My Edgy Predictions for 2019

This blog was originally published on Medium.

We recently celebrated Rafay’s one-year anniversary, and our amazing team continues to blaze new trails. In this short time, we have exceeded our own aggressive goals by delivering a working product and successful customer trials!

When Hemanth and I started the company in November 2017, I wrote a blog that outlined how the dynamics of the Internet have changed. Most notably, Internet users and endpoints are now both consumers and generators of data. I argued that this fundamental change requires a new network platform: the Programmable Edge.

A year into the journey with literally hundreds of conversations with developers, service providers, enterprises, analysts, investors and others, our original trajectory remains the same and has been validated in spades. Along the way, we have discovered new use cases, solution gaps and technology needs, which we will address in due course.

The edge computing market is moving fast and is already fragmenting into micro (market) segments. And while that is a topic for a future blog, I do want to share some of Rafay’s perspective on what 2019 will bring. Here goes:

The Edge gets real, as in real applications get deployed to the edge

We have all read countless articles about the edge. In 2019, edge deployments will go from being an exclusive club of large companies with specialized teams and large budgets, to mid-sized companies with specific use cases. We are going to go beyond hype and start seeing real applications deployed at the edge that solve pragmatic, real world requirements. At Rafay, we are witness to companies beginning to leverage the distribution and low-latency characteristics of the edge infrastructure to power dynamic origin delivery and improve performance of applications with dynamic content.

Microservices become Macro-enablers of the Edge

Microservices are perfect for the edge. Being able to execute the interactive, low-latency elements of an application closer to endpoints underscores the unique role edge infrastructure can play in application delivery. In 2019, microservices will become a key reason why edge computing will be adopted by application developers.

CDNs for microservices become a real thing

CDNs will continue to play an important role in terms of delivering static content to users. But they will be complemented by a new type of edge infrastructure that has the capability to simplify the deployment and ongoing operation of microservices. CDN for microservices will execute microservices close to users and endpoints across a global inventory of edges. In many cases, you’ll see traditional CDNs partner with companies like Rafay to deliver this capability.

Enterprises begin to change their architectural approach to leverage the edge

With edge infrastructure available as a ‘pay-as-you-go’ service, application developers will be unleashed to develop a new generation of interactive applications. As a result, enterprise architectures will evolve to leverage both public cloud and edge infrastructure, with many applications being rewritten or recast to leverage this new world.

Needless to say, I’m excited about what lies ahead. I’m proud of Rafay’s efforts in defining the vision of what the edge can — and will — come to mean for the delivery of modern applications. I want to thank our customers, Beta testers, partners, investors and the entire Rafay team for a fantastic year. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts about what lies ahead, so please feel free to get in touch. Here’s to a safe, but edgy, 2019!