Microservices are an ongoing trend in software development, whereby developers create a suite of smaller modules known as services as part of a larger software project.
Microservices make it easier for developers to scale software applications quickly, eradicate outages for companies and allow for software updates without affecting the whole application.
In recent times we have seen tech giants such as Netflix, Google and Amazon all using microservices, so let’s take a look at what exactly microservices are and how they could benefit your software!
Microservices – what are they in layman’s terms?
Imagine a company that has a sales department, a HR department and a front of house department. All the smaller departments make up the larger company however they operate independently from each other. All the departments are needed to make the company run successfully however each department has its own team and operational procedures.
In software development and microservices, developers break the project down into a collection of smaller services – just like company departments!
These smaller modules can be deployed individually and will perform the service required without the support of the other modules in the application. Often, when a new piece of code is added to a software application it can cause another part of the application to malfunction which can be frustrating, time consuming and costly. Microservices make it easier to deploy specific software updates without affecting the rest of the application.
Netflix microservices are considered top of the class when it comes to microservice architecture, they were one of the first multinational companies to have successfully migrated to this type of architecture.
*architecture is simply the structure of the software system or application. It is the set of principles or foundations from which the software is built on.
Netflix decided to migrate to microservices due to a corruption of data which led to the platform being down for a few days. Following this it was decided that the entire application was to be moved to cloud based microservices to assist with scaling Netflix’s services and to ensure that the platform did not go down again.
Today Netflix has over a 1000 microservices, each managing a separate part of the site including watched shows, payments, and the algorithm of analysing and suggesting new programmes.
Monolithic vs Microservices Architecture
Monolithic architecture is the traditional way to create an application and may come in the form of an e-commerce application which takes orders, checks product inventory, takes payment and ships the products. Even though the application has different components/services it is deployed as one single application.
*A monolithic application is built as a single unified application which runs as a single service
Benefits of monolithic architecture include easier and faster development and deployment, easier and more efficient testing. Although they do have some benefits, Monolithic applications are quickly becoming a thing of the past especially for the new wave of tech startups who want to scale quickly.
Microservices on the other hand are not only more efficient, once they have been created they are reusable in other applications. The purpose of microservices is to ensure that every component of the application (which in turn is your business) runs smoothly and efficiently without interfering with other areas of the application.
“Microservices allow for high scalability whilst ensuring uninterrupted performance”
Facebook’s 2021 outage cost the company nearly $100 million in revenue and according to a report by Atlassian For Fortune 1,000 companies, downtime could cost as much as $1 million per hour.
So it’s fair to say that outages could have a significant effect on startups and small to medium businesses too.
Modernising your current systems
Microservices can be used to update legacy applications by migrating them to cloud based platforms.
*Legacy applications are old and outdated software solutions that are still used and crucial to business operations however use old systems and programmes
The advantages of modernising and migrating to microservices include improved employee efficiency, improved customer experience and reduced costs. According to a report by Allied Market Research, the global microservices architecture market size estimates to reach $8073 million by 2026
Final Thoughts
New technologies are emerging all the time, however Microservices have actually already been around for a decade. It’s only in recent times and due to the success of Multinationals adopting and succeeding with these services that enterprises are beginning to take note. Similar to low code platforms, microservices offer freedom and flexibility for businesses who need to scale quickly.
By creating your software applications with microservices or migrating old applications to microservices there will certainly be challenges and they may not be right for every business however by connecting with the right development team. They will be able to take you through the pros and cons for your business needs.
