased adoption for M2M
New challenges for the Internet of things in 2016
Security in 2016
*SolarWinds comments were made by the SolarWinds Head Geeks: Patrick Hubbard, the IT Management Geek and Technical Product Marketing Director at SolarWinds. Leon Adato is the Network Management Geek and Technical Evangelist at SolarWinds, Thomas LaRock is the Database Management Geek and Kong Yang is the Virtualization Management Geek.
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