In the age of rapidly evolving technology, we seem to be transitioning from an era of containerization to one characterized by agile application development models. These innovative techniques abstract non-functional requirements, enabling developers to quickly go from initial concept to scalability. This post delves into predictions for the next milestone year for cloud native application development i.e., 2023, detailing the various trends and shifts likely to be witnessed.
The Economic Shift in Cloud Technology
As the three major cloud providers roll out their WebAssembly (Wasm) lambdas, the economics of the cloud are undergoing a significant change. Owing to their superior security and portability features coupled with cost-effective operation and the elimination of the cold-start problem, Wasm lambdas are becoming the go-to choice for new application development over traditional containers.
As the recognition of these economic and technical advantages spreads, we are bound to see many more enterprises and developers shift towards native WebAssembly, magnifying its adoption across the industry.
Data Locality and the Rise of Multi-Cloud and Edge Computing
With increasing regulations surrounding data handling and privacy, nations are starting to own and govern their data. The rise of data locality laws is expected to drive organizations to adopt multi-cloud and edge computing strategies to ensure control over their data.
To tackle these new challenges, projects like the CNCF wasmCloud can help build distributed systems, facilitating a transition to agile new application development models. This allows for the hassle-free creation of applications that can run across different clouds, edges, and devices.
Simplified Application Development with Platform Engineering
According to a Deloitte study, application operations and maintenance can take up to 80% of a developer’s time. Major cloud-native organizations are responding to this problem by establishing internal platform engineering teams. These teams look to hide the complexities of cloud native development, helping increase the velocity of feature delivery, while ensuring compliance with various legal and regulatory requirements.
Several companies and startups, such as Cosmonic and Fermyon, are developing new platforms to simplify the application development lifecycle. This shared drive within the industry towards simplification is set to significantly influence future application development and operation trends.
New Business Models at the Edge
The adoption of WebAssembly can allow developers to deploy more advanced logic at the edge. This shift introduces fresh potential for new business models driven by peer-to-peer services, whereby more logic can run at the edge, even on users’ own devices. This trend marks the genesis of new revenue streams that are less influenced by cloud service expenses.
Finalization of WebAssembly Standards and Its Impact
Achieving a finalized Wasm component model in 2023 would be a significant step towards fostering interoperability between languages and vendors. Developers can then choose to use libraries as Wasm components from various platforms such as github.
This creates possibilities for greater application portability and paves the way for rapid, innovative development.
Securing the Software Supply Chain
WebAssembly is posed to make significant strides in addressing vulnerabilities present in the Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) model. Wasm adoption using the Component Model can help eliminate tightly coupled non-functional requirements, often the hiding places for vulnerabilities.
The transition to WebAssembly is somewhat analogous to the shift to containers and Kubernetes, both of which revolutionized the move to the cloud. The impending introduction of Wasm lambdas by tech giants like AWS, Google, and Microsoft is set to further solidify this new era of agile, multi-cloud, edge computing.
Tags: #WebAssembly #CloudNativeDevelopment #EdgeComputing #DataLocality