IBM is providing the ability to run its enterprise Cloud Managed Services (CMS) on its Kubernetes-based Cloud Private application platform.

The integration allows users to add self-service PaaS capabilities to CMS. They can also tap more quickly into IBM analytics, data, middleware, and IBM's Watson artificial intelligence (AI) platform.

The CMS platform is used by organizations to manage enterprise applications. Those applications include offerings from SAP and Oracle. CMS includes security, disaster recovery, automated infrastructure, and application management.

IBM launched its Cloud Private service last November. It’s built on a Kubernetes-based container architecture that supports integration and portability of workloads between the cloud environment and management across multiple clouds. This includes IBM Cloud, IBM PowerVC, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and VMware on and off premises.

IBM launched a service similar to CMS running on Cloud Private in March with its Cloud Private for Data platform. That offering integrates various IBM data science, data engineering, application building, and security products. It runs as an application layer deployed on Kubernetes and operated through IBM’s Cloud Private product.

The company also recently signed a deal with Red Hat to tie together Cloud Private and middleware services with Red Hat’s OpenShift Container Platform. The combo allows customers to build and deploy containerized applications on a single, integrated container platform with a single view into that enterprise data.

IBM initiated Kubernetes support in its Cloud Container Service last May. The move combined the container orchestrator with IBM’s already established support for Docker-based containers. IBM in December expanded that support to its isolated cloud environment and in March to its bare metal cloud infrastructure.

Dan Berg, a distinguished engineer within IBM Cloud, said that IBM’s initial decision in 2016 to “go full bore on Kubernetes was still a bit of a gamble” at that time as the platform itself was still “rough around the edges.”

“It was a risk, and even our vendor partners at the time were trying to straddle the fence in terms of orchestration platforms,” Berg said. “Just for self-preservation we had to pick one, and while I am not a betting man, just looking at the facts, Kubernetes stood out as having the potential to make it.”

A recent study conducted by cloud security platform provider Sysdig found that Kubernetes had padded its lead as the orchestrator of choice for Docker-based containers. The survey, which took samples from 90,000 container deployments running in production environments and using its platform, found use of Kubernetes surged from 43 percent last year to 51 percent this year. Docker Inc.’s Swarm orchestrator saw a bump in use from 7 percent to 11 percent. Both took a bite from Mesos-based orchestrators like Marathon and DC/OS, which saw usage plunge from 9 percent last year to just 4 percent in the latest study.

The Kubernetes project wants to expand the platform’s ability to support more workloads. Dan Kohn, executive director of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), which houses the Kubernetes project, recently said they were focused during the second half of 2018 on crafting Kubernetes to take on a greater role in shaping the future of cloud architecture. This includes using Kubernetes to replace OpenStack and VMware as the basis for cloud-native infrastructure.