Docker partners with AWS to help take the complexity out of containerisation

Docker is expanding its collaboration with AWS to make its Compose and Desktop tools easier to use in container ecosystems.

The compose and desktop developer tools will be integrated with AWS Elastic Container Service (ECS) and ECS on AWS Fargate.

The container ecosystem has become complex, according to Docker. What used to be a simple case of A talking to B and B talking to a database, has expanded due to new managed container services. The complexity of it is helpful to operational teams that might want more control, but it makes it tougher for developers.

"With a large number of containers being built using Docker, we're very excited to work with Docker to simplify the developer's experience of building and deploying containerised applications to AWS," said Deepak Singh, the VP for compute services at AWS.

"Now customers can easily deploy their containerised applications from their local Docker environment straight to Amazon ECS. This accelerated path to modern application development and deployment allows customers to focus more effort on the unique value of their applications, and less time on figuring out how to deploy to the cloud."

A similar integration was announced in May for Microsoft Azure, shortening the developer commute for Azure Container Instances, highlighting Docker's more developer-focused strategy. The company surprised many when it sold its enterprise business to Mirantis in 2019, but its reasoning was to solely focus on cloud-native development.

"Going forward, in partnership with the community and ecosystem, we will expand Docker Desktop and Docker Hub's roles in the developer workflow for modern apps," said CEO Scott Johnston.

"Specifically, we are investing in expanding our cloud services to enable developers to quickly discover technologies for use when building applications, to easily share these apps with teammates and the community, and to run apps frictionlessly on any Kubernetes endpoint, whether locally or in the cloud."