Joyent Offers Linux Branded Zones, Extends Docker Engine as Container Service

Joyent, Inc., which has billed itself in several different ways over the years is now billing itself as "the container infrastructure company." The company is actually making a lot of smart moves. In November I reported on how Joyent has announced that it is open sourcing its core technology. Joyent's platform can compete with OpenStack and other cloud offerings, and facilitates efficienet use of container technologies like Docker.

This week, the company has announced two new open source initiatives and the general availability of a container service in the Joyent Public Cloud to accelerate the adoption of application containers in the enterprise. Here are more details.

Docker application containers are grabbing headlines everywhere and overhauling how data centers operate. Joyent maintains, though, that there remain limitations in the areas of security, virtual networking and persistence that present challenges for enterprises looking to deploy Docker in support of production applications. The open source initiatives Joyent is announcing, Linux Branded Zones (LXz) and the extension of Docker Engine to SmartDataCenter, are targeted to "deliver proven, multi-tenant security and bare metal performance to Linux applications running in Docker application containers."

"Our objective is to accelerate the adoption of Docker in production environments and we are committed to making Joyent the best place to run Docker-based applications in production -- whether in the Joyent Public Cloud or Joyent private cloud software, SmartDataCenter," said Scott Hammond, CEO, Joyent, in a statement. "Our latest announcement, including the Joyent Container Service, LXz and Docker Engine for SmartDataCenter, are significant steps forward in accomplishing that goal."

  Many major public and private cloud providers advise enterprises to  run Docker containers on top of legacy hardware hypervisors because of security concerns related to the default Linux infrastructure containers. Joyent maintains that with LXz, you can run Linux applications, including those running in Docker Containers, natively on secure OS virtualization without an intervening hardware hypervisor layer.

"Running Docker containers on legacy hardware hypervisor hosts, like VMware or Amazon EC2, means you give up the workload density and performance benefits associated with infrastructure containers," said Bill Fine, VP Products, Joyent. "LXz and Docker Engine for SmartDataCenter provide an infrastructure container runtime environment capable of delivering secure, bare metal performance to Docker-based applications in a multi-tenant environment." 

Joyent Public Cloud users can now leverage the Joyent Container Service to provision and manage Docker hosts and containers in the Joyent Public Cloud. Features of the Joyent Container Service include a security gateway, private registries and integrated logging and monitoring of Docker containers and hosts.

Last month, Joyent open sourced its core technologies, SmartDataCenter and Manta Object Storage Service. Joyent also recently announced $15M in financing from Intel Capital, Orascom TMT Investments, El Dorado Ventures, EPIC Ventures, LGI Ventures and others.