16 May 2017

Uxbridge-based industrial thread-maker Coats has become one of the first companies to use Azure Container Services in a customer facing environment.

The company has successfully launched a web portal on a container-based platform after working with vendor-agnostic technical consultancy Amido. It recommended the solution in order to meet Coats’ requirements for an adaptable, scalable and easily manageable platform that would adhere to the strict regulations of international trading. 

With large investments from Amazon, Google and Microsoft, Amido reckons the option of containers is becoming a viable solution, even at this early stage. Over the next three years, it predicts there will be a large rise in their implementation.

“Containers give you more control over the infrastructure you are deploying,” says Chris Gray, technical director, Amido. “This is because you are not creating a VM for every instance of an application, meaning deployments are rapid and the overhead of the operating system is significantly lower. This combination is powerful as it means that we can issue an upgrade/change that will take effect almost immediately, without disruption to the general use of the portal.”

He adds that for firms where cost of ownership is severely monitored, this advantage of application upgrades and changes is vital, especially when an organisation is committed to digitally transform its services, without the added costs legacy systems can bring.

However, Amido warns that containers are not a “magic fix” for all legacy or single  solutions, and that the decision to containerise software needs to be considered carefully.

“Containers are valuable when monolithic applications can be split into smaller components which can be distributed across a containerised infrastructure,” states the firm. “But this is not to say that any application will work, just that care needs to be taken to see if it is suitable for containerised deployment.” 

It adds that with this in mind, Coats’ new container-driven customer portal exposed a real need for DevOps skills, emphasising the shift and increasing demand for IT skills in the market today.