The Key to Accelerating IT-OT Integration: Embracing Containerization
Understanding the Deployment Dilemma
Deploying software in any enterprise environment often comes with a host of challenges. For example, developers may painstakingly build an application that works perfectly in a controlled development environment, only to encounter roadblocks when moving it to production. Common pain points include:
• Software Patch Mismatches: The application runs on one version of a library or has dependencies in the development environment but encounters compatibility issues with an outdated or updated version in production.
• OS Update and Patch Mismatches: Minor differences in operating system versions between development and production environments can lead to unexpected behavior or outright failures.
• Time Lost to Installation and Configuration: Teams often spend countless hours setting up the production environment to mirror development, with every deviation introducing potential errors and delays.
These issues result in not only wasted time but also frustrated teams and increased downtime, all of which hinder the pace of IT-OT integration efforts.
What Is a Container?
A container is a lightweight, portable unit of software that packages an application—along with all its dependencies, libraries, and configurations—into a single, self-contained unit. Unlike traditional virtual machines, containers share the host system’s operating system kernel but remain isolated from each other, ensuring consistent performance across environments.
In essence, containers act as a digital “magic box,” ensuring that what works in development will work identically in production, regardless of underlying infrastructure or operating system variations.
How Containers Resolve Deployment Pain Points
Containerization directly addresses the challenges that plague traditional deployment methods, making it a game-changer for organizations striving to achieve seamless IT-OT integration. Here’s how:
• Consistency Across Environments: Containers bundle the application and its dependencies into a single unit, ensuring that it will run consistently across development, testing, and production environments.
• Reduced Configuration Time: Pre-configured container images eliminate the need for time-intensive setup and reduce the risk of human error during installation and configuration.
• Compatibility and Portability: Containers abstract the application from the underlying infrastructure, allowing it to run on any system that supports containerization—whether on-premises, in the cloud, or at the edge.
• Accelerating IT-OT Integration: By eliminating deployment friction, containers enable faster collaboration between IT and OT teams. For example, operational technology systems that rely on stable, real-time performance can benefit from containerized applications, which offer predictable behavior and reduced downtime during updates or patches.
We can easily help you identify the right containerization strategy to optimize deployment pipelines. Don’t let deployment challenges hold you back, we will partner with you to make sure you have the end-to-end support that you need.