In real life, many companies just don’t see a business case for bleeding-edge everything, and the anatomy of a modernized application isn’t always what cloud-native purists dream about. This is why virtual machines and containers (a virtualized method for running distributed applications) are increasingly calling a truce in what once appeared to be a death match.

Take a three-tier web app consisting of an HTTP server, app server, and database, for example. It’s fairly easy to containerize the HTTP and app servers, according to Simon Kofkin-Hansen (pictured), chief technology officer of cloud IaaS and VMware solutions at IBM. But data is sticky. This is why lots of enterprises have containerized the first two tiers but are still running the database in a VMware Inc. VM. 

“I honestly don’t believe, in my lifetime, VMs will actually disappear,” he stated.

Kofkin-Hansen spoke with Stu Miniman, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the VeeamOn event. They discussed the endurance of VMs as enterprises modernize and IBM’s partnership with Veeam Software Inc. (* Disclosure below.)

Data stays stuck on VMs as they make new container friends

For the purpose of running the DB portion of apps, VMs work perfectly well with existing processes and are also cost effective, Kofkin-Hansen explained. It is clear, however, that for the portions to be modernized, containers are the future and technology developers must keep this hybrid reality in mind when building products for the modern enterprise.

“Having tools and partners like Veeam, who are willing to cross the ecosphere of the different platforms, is critical for our clients today,” Kofkin-Hansen said. Veeam, of course, began as a specialty VMware backup provider and has since crossed over into cloud, containers, and hybrid data management.

IBM — which acquired Red Hat Inc. last year — has been hard at work building out new solutions in this space.

“You’re going to see a lot of announcements in the back half of 2020 and in the first few half of 2021, particularly around the collaborations between containers and VMs, and seeing how the different offerings from the different companies shape up. Interesting times,” Kofkin-Hansen concluded. 

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the VeeamOn event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for VeeamOn. Neither Veeam Software Corp., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE