On the extreme end of the modernization continuum are microservices. Microservices are a architectural approach where the applications are composed of independent services separated by a contract such as an API. Each microservice has a specialized function and may adhere to the twelve-factor application framework including having their own backing services.
![Modernization through microservices.](images/GUID-DCBAC83D-9EA3-464C-BE93-14BA1759642A-low.png)
Microservices bring additional challenges to the operations of an application including orchestrating the deployment of many components across fault domains and providing service discovery between components. Kubernetes provides a container orchestration solution capable of managing containers across hosts and providing a cloud native platform with service discovery. VMware provides Tanzu Kubernetes Grid to all VMware Cloud customers to run their container-based workloads in a vSphere environment. Tanzu Kubernetes Grid can also be used across native cloud environments to keep a consistent Kubernetes runtime across clouds.