Ship early and often: Docker has adopted the mantra of software developers, but it isn’t shipping only a new version of the Docker client a mere two months after the last one. Instead, it’s offering a major architectural change in Docker image delivery — a clear sign the company’s success is forcing it to keep pace with customers’ real-world needs.

The original incarnation of the Docker image-delivery framework, Docker Registry, had begun experiencing performance issues under load. Scott Johnston, senior vice president of product at Docker, described in a phone conversation that it was part of a learning experience about how the company would need to support security, enhanced access control, and performance for Docker users.

Performance for Docker Registry, he said, “has become pretty evident as a critical feature, as we’ve watched the Docker Hub [itself based on Registry] grow. When you go from zero to 300 million images downloaded, it really stresses the performance of the system”.

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