What is the definition of serverless development?
Serverless development is a modern way to build and run server-side applications without having to worry about provisioning infrastructure.
In serverless development, instead of provisioning and managing servers internally; Australian companies can simply write functions that run on server infrastructure provided by a third-party provider in the cloud.
Within a day, server side code can be up & running in response to events, such as HTTP requests; without the requirement of any other technological components.
Serverless applications were made popular by companies like Amazon Web Services, however in recent more recent history, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Microsoft Azure have released serverless products of their own.
“Getting started with serverless doesn’t need to be a difficult process, organizations can move towards the cloud over time“
Marc Schregardus, Co-founder @ Mondo.Ventures
How to get started with serverless applications
Designing your first serverless application can be a daunting endeavour however here are a handful of important considerations:
1. Can all the stakeholders in your organization unite around a one sentence statement that encapsulates the desired business goal? i.e. We want to build a site that recommends courses for study based on a quick survey of a user’s career history
2. Can all the stakeholders unite around what success would look like in 30 days from project commencement & how this can be measured? i.e. Users could take a basic survey and be recommend the top five options from a list of 100 course options
3. Can you select a cloud vendor that provides all the needed componentry at an affordable price? i.e. Google Cloud Platform
The above is a brief extract from our Mondo Framework for Serverless Development. Click here if you’d like to learn more about our approach
“No matter the size of the organization – going serverless is something that pays off really quickly! This makes it very easy to justify & quantify! “
MATT BYRNE, Co-founder @ Mondo.Ventures
What are the advantages of serverless development?
Serverless development is ultimately a paradigm shift in how Australian developers build server-side applications – moving away from traditional server architecture. Many development teams also are also interested in exploring serverless development as an alternative to the popular Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) model.
The benefits of serverless development include:
Rapid Application Development
Developing an application can be done quickly with less code & fewer dependencies
Ability to scale server-side functions on the fly
Unlike traditional infrastructure, which requires large upfront costs to create a production environment – modularized pricing allows development teams to harness serverless applications to add on additional services as needed
Pay for only what you use, not a fixed server fee
Many products or services are highly seasonal – for instance an Australian retailer may receive higher than expected retail traffic around Christmas/New Year or an Australian utilities provider may see increased energy usage in the colder months.
Under a traditional model, these firms would be paying the same cost for technology infrastructure all year round. With serverless development, these organizations are only billed based on total usage each month – saving hundreds of thousands in fees each year
No server management required, saving time and money on DevOps tasks
Building your product is one task in itself, but maintaining the project & ensuring ongoing reliability is also another. In a serverless environment – organizations can shift time & resources spent on DevOps maintenance towards product research & development
Easily integrate serverless capabilities into existing server-based architecture
Moving to the cloud does not need to be one massive organizational shift – in fact companies can take a gradual steps towards a serverless cloud environment by integrating the components over time. For instance on Google Cloud Platform, data can be aggregated in batches via CSV or routed dynamically from legacy systems using Google Cloud Dataflow. In this way, Australian IT organizations can make modern decisions using cloud tools like Google BigQuery even if they are still using “old” systems
“The best serverless development I’ve seen resulted in a working prototype deployed to production – in less than two weeks”
PETE MULVEY, Co-founder @ Mondo.Ventures
What does Google Cloud Platform (GCP) offer for serverless development?
Google Cloud Platform offers serverless products for nearly all aspects of server-side application development. GCP provides serverless solutions that focus on data processing, storage, networking and application development.
“A serverless architecture allows developers to focus on the problems of the business from day 1, rather than having to deal with infrastructure and DevOps issues, there is no ‘sprint zero’ “
ROB FYFE, Co-founder @ Mondo.Ventures
State of Serverless Development in Australia
The serverless model of cloud-based server architecture is still in its early stages in Australia, however the growing demand for modernizing on-premise solutions highlights that serverless will continue to be a major development trend in 2022 & beyond.
Want us to supercharge your serverless development?
Get in touch with us here at Mondo.Ventures & we’ll meet with you to discuss how we can help you design & implement serverless development solutions for your business!