An easy way to get started with Kubernetes with HCL Software

Moving to cloud-native enterprise software on Kubernetes has the potential to boost your company's productivity and efficiency, but it typically comes with a steep learning curve. HCL Software's Solution Factory, SoFy, helps make that transition easier and more cost-effective by providing the software components you need and an easy way to deploy on Kubernetes so you can use the public or private cloud you want.

SoFy includes 50 HCL enterprise software components and over 2,000 REST API endpoints. Those tools let you build the custom cloud-software solution you want without being saddled with resources you don't need: You pay only for the components you use instead of an all-in-one enterprise software bundle. HCL SoFy's software collection includes tools for data and customer management, DevOps, commerce and marketing, automation and more. The REST APIs help you connect the data and custom apps you’re already using into the HCL cloud software you want to use.

Installing the HCL cloud-native software you want on Kubernetes is a one-click process with SoFy. Pick the HCL software components you need and SoFy handles the installation for you. Staying agile as your company grows is easy, too, since installing additional components later is just as simple. That flexibility is important because your cloud software needs to grow along with your company.

"Containers have become popular because they provide a powerful tool for addressing several critical concerns of application developers, including the need for faster delivery, agility, portability, modernization and life cycle management," Gartner Research Vice President Sid Nag said in a recent cloud-growth study. He added, "Gartner predicts that by 2022, more than 75% of global organizations will be running containerized applications in production, up from less than 30% today."

That could mean new software to meet your company's changing needs, a move to a different cloud-hosting service or both. With SoFy’s one-click process, adding HCL software components is easy and fast, so your software doesn't become a productivity bottleneck. Cloud-hosting portability won't be a problem, either, since HCL SoFy uses Kubernetes.

HCL SoFy Portability with Kubernetes

Kubernetes is a well-established open-source platform for deploying and managing containerized applications. Since it’s available on many cloud-based server products — such as AWS (Amazon Web Services), Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure — you can install and run HCL SoFy where it's best for your company. You can use a public host service, your own private solution or a hybrid public-private host setup.

Since SoFy doesn't rely on a proprietary cloud platform, you have the flexibility to migrate to different cloud hosts with Kubernetes if your company's needs change. Alex Mulholland, HCL's chief platform architect, said, "We didn't build dependencies into any cloud platform, so a key design aspect is that we're cloud-agnostic. SoFy had to be portable and cloud-agnostic, and to make it easy for people to start using Kubernetes, because that's quite a steep learning curve."

Despite HCL SoFy's portability, Kubernetes isn't exactly the same on every cloud host. But that's not a problem, because SoFy has the same features regardless of the Kubernetes version you use. That means your IT team doesn't have to spend time learning the nuances of a different Kubernetes version to keep all the HCL software features you rely on up and running.

Hosting SoFy with HCL Now

While installing and managing HCL SoFy is easy, learning and managing Kubernetes can be intimidating. For companies that don't have a Kubernetes-savvy team or are looking for an all-in-one SoFy hosting solution, there's HCL Now.

"HCL Now is SoFy for companies that don't want to run it themselves in Kubernetes," according to HCL Product Manager Lead Bill Swatling. "They want HCL to run it for them, so we extended SoFy to a managed service."

HCL Now offers a way to take advantage of SoFy with lower startup costs and without the need for a Kubernetes-trained IT team. Customers get a dedicated cloud host, and their business-critical data is secure and separate from other HCL Now users. Since HCL Now runs SoFy on Kubernetes, just like any other SoFy installation, migrating later to a public or self-hosted cloud solution isn't a problem. That gives companies the flexibility to move into cloud-native enterprise software on their own terms.

Companies ready to move to cloud-native software can start with HCL Now or a public or private cloud host and migrate to a different host later, thanks to SoFy's HCL software installation and management tools on Kubernetes. Making HCL Now's set up easy, and on top of Kubernetes, translates to faster installs, lower startup costs and no cloud host lock-in.

For further information about the HCL Solution Factory (SoFy) collection of software products and HCL Now, and about the ways in which HCL can help your organization realize the many benefits of cloud-native solutions, visit the HCL website.