Docker spouts cash, sucks up Tutum

Docker has hoovered up container hosting outfit Tutum, creating what the cash-packed buyer claims will be a complete platform to build, ship and run distributed applications.

Both companies are privately held, and financial terms were not disclosed. It seems safe to assume the deal will add nothing to Docker’s bottom line or indeed its top line, for now.

Tutum’s pricing page claims the service is “limitless” and free while it is still in beta, with a professional service promised sometime in the future.

The page also promises support for Azure, Digital Ocean, AWS, Packet and Softlayer, as well as basic support for any other infrastructure provider, and support for other IaaS providers in the future.

A Tutum support page also said the platform should exit Beta and be production ready in Q3 2015. Presumably something distracted the team.

New York-based Tutum has been around since 2013. Its LinkedIn profile says it has one to ten employees, so Docker won’t have to find too much desk space to accommodate its new acquisition.

As Docker describes it, the Tutum platform provides a work flow and operational tool to move applications from build to production “in minutes”, while ops can use the same framework to “change, scale and manage distributed applications across any infrastructure on premise or in the cloud".

Ben Golub, CEO of Docker, said in a containerised quote: “Tutum has already been validated by our user community as the best way to achieve a seamless Docker user experience from the point of initial onboarding to running Dockerised applications in production.”

He added that “users and customers alike are excited by the intersection of these two companies". It's true. Nothing excites developers like intersections. ®