Like the rest of the vendor ecosystem, hyperconverged infrastructure vendors are scrambling to address the rise of containers in the enterprise. Nutanix Inc., one of the leaders in the segment, hopes to set itself apart from the pack by providing persistent storage functionality for Docker.

The feature was introduced at the vendor’s .NEXT conference today as part of an update to the Acropolis management software powering its appliances. Storing records separately from the containers using them makes it possible to delete or replace an instance without fear of losing its contents, which eases day-to-day operations. It’s especially handy when running stateful applications like databases that need to reliably hold onto information for extended periods of time.

Such important workloads also have strict performance requirements, which is why Nutanix is rolling out a speedy block storage option to Acropolis alongside the persistent volume feature. The capabilities are joined by a self-service provisioning console that enables end-users to allocate additional capacity to an application as the amount of data they’re working with grows. This removes the delay of going through the IT department, a shortcut that can save a lot of hassle in a large environment with upwards of dozens of services.

And from the administrator’s’ point of view, meanwhile, fewer user requests means more time to spend on other tasks. But Nutanix is not stopping there. The company wants to reduce the overhead involved in maintaining its systems even further by adding a dynamic workload rebalancing feature to the free hypervisor built into Acropolis. Built-in algorithms can now analyze the storage, memory and processor utilization of a virtual machine to determine the optimal amount of resources it requires. The goal is to make the software more competitive against mainstream virtualization products like VMware vSphere and Microsoft Corp.’s Hyper-V.

At the same time, the new functionality should also put Nutanix in a better position to take on VCE Inc., Simplivity Inc. and the numerous other rivaling appliance makers out there. None of them currently provide a free hypervisor as part of their gear, but they have other ways to stand out. And the feature arms race will only intensify as demand for hyperconverged infrastructure continues to grow.

Image via Andi Graft