With containers becoming the go-to choice for production deployment, Zerto, an industry leader in cloud data management and protection, today announced the beta program of Zerto for Kubernetes (Z4K), an extension of its Zerto Platform  to support next-generation, cloud native applications.  Organizations can now easily protect, recover, and move any Kubernetes application and its persistent data for accelerated deployment within their application development lifecycles. 

By applying its always-on replication for backup, disaster recovery (DR), and mobility capabilities for Kubernetes applications that utilize persistent data, Zerto is bringing its industry-leading continuous data protection (CDP) and journaling technology to containerized applications and making it available to customers who want to participate in the beta program.  

Zerto for Kubernetes is also being made available for access by anyone, anywhere with a new hands-on lab running the Z4K beta code. For organizations just starting out with a containerized strategy, the hands-on lab provides an easy way to test drive Z4K in the comfort of your own home or office at any time with no additional setup required. The lab provides complimentary, on-demand training on how to set up, configure, and manage a Z4K environment. 

Container-Based Environments are Achieving Broad Industry Recognition  

The timely release comes against a backdrop of what ESG calls pervasive adoption of containers, illustrated in a recent survey in which 71% of respondents said they have deployed or plan to deploy container-based applications in a hybrid-cloud strategy. It's clear to see why 57% of respondents indicated multi-cloud support as one of the most important features when it comes to backing up their organization's container environments.

This survey and other analyst reports, including "VM data protection veteran Zerto sets its sights on Kubernetes-based stateful apps" written by Liam Rogers, 451 Research, a part of S&P Market Intelligence, can be viewed here.  

"An evolution has been happening in the IT landscape for some time now. Organizations want their applications updated as frequently and as granularly as possible. These continual updates require utilizing microservices that often prove too big for the virtual machines," said Deepak Verma, director of product strategy, Zerto. "Z4K provides all the unique functionality our customers love in the Zerto platform but for containerized Kubernetes applications and with the DevOps engineer in mind. That means backup, DR, and data mobility for Kubernetes applications can be part of an on-premises or cloud deployment and be easily integrated and managed without requiring every Kubernetes application to write its own solution." 

Since Zerto announced its plans to extend its platform to support next-generation applications at ZertoCON in June, Zerto has seen a rapid increase in demand for Z4K globally. Organizations like IFDS are making Zerto an integral part of their development cycle because the Zerto platform easily protects, recovers, and moves applications for accelerated software development and delivery.