Docker Inc. is responsible for the technology that powers modern software containers and plays a lead role in driving their ever-widening adoption among developers. However, that doesn’t put the company beyond the reach of competitive forces.

That became clear this morning after Docker announced support for the open-source Kubernetes framework. Originally released by Google LLC in 2014, the software automates the task of managing the containers that allow applications to run unchanged in multiple computing environments. The reason why the integration represents such a noteworthy move is that Kubernetes directly competes with one of Docker’s own tools, Swarm.

Companies now have a choice of what framework to use for their containerized applications. Docker has extended the management features of Docker Enterprise Edition, its commercial container platform, to work with Kubernetes in the same streamlined manner as it does with Swarm. The company is also updating the version of its software designed for use on developers’ personnel machines to let users switch between the frameworks without making any time-consuming code modifications.

The decision to embrace Kubernetes can be boiled down mainly to customer preference. According to market research from container monitoring startup SysDig Inc., the framework powers 43 percent of Docker environments while Swarm is used in just 7 percent.

Kubernetes’ popularity means that not adding support for the framework would have made it unnecessarily difficult for Docker to attract enterprises to its commercial platform going forward. This is especially true since some companies are already running production deployments atop Kubernetes, which makes it all the more tricky for them to adopt a different tool such as Swarm.

Similar reasons drove the consortium behind Cloud Foundry, the applications platform, to add integration with the Google-created framework last week. Data center automation startup Mesosphere Inc. did the same in September.

These moves are as much a testament to the direction of container technology as to Google’s influence in the open-source community. Besides the Docker ecosystem, the search giant is also involved in numerous projects related to web development and artificial intelligence. Google’s TensorFlow engine, for example, has emerged as one of the most popular tools for building deep learning models.

Image: Docker