Survey Finds Broad Adoption of Docker, But Also Some Security Issues

Late last year, a startup called StackEngine began making headlines with its software for managing the use of Docker and containers. That puts the company in a hot space. As we've covered, there are very big contributors to the Kubernetes project, including IBM, Microsoft, Red Hat, Docker, CoreOS, Mesosphere. These companies and SaltStack are working in tandem on open source tools and container management technologies that can run on multiple computers and networks.

Now, StackEngine is out with survey results, shown in a detailed infographic, that describe some of the major trends going on in the container space, including trends that differ from what's going on in the cloud.

StackEngine delivered he results of its first “State of Containers” survey, polling 745 respondents in the enterprise virtualization and cloud computing space. The survey found that 70% of respondents’ organizations are either evaluating or using Docker--a very high number.

In addition, the survey revealed that enterprises are adopting Docker in a grassroots, rather than top-down way. According to StackEngine's survey, 47 percent of respondents said that Docker decisions are being made by middle management, and 24 percent are made at the grassroots level.

“Docker appears to be taking on the establishment in a different direction from that of Cloud technology, which has in large part been a top-down driven technology over these last number of years and pushed in large part by executive CIO initiatives or financial management,” the survey found.

Notably, though, 49 percent of survey respondents pointed to a lack of operational production tools and problems with Docker’s security as the biggest obstacles to adoption.

You can find an an infographic detailing the results of the survey, and the full State of Containers study is available on the StackEngine website.