Docker, Inc. Acquires AtomicJar to Add Testing Cloud Service
Docker, Inc., today revealed it has acquired AtomicJar as part of an effort to make it simpler to test cloud-native applications built using containers.
AtomicJar is a provider of a cloud service based on a lightweight open source Testcontainers framework. The framework uses Docker containers to create more real-world testing environments by, for example, invoking instances of databases, message brokers and web browsers from within an integrated development environment (IDE).
The AtomicJar service eliminates the need for IT organizations to set up their own staging environment to test applications because developers can now test applications themselves before moving code into a DevOps workflow.
Docker CEO Scott Johnston said AtomicJar extends a strategy through which the company provides access to complementary cloud services that improve developer productivity. The overall goal is to make it simpler for developers to address issues as early in the application development life cycle as possible while decreasing their cognitive load, he added. The earlier issues are addressed, the less expensive they are to fix, noted Johnston.
In addition, AtomicJar will provide another data stream that Docker, Inc., will incorporate in its plans to apply artificial intelligence (AI) to the development of cloud-native applications, he said.
Tescontainers are already being pulled at a rate of 10 million pulls a month from DockerHub, and the company has no plans to change the licensing terms under which those open source containers are made available. In the longer term, Docker will move to integrate the functional testing capabilities provided by AtomicJar with the security testing capabilities enabled by the company’s existing DockerScout tool, said Johnston.
AtomicJar CEO Sergei Egorov said the overall goal is to reduce the current level of complexity that too often results in not enough testing being applied to applications before they are deployed in a production environment. Testcontainers Cloud, which today supports more than nine programming languages, is designed to be installed in a developer environment in less than five minutes and does not require knowledge of Docker commands to invoke.
As developers increasingly rely on platforms to help them test code as they write it, the overall quality of that code should improve. Today, testing often occurs days—sometimes weeks—after code is initially written, so developers often lose context when test results come back. Developers need access to tools that were designed specifically for them versus tools designed for an application testing team, noted Egorov.
It’s not clear how shifting application testing left will impact app testing teams. In theory, those teams should be able to focus more on complex issues as more routine tests are run by developers themselves. In some cases, however, organizations may decide they no longer need a dedicated testing team as the overall quality of the code improves. One way or another, the number of updates necessary to fix an application should steadily decline over time, even as more complex cloud-native applications are deployed. The challenge, as always, is to make testing a seamless extension of any application development workflow.
