Kubernetes - The 2020 Buzz: Watch GOOGL, MSFT, VMW & Others

Kubernetes — an open-source container-orchestration system for deploying containerized applications — designed by Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google division, is gaining significant momentum courtesy of exponential generation of data by businesses globally.

Kubernetes, which enables seamless deployment of multiple applications on a single OS and automates various processes such as monitoring, scaling scheduling of those applications, holds promise for 2020 with the emerging need for virtual infrastructure. In fact, all of these processes are driving the application container market.

Per a report from Grand View Research, the global application container space is expected to witness a CAGR of 26.5% between 2019 and 2025.

Further, a MarketsandMarkets report indicates that this particular market is likely to hit $4.98 billion by 2023 by witnessing a CAGR of 32.9% over a period of 2018-2023.

Data Centers & Cloud Deployment: Key Catalysts

The growing number of data centers globally is a crucial factor driving this market. Notably, containerization aids in expansion of data centers capacity. This is particularly beneficial for companies like Google, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) , Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) , who are leaving no stone unturned to bolster their data center capacities.

Kubernetes, which works as a workload distribution and orchestration mechanism, ensures resource availability, accessibility and balanced execution for multiple services simultaneously in a clustered server environment of a data center.

Moreover, the adoption of multi-cloud model to achieve better scalability and attain improved resource utilization is also coming mainstream. This is where Kubernetes is playing a significant role in the cloud computing market.

We note that Kubernetes has now become the standard application container platform among most of the cloud providers. Also, its enterprise-friendly nature is leading to massive growth in adoption rate.

Google’s Initiatives

Google Kubernetes Engine, which is designed to support a wide range of cluster sizes, is aiding in the adoption rate of Google Cloud. Its clusters run within a single region or within a single zone in order to minimize latency, improve availability and comply with regulations.

Moreover, Google Cloud’s Anthos, a hybrid cloud product leveraging Kubernetes, aids in management of hybrid cloud or multiple cloud deployments in case of running managed container services.

Further, Anthos’ ability to adapt various data center environments into a single managed service allows users to run their applications not only on Google Cloud servers but also across servers of other cloud service providers. This flexibility is likely to drive Google Cloud’s momentum across customers.

Notably, Google’s parent Alphabet carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

AMZN, MSFT & IBM Offering Kubernetes

Kubernetes platform has also gained solid momentum among major cloud computing service providers — Amazon Web Service (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and IBM cloud.

AWS offers Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS), which is a fully managed one. Further, the service runs upstream Kubernetes and is a certified Kubernetes conformant.

Moreover, Amazon EKS eliminates a single point of failure by offering a scalable and highly-available control plane that runs across multiple availability zones.

Recently, the service has started supporting Kubernetes version 1.13.7 for all clusters. Further, Amazon, which carries a Zacks Rank #3, has added support for provisioning and managing Kubernetes nodes in Amazon EKS.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) provides serverless Kubernetes, which offers enterprise-grade security and governance, and continuous integration and delivery features.

Further, AKS allows users to define, deploy, debug and upgrade the most complex Kubernetes applications and automatically containerize them.

Notably, Microsoft carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Additionally, IBM Cloud’s fully managed Kubernetes Service allows continuous availability across multi-zone clusters. Further, this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company offers massive scalability and workload diversity.

Efforts of VMware & NetApp Hard to Ignore

VMware (NYSE:VMW) is continuously infusing resources into Kubernetes-related investments. The company recently entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Pivotal Software in a bid to expand its enterprise-grade Kubernetes-based offerings for modern applications.

Further, this Zacks Rank #3 company acquired Heptio, which in turn strengthened its Kubernetes-based offerings.

Meanwhile, NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) acquired StackPointCloud, a provider of cloud-based Kubernetes as-a-service (KaaS), in an attempt to release its Kubernetes service. Notably, this Zacks Rank #3 company allows users to deploy and administer applications and clusters across several cloud platforms in real time.

Wrapping Up

Kubernetes is well poised to gain mainstream adoption in 2020 on breakthrough product roll-outs and noteworthy acquisitions.

Moreover, rising demand for Kubernetes skills among the IT companies worldwide is paving the way for the technology to gain impetus in 2020 and beyond.

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