Last week saw cloud computing continue its breakneck evolution as a number of key players stepped up to move the dial on some of the biggest challenges still standing in the way of adoption. Docker Inc. provided the initial push with its first software-defined networking acquisition.

SocketPlane Inc. was founded in late 2014 by veterans of switching giant Cisco Systems Inc. and a number of other prominent vendors with the goal of facilitating efficient communications among containers spread out over different parts of an organization’s infrastructure. The team and its standards-based technology will help Docker extend the functionality beyond the traditional data center to the hybrid cloud.

The startup hopes to accomplish that with a common interface that will shield containers from the complexity of the underlying networking technology to allow for smoother migrations among different environments. One of its main priorities for the initiative is openness, or more specifically, accommodating different technology choices, an approach that IBM is also starting to adapt as part of its cloud efforts.

The enterprise technology stalwart expanded its infrastructure-as-a-service platform hot on the heels of Docker revealing its acquisition with the addition of a new instance option based on processors from the OpenPOWER Foundation. The organization enables manufacturers to license the IBM-developed chip architecture of the same name and produce custom implementations for specific markets.

Box Inc. augmented its own cloud value proposition around the same time with the acquisition of a little-known security startup called Subspace Inc. for an undisclosed sum. The deal is similar to the one Docker announced earlier in that it’s primarily a talent acquisition, but the focus is entirely different. The file-sharing giant is absorbing the seven-man team to help it provide better access controls on  smartphones and tablets.