VMware’s Photon Platform is getting built-in support for container cluster manager Kubernetes through its new Kubernetes as a Service offering, unveiled Tuesday at the 2016 VMworld Europe conference. Additionally, the Photon Platform is getting networking integration with NSX and storage services from Virtual SAN.

Photon Platform was introduced by VMware in August 2015 as a collection of technologies used to run containerized applications. The Photon Platform is primarily centered around the fundamentals of a cloud-native approach, and the company is hoping that the ability to deploy Kubernetes as a service will advance that goal.

“VMware Photon Platform takes a major step forward by empowering IT teams to deliver, secure and operate the modern services that development teams require with the infrastructure automation demanded by today’s leading enterprise organizations,” said Paul Fazzone, vice president and general manager of the Cloud-Native Applications Business Unit at VMware.

SEE: Containers rock the enterprise: 81% look to increase use of data center’s hottest tech

One of the big value adds for Kubernetes is its scalability, as the node clusters it works with can be provisioned and scaled very quickly. The Kubernetes as a Service play, as mentioned in a press release, will allow operations teams to deliver “Kubernetes as a Service to developers in a multi-tenant fashion for workload isolation and security.” According to the press release, “Developers will be able to rapidly provision Kubernetes clusters, containers and virtual machines from a catalog of machine sizes, container and operating system base images managed by IT.”

Photon Platform is also getting virtual network services from VMware NSX, the release stated. It will start with switching and routing services, according to the press release, but will eventually expand to include other networking services and tools.

Block storage services will also be coming to the Photon Platform through VMware Virtual SAN. Users will get access to “flexible, programmable and proven persistent storage for containerized and cloud-native applications,” the release stated. Elastic, scalable storage will help with faster application deployment as well.

Given the rapid increase in container adoption, as well as the impact that containers have on infrastructure and data centers, the new offering could improve VMware’s standing with the DevOps crowd as well.

According to VMware’s press release, pricing and licensing will be listed when the service becomes generally available in Q4 2016.

The 3 big takeaways for TechRepublic readers

  1. At the 2016 VMworld Europe conference, VMware announced Kubernetes as a Service for its Photon Platform.
  2. Photon Platform is also getting networking services from NSX and storage services from Virtual SAN.
  3. The addition of a Kubernetes integration could make VMware more popular among the DevOps faithful.