阿里巴巴集团的数字技术与智能骨干业务阿里云今日宣布于2025年1月在全球市场推出创新的阿里云容器计算服务（Alibaba Cloud Container Compute Service, ACS），旨在利用容器技术优化工作负载部署。
ACS 以 Kubernetes 为使用界面的无伺服器容器服务，提供符合容器标准的算力资源。ACS令用户无需管理底层节点和集群，显著降低了与容器部署相关的成本和技术障碍。此外，用户可选择按量付费模式，避免资源浪费，并可按需扩展，从而实现成本优化。
阿里云基础设施事业部总经理蒋江伟表示：「随着越来越多的工作负载部署于容器技术上，我们推出了ACS这个更易于使用的产品，以满足客户未来不断变化的需求。ACS的推出代表着企业可获益于容器技术的跃进,提供更高的成本效益和便捷度助力企业释放生产力。」
容器技术是一种虚拟化技术，它将程式及其运行环境打包，使得应用程序能够在不同硬件和系统上实现一致性部署。其在提高效率和优化资源方面的优势，使容器技术日渐成为主流的开发工具。
根据 Gartner 的数据，容器管理市场在近一年中实现了超过 20% 的增长，预计到 2028 年市场规模将达 45 亿美元。Gartner 预测，到 2027 年，超过 75% 的AI部署将采用容器技术作为其底层计算环境。
解决容器采用上的挑战
ACS 的设计旨在简化与 Kubernetes 配置、资源管理和按需弹性相关的问题。基于阿里云神龙架构，ACS实现容器和资源的一体化，以支持计算资源的最大化扩展。ACS提供的解决方案可降低高达55%的算力成本。
蒋江伟续称：「ACS将容器编排服务转变为一种全面的计算产品，用户可按需为其使用的算力支付费用。」
该产品与 Kubernetes 技术完全兼容，支持开源生态系统和自研产品无缝迁移到云端，因此用户可以继续使用熟悉的 Kubernetes 管理方法和文件格式。此外，用户无需预先购买节点，只需声明其工作负载需求，ACS 即可匹配必要的底层计算资源，大幅减少用于基础设施维护的额外成本和人力资源需求。
获客户和业界认可的成熟技术
阿里云容器服务支持不同类型的架构，可部署于公有云、私有云、混合云等多种云环境。目前，阿里云容器服务已广泛应用于各行各业。
中国领先的人力资源管理 SaaS 公司 Moka已通过采用ACS带来显著的效益。ACS 集群的免维护特性使 Moka 得以专注于核心业务，无需顾及基础设施管理。此外，按需扩展和按量付费的模式亦在招聘旺季为 Moka 提供灵活性。
阿里巴云连续第二年被评为 2024 年 Gartner®容器管理魔力象限（Magic Quadrant for Container Management）的领导者。公司广泛的产品组合（提供混合云和边缘场景的解决方案）、在阿里巴巴集团生态系统中的全面应用以及在中国市场的领导地位均为这项重要认可做出贡献。
Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, today announced the international debut of its innovative Alibaba Cloud Container Compute Service (ACS), designed to simplify and optimize workload deployment using container technology. ACS will be available for international customers starting from January 2025.
ACS, which uses Kubernetes as its interface, offers a serverless container service that provides compute resources compliant with container standards. This new product eliminates the need for users to manage underlying nodes and clusters, significantly reducing costs and technical barriers associated with container deployment. It also allows customers to pay-as-you-go, helping them avoid over allocated, and scale on demand, enabling the optimization of costs during periods of high and low usage.
"As the deployment of workloads on container technology becomes increasingly prevalent, we developed a more accessible solution that would anticipate the evolving needs of our customers," said Jiangwei Jiang, General Manager of Infrastructure Products, Alibaba Cloud."ACS represents a big step forward in how businesses can utilize container technology, offering cost-efficiency and ease of use to support businesses unleashing productivity."
Container technology, a form of virtualization that bundles programs with everything they need to run, makes it easy to deploy applications consistently across different hardware and systems. The benefits in terms of efficiency and resource optimization have made containers a mainstream development method.
According to Gartner, the container management market has experienced over 20% growth in the past year, with projections indicating a market value of US$4.5 billion by 2028. Gartner also predicts that by 2027, more than 75% of all AI deployments will utilize container technology as the underlying compute environment.
Addressing challenges in container adoption
ACS is designed to overcome the complexities associated with Kubernetes configuration, resource management, and on-demand elasticity. By integrating containers and resources based on Alibaba Cloud's Shenlong architecture to allow maximum scaling of computing resources, ACS offers a solution capable of reducing computing power costs by up to 55%.
"ACS has transformed the container orchestration service into a comprehensive computing product. Users benefit by paying only for the compute capacity that they use,” Jiang added.
This product is fully compatible with Kubernetes technologies and supports seamless migration to the cloud for both open-source ecosystems as well as self-developed products. This is notable in that users can continue using familiar Kubernetes management methods and file formats. There is also no need to pre-purchase nodes so users can simply declare their workload requirements and ACS will match them with the necessary underlying compute resources. This minimizes the demand for additional costs and human resources in infrastructure maintenance.
Proven technology recognized by customer and industry
Alibaba Cloud Container Service supports different architectures and can be deployed in multiple cloud environment including public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud. Currently, Alibaba Cloud Container Service has been applied across a wide range of industries.
Moka, a leading HR management SaaS company in China, has already experienced significant benefits from implementing ACS. The maintenance-free nature of ACS clusters has allowed Moka to focus on core business priorities rather than infrastructure management. Additionally, the on-demand scaling and pay-per-use model has given Moka needed flexibility, especially during peak recruitment seasons.
Recently, Alibaba Cloud has been named a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Container Management for the second consecutive year. The company’s broad product portfolio, offering solutions for both hybrid cloud and edge scenarios, saturation across the Alibaba Group ecosystem, and market leadership in China all contributed to this important recognition.
