Some are calling it a revolution. Everyone from startups to major corporations in just about every kind of company that works with data are taking part. The 2010s, it seems, is the age of containers.

Containers are software constructs that neatly package up all of the code, the operating environment, and configuration data needed to both develop an application and put it to use operationally. But they, themselves, are not new. “The concept of containers goes back 20 years,” says Frances Guida, a manager leading Composable Infrastructure programs at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).

What is new, however, is the speed at which developers must now create and update new applications in response to demand for new features while also handling ever greater amounts of data.