VMware’s Cloud-Native Apps announcements from VMworld 2015 have the potential to become a DevOps foundation not just for combining software-led environments with containers but so to take VMware’s huge population of enterprise users to DevOps and cloud-native application-building.

DevOps and cloud-native promise great things for the enterprise. They are key to the agility shown by Silicon Valley startups and computing utilities like Amazon Web Services. But the vast majority of enterprises face years of effort to reach this computing nirvana for two reasons, writes Wikibon Analyst Brian Gracely in “Is VMware Building a DevOps Framework for the Masses?” The skills needed to develop and operate these new environments will take years to become widely available. Companies must also manage the lifecycles and automation needs of their existing huge application portfolios while simultaneously planning for cloud-native applications.

VMware has promised to solve these problems by creating a cloud-native apps stack that combines existing technologies (NSX, VSAN, vSphere, vCloud Air, vRealize, Pivotal Cloud Foundry) with new pieces including vSphere Integrated Containers and the Photon Platform.

The first of these provides the infrastructure foundation for companies with an existing installed base of VMware vSphere and associated management tools, Gracely writes. It creates a container-friendly environment managed with vSphere/vCenter tools that collectively emulates a container environment on a native Linux machine. This eliminates the problems of mastering complex new technology to develop next-generation containerized applications and run a multi-container environment.

The Photon platform provides a container-centric host platform with Photon OS. It creates a distinct line of demarcation between the tools developers will use and the tools operations needs.

VMware still has a ways to go to realize this vision, Gracely writes. He also criticizes VMware for pre-announcing products that may not be realized for months to try to manage the market and says that the company needs to understand how the open source community works. However, if VMware can deliver on its vision in a reasonable time it could play a much larger role in the infrastructure of its customers going forward.

A VMworld 2015 panel discussion hosted by Gracely on the Evolution of Containers give insight into how this transition is happening from the perspective of hardware, operating systems and systems management. Watch the interview below (23:42).

Graphic Source: VMworld 2015 presentation by Kit Colbert