Some former employees of PLUMgrid will be helping VMware in its push to support cloud-native applications, sources tell SDxCentral.

PLUMgrid, one of the earliest startups to delve into network virtualization and software-defined networking (SDN), is shutting down after selling intellectual property to VMware, a deal that closed on Dec. 16. VMware also ended up hiring some of PLUMgrid's employees, as SDxCentral reported.

Sources say some of those employees will be joining VMware's Networking and Security business unit, which is no particular surprise. PLUMgrid's know-how in network virtualization would have direct relevance to products such as VMware's NSX.

But PLUMgrid worked with OpenStack and containers as well. That suggests its staff could also be useful to VMware's Cloud-Native Apps group. Led by General Manager Paul Fazzone, the group is charged with supporting containers and microservices. Fazzone also happens to be a former product manager at Nicira, the startup that built the product that became NSX.

VMware is pursuing more than one container strategy, and in fact, one source close to the company notes that pretty much every group, not just Fazzone's, is doing something with containers.

To bring its installed base into the container world, VMware has introduced vSphere Integrated Containers. For pure container environments—those that would be truer to the usual definition of "cloud-native"— VMware offers its Photon Platform, which includes a slimmed-down Linux distribution called Photon OS. The operating system is available on Github, and there's also a commercial version called the VMware-Pivotal Cloud-Native Stack v1.0.