By Darien Ford, Senior Director, Software Engineering at Capital One
With COVID-19 accelerating digital adoption as many people socially distance and work from home, companies are fast-tracking adoption of a microservices architecture in the cloud. Today’s applications (like mobile banking and online appointment booking) demand scale, speed, and iterative improvement enabled by the cloud to respond to changing customer demands.
To help modernize legacy applications and create new applications on the cloud, many companies are using containers. In a recently commissioned report by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Capital One, which captured information from 263 senior IT leaders across the U.S., 86% of technology leaders with insights into containers plan to prioritize them for more applications.
To automate deployment, scaling and management of containerized workloads, many companies are using Kubernetes, an open source project from Google that they subsequently contributed to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation in 2015. Because Kubernetes requires highly opinionated decisions for proper implementation, there can be barriers to scaling across the enterprise, especially companies in highly-regulated industries. For instance, most companies have unique environments that require numerous adjustments and manual configurations during installation and setup. In addition, users need to be able to easily port features across cloud providers, development teams, lines of business or accounts.
A container orchestration platform is a solution that allows enterprises to enforce standards across all of their environments at once. However, container orchestration platforms have some challenges as well. According to the Forrester report, “Companies using container management platforms struggle with compliance (meeting industry regulations and enforcing policies) and portability (building and deploying across multiple cloud environments).”
Based on our own journey with adopting cloud technologies in a highly regulated industry, Capital One is uniquely suited to help other companies do the same. In 2016, we acquired and customized a container orchestration platform based on Kubernetes called Critical Stack. It enforces common governance and security controls, enabling teams to efficiently scale containerized applications in the strictest environments. Critical Stack offers easier orchestration; improved governance; smooth scaling; verified configuration; and more.
As digital transformations continue to accelerate, containers are central to building a cloud-native architecture. It’s no surprise that the Forrester study revealed that “59% of decision makers say they use containers for systems to win, serve, and retain customers (systems of engagement, like web, mobile, and eCommerce).” While doing that, it’s important to do so confidently with the highest level of governance standards.
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***To learn more about containerized infrastructure and cloud native technologies, consider joining us at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA Virtual, November 17-20.
About the Author
Darien Ford, Senior Director, Software Engineering at Capital One
Darien Ford is a Senior Director of Engineering and a force behind Capital One’s Kubernetes initiatives. He served as accountable executive for container orchestration and drove the adoption of a company wide managed container platform at Capital One. He now leads product management for an open source and commercial software innovation group. Darien started his technology career 20 years ago because he loved games so much and wanted to build them himself. Since then, he’s worked as an engineering leader across multiple industries–including live video streaming, ad technology, and cell phone gaming–and is passionate about fostering an excellent developer experience at enterprise scale. Darien is a frequent speaker at Capital One-sponsored meetups and was the Master of Ceremonies and spoke to the Executive Summit at Serverlessconf in New York in October 2019.
