An ambitious startup called Mesosphere Inc. is bidding to establish its technology as the default operating system in the data center. Meanwhile there’s Google and its Kubernetes project, which it hopes will become the standard technology for interacting with large computing clusters and containers. On the face of it, the two projects seem like competitors. But apparently that’s not the case, as the two companies confirmed Kubernetes will now be integrated into Mesosphere’s Datacenter Operating System (DCOS).

DCOS is based on the Apache Mesos cluster manager technology that’s already been deployed with great success at companies like Airbnb and Twitter. The software is designed to automate common operations and pool compute resources, which makes it easier to run and manage massive distributed apps. The concept of DCOS – an OS not just for one server but all of the servers in a data center, or an OS for servers in the public cloud – is certainly novel, but it’s yet to be seen how much value it delivers.

As for Kubernetes, Google lifted the lid off of this homegrown project in 2014. The technology is based on its internal Borg infrastructure, and is designed to automate the management of container deployments and microservices.

The concept of DCOS – an OS not just for one server but all of the servers in a data center, or an OS for servers in the public cloud – is certainly novel, but it remains to be seen how much value it delivers. However, it’s likely to gain a wider following now that Kubernetes is a fully supported component, which allows containerized apps to run.

Previously, DCOS used Apache Mesos as the only means to schedule and launch applications. DCOS apps like Cassandra, Hadoop, Kafka and Spark are installed from an existing repository, and run via simple command-line operations, with the OS automatically scaling them to meet demand. With the addition of Kubernetes, now containerized apps can also be launched and managed as well.

The biggest advantage of DCOS seems to be that it can manage existing Linux systems. This does away with the need to rip-and-replace an old system, as other container-oriented systems like CoreOS require. And Mesosphere prefers to talk about the ease of managing workloads and apps, rather than arguing for a change of OS.

For now, Kubernetes on DCOS is available via an early-access program, but those interested only need to enter their email address to get it up and running.

“Today’s announcement extends the reach of Kubernetes to a new class of users, and add some exciting new capabilities for everyone,” wrote Google’s product manager Craig McLuckie in a blog post.

Photo Credit: Glyn Lowe Photoworks. via Compfight cc