Lightbend Adds Java SDK for Cloud-Native Kalix PaaS

Lightbend today adds a Java software development kit (SDK) for its Kalix platform-as-a-service (PaaS) environment that makes it simpler to build and deploy cloud-native applications.

Lightbend CEO Jonas Bonér says the SDK makes it easier to employ a code-first approach to building these applications by adding a snippet of code versus having to employ a lower-level application programming interface (API).

Instead of having to master all the nuances of Kubernetes, Lightbend created Kalix to provide developers with a PaaS for building and deploying applications on top of Kubernetes. That enables them to focus on business logic and data rather than managing development and deployment environments, notes Bonér. The PaaS environment can be deployed on cloud platforms from either Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google, with support for Microsoft Azure forthcoming, notes Bonér.

The Java SDK is added at a time when many organizations are looking to leverage the skills of developers that already know Java to build these applications. The challenge they face is that most of these developers are not familiar with Kubernetes constructs, so Kalix was created to provide them with a more opinionated framework for building and deploying applications at a higher level of abstraction, says Bonér.

That approach significantly improves the developer experience as organizations look to build and deploy more Java applications in cloud computing environments, he adds. The overall goal is to improve productivity at a time when organizations are less inclined to hire additional developers during uncertain economic times.

It’s not clear how quickly cloud-native application developers might be embracing more opinionated PaaS environments to build these applications. There has always been tension between the need to rely more heavily on a higher level of abstraction that makes it easier to build applications and the flexibility many developers want in terms of being able to swap in new tools at will. However, as more emphasis is placed on improving developer productivity during challenging economic times, the more compelling PaaS environments become.

In general, Java is experiencing something of a renaissance after more organizations began to contribute to open source implementations of the venerable Java runtime environment. The Java community is now adopting many concepts pioneered in other programming languages to enable organizations to, for example, drive digital business transformation initiatives that span both emerging cloud-native applications and legacy monolithic applications. In fact, most organizations will deploy Java applications everywhere from the network edge to the cloud.

After being relied on for more than two decades to build applications, Java is not going to fade away anytime soon. The challenge and opportunity now are to extend a language that is already known by millions of developers in a way that enables new classes of more resilient cloud-native applications to be built and deployed faster. After all, if organizations need to wait for developers that know more modern programming languages to become available, the pace at which these applications are built will slow to a crawl.

Mike Vizard

Mike Vizard is a seasoned IT journalist with over 25 years of experience. He also contributed to IT Business Edge, Channel Insider, Baseline and a variety of other IT titles. Previously, Vizard was the editorial director for Ziff-Davis Enterprise as well as Editor-in-Chief for CRN and InfoWorld.

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