IBM Corp. said today it will offer the Kubernetes software container orchestration platform on bare-metal servers, becoming the first cloud infrastructure provider to make that option available.

The IBM Cloud Container Service is aimed at organizations that are running data- and processor-intensive workloads that require the highest levels of speed and capacity. Because bare-metal servers, which are sold without installed software such as operating systems, are free of overhead such as virtualization and multitenancy layers, they provide better performance than conventional cloud virtual machines. Containers allow applications to run unchanged across multiple computers and operating systems.

“This capability gives developers greater control over where their workloads reside and enables them to isolate workloads to specific servers,” Jason McGee, vice president and chief technology officer for IBM Cloud, wrote in a blog post about the announcement. “It equips teams with all of the benefits of a fully managed container service combined with the performance and security of bare metal.”

In an interview last week with SiliconANGLE, McGee said IBM is helping information technology departments transition to a new emphasis. “Over the last two to three years, customers have transitioned from an infrastructure focus to an application focus,” he said. “We’re getting to a place where IT is less infra-centric and more application-centric.”

IBM is one of the few cloud infrastructure providers to support a bare-metal option, a legacy of its 2013 acquisition of SoftLayer Inc. The market has been small to this point, but it’s expected to grow to more than $25 billion by 2025, according to Transparency Market Research.

IBM has contributed to both the Kubernetes and the Docker container projects since 2014. Last year the company introduced a container service based upon the company’s Bluemix cloud development platform. The company has also collaborated with Google LLC and Lyft Inc. on Istio, an open-source platform that eases the task of building microservices-based applications. It’s also working with Google on Grafeas, an open-source framework for coordinating the activities of large development teams.

Simplifying big clouds

Separately, IBM announced a partnership with Cloudflare Inc., which provides an assortment of content delivery, performance management and security services for large-scale cloud deployments. Cloudflare’s technology will underlie a new offering, called IBM Cloud Internet Services, which the company described as “a one-stop shop for security and performance capabilities designed to protect public-facing web content and applications before they reach the cloud.”

IBM is attempting to tame the sprawl of discrete performance-enhancing and security services that organizations must manage in large-scale cloud networks. The integrated service will combine domain name services, distributed denial-of-service attack protection, web application firewalls, global load balancing and Transport Layer Security/Secure Socket Layer services using Cloudflare’s global network of more than 125 data centers.

The service is particularly geared to stopping the growing number of large-scale DDoS attacks, which are increasing both in frequency and size. A recent survey by IBM’s X-Force security unit found that “not long ago, 100 gigabit-per-second attacks were considered unprecedented. Yet by 2016, that size attack was considered the norm,” according to John Considine, general manager of the Cloud Infrastructure Services group in the IBM Watson and Cloud Platform.

IBM also said it’s launching an experimental new capability called IBM Cloud Security Advisor to provide developers and operational teams with a single view of application security on an ongoing basis, and IBM is expanding its Cloud App ID authentication services to make it easier for users to sign in.

With reporting from Robert Hof

Image: IBM