Docker Buys Tutum, a Cloud Service for Container Management

Docker, the startup behind the popular Linux container format, has acquired Tutum, which provides an easy way to manage containerized applications and deploy them on any cloud infrastructure service or in companies’ own data centers. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Tutum adds an infrastructure management capability to Docker’s existing tool set that helps developers take an application from development to production. Docker, a company built around open source technology, also expects the cloud service to become a significant new revenue stream, in addition to its existing money-making product called Docker Hub Enterprise.

Providing Tutum capabilities as a cloud service will be a “central part of our commercial offering,” David Messina, VP of enterprise marketing, said.

The value of Tutum is its integrated set of capabilities, including networking, storage, monitoring, and scheduling, under one umbrella, Messina explained. While container services by cloud infrastructure giants Amazon, Microsoft, and Google focus on lower-level infrastructure tasks like clustering and scheduling, Tutu’s platform “covers the whole application lifecycle,” he said.

Besides application management tools for developers, Tutum enables IT operations teams to deploy applications across distributed infrastructure that can consist of multiple cloud services or data centers and move applications from one set of infrastructure to another.

The service has been running in beta since the second half of 2013 and boasts more than 24,000 beta users today, according to Messina. It will continue to run in beta as Docker integrates it with its products and services.

The plan is to roll out an integrated offering that covers the entire spectrum, from Docker Hub to Tutum, he said. Once that offering is in general availability, the company will also announce pricing of the service.