Canonical Ltd., the maker of the Ubuntu Linux distribution, has just made its snappy Ubuntu Core operating system, designed for running Docker containers, available on Google’s Compute Engine.

Ubuntu Core is a newly released, stripped down version of the original Ubuntu OS. It’s designed specifically for large-scale cloud deployments that run applications in Docker containers. It was spun-off from Canonical’s Ubuntu Phone OS, and comes with a compressed boot image of just 100MB.

Somewhat surprisingly, Microsoft was the first vendor to step in with support for Ubuntu Core, making instances available on its Azure cloud. Now, a much more likely ally, Google, has joined the party.

Docker Inc. leads an open-source project that’s developing one of the hottest technologies around: Docker application containers. These are basically a standard for individual apps to communicate their infrastructure requirements, which makes them portable across various types of infrastructure, be it a developer’s laptop, a data center or any kind of public cloud. As well as developing the technology itself, Docker, Inc. also builds and sells tools and services to make it easier to deploy applications.

The popularity of Docker containers has led to the emergence of no-frills Linux operating systems to better facilitate the technology. Perhaps the best well known of these is CoreOS, though other vendors like Red Hat Inc. also offer their own lightweight operating systems.

Now, Ubuntu is getting in on the act. It has a significant advantage in that it’s already one of the most popular OS’s for public clouds. DigitalOcean, the third-biggest hosting company in the world according to DigitalOcean, says more than two-thirds of its machine instances run on Ubuntu.

Ubuntu Core has another advantage too, thanks to its “snappy” new software update management system.

“This is the smallest, safest platform for Docker deployment ever, and with snappy packages, it’s completely extensible to all forms of container or service,” said Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical founder, in a statement.

Ubuntu Core is available on Google Compute Engine – which Canonical bills as the “fastest cloud in the industry” beginning today.

Google is a likely ally for Ubuntu Core, given that it was one of the original pioneers of container technology. Google is also one of the biggest supporters of the Docker Project; the technology plays a major role in its own infrastructure, and its since developed Kubernetes, its own open-source orchestration platform for Docker containers.

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