Bracket Computing CEO Tom Gillis

The notion of encapsulating applications into standardized containers that can be seamlessly moved across different types of infrastructure has turned originator Docker Inc. from an unknown service provider into the center of the hybrid cloud frenzy in the span of just a few months. Now, a new player called Bracket Computing Inc. is looking to steal some of the startup’s limelight with its own spin on the concept that takes interoperability to a new level.

The brainchild of industry veteran Tom Gillis, who already has one high-eight-digit exit under his belt, Bracket Computing spent three years developing a first-of-its-kind technology that extends the scope of containers beyond applications and data to the supporting services beneath. The software bundles the user’s workload together with resource management and security capabilities into an independent capsule, or “Cell”, that can be moved among clouds and even distributed across multiple platforms at the same time.

By hiding the details of the underlying infrastructure under a consistent interface, Bracket Computing claims that its offering not only facilitates seamless migration between clouds but also eliminates the need for enterprise developers to worry about ensuring that their applications run reliably. The platform takes care of that automatically, according to the firm, spreading Cells across multiple services and availability zones to achieve a level of reliability that’s on par with what organizations expect from their private data centers. The same architecture also enables a high degree of scalability, allowing users to grow or shrink their environments as needed.

Rounding out the package is built-in authentication, data integrity and network segmentation capabilities along with encryption functionality that plugs into on-premise security controls so that organizations can keep the decryption keys behind the firewall. Bracket Computing can’t boast that its software is fully interoperable with private infrastructure like Docker is (in theory, at least), but Cells provide enough utility that  the firm shouldn’t have much trouble  finding an audience.

Bracket has scored a massive $85 million in financing from some the biggest names in the Silicon Valley venture capital community, including Andreessen Horowitz, Norwest Venture Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, ARTIS Ventures and Allegis Capital. The investment also saw contributions from Generic Electric Co. and Qualcomm Inc., which also participated in an earth-shattering $543 million funding round for a mysterious virtual reality startup called Magic Leap Inc. earlier this week.

Bracket Computing plans to use its new funds to go after the $100 billion cloud computing market, according to CEO Gillis. The firm already boasts a handful of early customers, including Blackstone Group L.P., the world’s largest alternative asset manager.