A relationship that is equal parts competition and cooperation is tenuous enough when the companies involved both have established identities and know where they stand. When the commodity or technology in question is in its infancy, the relationship could morph into something else at any moment. Container technologies are white hot but still quite new, and the big players are still figuring out whether to play together or eat each other.

Docker, Inc. is one such company that is finding its place in the containers market for the enterprise with its Docker software containerization platform. Garnering new customers and ecosystem partners rapidly, Docker seems to be in a precarious everything-to-everyone position. “The ecosystem’s friendly on one side; they’re competitive on the other side,” said Brian Gracely (@bgracely), co-host of the theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, at today’s DockerCon event in Seattle, WA.

Gracely explained to co-host John Furrier (@furrier) that Docker’s introduction of built-in network orchestration is an interesting development, because “if you’re a Docker customer, you go, ‘This just made my life simpler.’ If you’re a Docker ecosystem person, you just went, ‘Hold on. The coopetition between us maybe just got a little more feisty.'”

Identity politics

Furrier spoke about the uncertainty over Docker’s identity in the evolving world of containers. At some point, he said, they have to take a turn and decide, “Are they an IT me-too vendor, kind of disrupting the incumbents, or are they going to be game changers?”

Gracely agreed and said that, while the press loves to say Docker is the new VMware, VMware insists that its story is different in that it is still viable and is not in any rush to exit the stage.

Free market coopetition

Gracely said that ultimately we’re still in the early innings of the container game, and customers will always be open to a faster, simpler solution that comes along.

“If you can be that company, that technology, that helps a business leader go, ‘I’ve got a great idea, and I want to execute it in software,’ you’ve got a chance to win,” he said.

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the DockerCon 2016. And join in on the conversation by CrowdChatting live with theCUBE hosts.

Photo by SiliconANGLE