Unmeshed - A New Era for Orchestrating APIs and Services
The early 2000s were dominated by monolithic software – cumbersome, inflexible, and prone to outages. The rise of cloud computing, distributed systems and modern architectures shattered these limitations. Let's explore this transformation, how Netflix became a pioneer, and the future of building distributed systems.
Monoliths to Cloud Agility
Early tech platforms were like overloaded large heavy backpacks (monolithic servers) and struggled to scale with user growth. Cloud computing was a game-changer. Imagine ditching a big backpack for a rolling expandable suitcase – flexible, scalable servers offered by services like AWS. Netflix saw the value and went all-in, handling their streaming boom with ease. Cloud computing offered not just scaling, but also reliability. Distributed resources meant fewer crashes or lengthy outages. And companies were able to scale to meet customer demands.
Cloud and Microservices: Fueled by Netflix
The rise of cloud computing exposed the limitations of monolithic software. Cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and GCP revolutionized the industry by offering on-demand infrastructure and the ability to build and deploy software rapidly. To leverage these providers, companies shifted towards microservices, breaking down monoliths into smaller, manageable services. These services, managed by small teams, led to a modular and flexible architecture that could scale effortlessly.
However, the microservices boom introduced new challenges, particularly in managing distributed systems. Simple tasks evolved into complex coordination issues. At the forefront of this transformation, Netflix pioneered solutions with homegrown tools such as Service Discovery and Orchestration. Netflix Conductor emerged as a great solution for managing microservices.
Conductor: Orchestrating the Future of Streaming (and Beyond)
Netflix's growth exposed a critical need for agility – a need that traditional monolithic systems couldn't meet. With Conductor, designed to seamlessly integrate with existing systems (brownfield applications) and agnostic to programming languages, Conductor empowered Netflix developers to move fast. Recognizing its broader potential, Netflix open-sourced it and today, Conductor's language-agnostic and cloud-neutral design make it the go-to solution for microservice orchestration across industries.
unmeshing the Future: Conductor's Legacy Lives On
While Conductor has successfully served a wide range of use cases, the need for evolution became evident. This realization led us to create unmeshed, a next-generation platform designed to address the scale and needs of modern developers. Today's systems are increasingly about integrating various systems seamlessly. Spearheaded by a founding team member of Netflix Conductor, unmeshed aims to be the ultimate, highly reliable orchestration and integration platform. Built by developers for developers.