OutSystems Previews Low-Code Platform on Kubernetes
OutSystems today revealed it has launched a Project Neo initiative as part of an effort to provide a low-code application development platform based on Kubernetes that makes it simpler for organizations to embrace DevOps best practices.
Patrick Jean, OutSystems CTO, says a re-architected OutSystems platform, initially hosted on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud as a public preview, will make it possible to build cloud-native applications using a set of visual tools that are accessible to a wide range of developers. In effect, OutSystems is moving toward democratizing the building of these applications using a platform that it will manage in the cloud on behalf of developers, adds Jean.
That platform will also provide access to serverless computing frameworks, database autoscaling and event and messaging-based orchestration as part of an overall effort to make it simpler to build modern applications, notes Jean. The goal is to free developers to spend more time writing business logic versus continuously having to manually manage the platform on which those applications are built, he adds.
The new platform, for example, will automate various DevOps processes, manage cloud runtimes, auto-document code, resolve code dependencies, perform regression testing and enforce architecture standards while being continuously updated by OutSystems, says Jean.
That approach also ensures that developers will be able to take advantage of cloud resources to dynamically scale applications as required, he adds.
OutSystems plans to officially make Project Neo more broadly available in 2022 alongside the current OutSystems 11 platform that many developers already use to build monolithic low-code applications using a framework originally developed for Windows environments. In effect, Project Neo extends OutSystems reach into the realm of developers that prefer to build applications running on Linux and Kubernetes platforms, says Jean.
It’s not clear to what degree low-code application development platforms will make Kubernetes more accessible to a wider range of developers. However, the more developers can rely on a higher level of abstraction to build applications the less intimidating Kubernetes becomes as an application development platform. In theory, at least, low-code frameworks should significantly increase the rate at which cloud-native applications are being built and deployed by both professional developers and the emerging class of so-called citizen developers.
Jean says the primary thing that differentiates one low-code platform from another will be the degree to which organizations can rely on that platform to build more enterprise-class applications faster in a way that truly scales.
One way or another, the number of applications being developed and deployed on Kubernetes platforms is about to exponentially increase. The challenge many organizations will soon encounter is the need to not only find a way to deploy more applications that are being built simultaneously but also manage what will become a continuous stream of updates to those applications. OutSystems is clearly betting that the best way to achieve that goal is to embed DevOps best practices into a platform that doesn’t necessarily require a lot of DevOps expertise to employ.
