Cloud-native applications are driving the innovation and exceptional customer experiences that are at the heart of the digital economy. Cloud-native processes accelerate development by significantly reducing release cycle times for new application features. By enabling cloud-native software, organizations can disrupt existing markets and reach new audiences in the digital economy.

A cloud-native application is built with a container-based infrastructure and with architecture that focuses on microservices. Cloud-native applications also use continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD). Benefits of the cloud-native approach include:

• Accelerated development. With applications built on microservices and testing systems integrated with production rollouts, development teams can update, fix and release apps faster.
• Protection against failure. Because containers are isolated, a failure within one container won’t affect others, making a cloud-native application inherently more reliable.
• Easy scalability. A cloud-native app can auto-scale to handle future business needs.
• Open technologies. Cloud-native applications typically leverage open source technologies and focus on transparency and interoperability.

To take advantage of the power of the cloud-native application, enterprises must:

• Adopt industry-standard platforms that provide maximum flexibility. Cloud-native development platforms accelerate code writing, enable reliable application scaling and deliver greater security. Pre-wired toolchain integrations help speed development and delivery.
• Choose a platform that supports portability between clouds. A cloud-native platform that supports application portability between diverse resources can maximize flexibility and deployment across various clouds.
• Select a platform that avoids lock-in. When using a proprietary public cloud as a service environment, applications and data can get tied to that particular environment. Choosing a platform with maximum flexibility makes it easier and less costly to move applications to the optimal cloud resource.

For enterprises and development teams seeking the ideal platform for enabling development of cloud-native applications, Dell Technologies Cloud provides solutions that make it easy to run traditional and containerized enterprise apps in public, private and edge cloud environments.

With Dell Technologies Cloud, enterprises can:

• Increase speed to market with the latest VMware software and Kubernetes distribution, taking advantage of cloud-native applications and elastic capacity to increase efficiency and accelerate innovation.
• Improve cloud economics by deploying flexible hybrid pricing models, securing lower and more predictable costs by choosing the optimal mix of public, private and edge cloud resources.
• Enhance security with a single security framework that covers all cloud infrastructure.
• Simplify migration by providing administrators with familiar tools and models that increase efficiency and reduce risk.
• Streamline management with a common set of tools and consistent infrastructure that eliminate silos and improve efficiency.

Dell Technologies Cloud includes:

• VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) on VxRail. This jointly engineered solution provides an HCI system with deep integration with VMware Cloud Foundation to deliver automated lifecycle management that streamlines operations and reduces TCO by up to 47%. Providing a single operational hub, this Dell Technologies Cloud platform helps to simplify, streamline and automate hybrid cloud operations while running traditional workloads alongside cloud-native applications for consistent, seamless operations.
• Validated Designs. This solution provides best-of-breed Dell Technologies Cloud server, storage and networking infrastructure that is pretested for interoperability with VMware Cloud Foundation. IT teams can easily meet the varied demands of workloads with independent scaling of compute and storage by building their own hybrid cloud infrastructure.
• Data Center-as-a-Service. Offered as a fully managed, subscription-based service, this solution provides robust on-premises IaaS capabilities at core data center and edge locations.
• Partner clouds. With support for Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and more than 4,200 additional cloud partners, Dell Technologies Cloud makes it easy to seamlessly extend the hybrid cloud experience to cloud partners.

What is a cloud-native application? 

A cloud-native application is a type of cloud software that is a) developed using cloud-based technologies, b) designed to exist in the cloud and c) takes advantage of the benefits of the cloud. Cloud-native applications are usually made up of loosely connected microservices that are housed in containers, making it possible to accelerate development of applications and to scale applications easily.

What are the benefits of cloud-native development?

Cloud-native applications can be produced much faster than traditional applications and they can auto-scale to meet future business needs. Cloud-native development is less costly, thanks to an open source model, cloud-native tools and containers that make managing apps easier and safer. And cloud-native applications are less susceptible to failure – if one container fails, it won’t affect others. 

What is a cloud-based application?

A cloud-based application is a software program that operates in the cloud but works together with components on an on-premise computer to provide off-line functionality.