Docker on Monday launched a new version of its container management with built-in orchestration support, in competition with the Google-led open source Kubernetes utility.

Kicking off its DockerCon conference, the company launched Docker 1.12, with built-in decentralized orchestration capabilities for multiple containers running on multiple hosts. Docker 1.12 supports all applications -- "from monoliths to microservices" -- over the entire application lifecycle, from development to deployment, the company said in a statement.

The new software comes as enterprises move from "pockets of developers" to moving their entire application suite -- in some cases, thousands of applications -- to containers, Docker SVP marketing David Messina tells Light Reading. Enterprises need orchestration tools to manage it all.

The software incorporates "swarm mode," to allow instances of the Docker engine to discover each other and coordinate activities in a peer-to-peer fashion, providing decentralized, horizontal scalability and eliminating single point of failure -- a competitive advantage, Messina says.

"You have a quorum of managers," Messina says. "If a single manager fails, they each have knowledge of the tables and scheduling continues."

Docker 1.12 also includes built-in load balancing and end-to-end encryption.

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The open source software, due to be available next month with public beta available now, is designed to provide a uniform environment spanning developers' desktops to production deployment. To that end, it runs natively on Mac and Windows, as well as on Amazon Web Services Inc. and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) Azure.

The Commercially Supported Docker Engine will include enterprise support with dedicated service level agreements, validation for particular OS configurations and interoperability, a predictable release cadence and long-term support for stability and fast vulnerability remediation for security. Customers will be able to buy from Docker, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM), for Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and HPE Linux, with support provided by those three companies.

Docker 1.12 "democratizes" orchestration, the company says. And that's where the competition with Kubernetes comes in.

Kubernetes delivers hyperscale performance and scalability, but requires a specialized team to deploy and support. "A Google style infrastructure requires folks who have extreme and unique knowledge about the cloud," Messina says. Docker 1.12 is designed to be accessible to the typical IT organization.

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— Mitch Wagner, , Editor, Light Reading Enterprise Cloud.