The Emergence of Serverless Architecture

Serverless computing – known as serverless architecture among developers – is attracting multiple business domains with its cost-effective and rapid development, flexible deployment to release new features, and hassle-free integration with any system. The current market analysis shows that more businesses are adopting serverless apps resulting in a projected market of $21,988 million by 2025, registering a CAGR of 27.8% from 2018 to 2025.

The term ‘serverless’ is often misunderstood. Serverless does not indicate the lack of servers for back-end services, but it means that the Cloud Provider manages all server space and infrastructure concerns. Serverless is a cloud-based architecture that allows users to write and deploy code without worrying about the underlying infrastructure. This will enable applications to consume/utilize back-end services on a flexible ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis, meaning that the business only pays for the services they use.

All major Cloud Providers such as AWS, Azure, Cloudflare, or Google Cloud support Serverless computing and provide a platform to execute the code by dynamically allocating the resources. The main advantage that organizations have observed, is that their developers can focus their complete attention on product development. They no longer worry about physical security or network configuration when managing and operating servers. Businesses that choose the serverless route to enjoy multiple benefits, a few of which are listed below:

• Event-driven architecture – Serverless enables developers to focus on applications that consist of event-driven functions that respond to various triggers. Common serverless use cases include eCommerce, clickstream analytics, contact center, legacy app modernization, and DevOps functions.
• Highly cost-effective – When an organization outsources its server and database management, they are no longer responsible for the large investments required for internal architecture administration. Ultimately the use case will define how much they can save. The bottom line is that the organizations only pay for what they use.
• Faster Go to  Market – Going serverless automatically ensures that the architecture becomes agile. Organizations can rapidly deploy apps in hours because there is no infrastructure construction weighing them down. Faster deployments mean scalability becomes a breeze.
• Innovation-ready – When working in an agile environment, Organizations can be very flexible in their releases, giving more room for innovation. An excellent example to illustrate this benefit would be the current scenario, where the pandemic forced organizations to innovate overnight. Having a flexible and agile architecture makes it simpler to change focus to meet emerging needs. Faster releases and upgrades improve the user experience and lead to happier clients.

Serverless Architecture using AWS Services

At Opteamix, we have implemented serverless application architecture using AWS Lambda services. This architecture uses AWS Lambda with Amazon API Gateway & AWS S3. It is a serverless, event-driven service that lets organizations run code for virtually any type of application or back-end service without provisioning or managing servers. Let us look at a few examples that show how serverless architecture works.

File processing – As soon as a file (data, document, or image is uploaded to the AWS S3 bucket, it triggers AWS Lambda data processing in real-time to enable massively parallel shared access for large-scale file processing.

 

Web applications – build powerful web applications by combining AWS Lambda with other AWS services. The application can be automatically scaled up or down and run in a highly available configuration across multiple data centers.

Serverless stream processing – process real-time streaming data for application activity tracking, transaction order processing, clickstream analysis, data cleansing, IoT device data metering, log filtering, indexing, and social media analysis.

Image source: https://aws.amazon.com/lambda/

Serverless Architecture in action

Opteamix leveraged serverless architecture for one of our US-Based Banking clients. The goal was to modernize and re-engineer one of their legacy desktop applications and enable integration with other external & internal systems.

Solution Proposed: Serverless Architecture with AWS

Implementation Approach: AWS Lambda as API Services & A Rich User Interface using Modern JavaScript Library

We designed a multi-service and multi-channel SaaS platform that perfectly fit the client’s parameters. The platform was designed to integrate seamlessly with third-party financial services and employed an intuitive user-interface design to integrate well with a wide range of devices. By making the platform easy to use, Opteamix reduced the need for employee training and cut long-term costs for the client with faster and more efficient customer service.

The flexibility offered by the application meant that users could access key products from their mobile device: check cashing, money transfers, bill payments, and updates on their transaction status. As the client now had access to their consumers on individual mobile devices, they were further able to target marketing efforts, bringing consumers targeted promotions and offering the promotion within the application. The enhanced flexibility of the end product allows room for future scaling – changes to the product could be made with minimal in-house effort, and integration with third-party providers and peripheral devices was simplified.

To discover how Opteamix can help your organization maneuver through serverless architecture, visit our cloud services page on our website.

 

Tags: Cloud Computing, Cloud services, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Solution, Serverless cloud architecture