Furnace Ignite Ltd announced that Furnace, the recently launched open source, Serverless, data streaming platform, now runs natively on Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform, adding to the previously announced Amazon Web Services (AWS). Furnace helps organizations address their ‘Big Data’ challenges, using Serverless architecture across multiple Cloud platforms to easily leverage data from multiple sources, breaking through “Cloud vendor lock-in” impedances.
“We are entering the era of the data-driven enterprise,” said Stephen D. Hendrick, practice lead for application development and management at Enterprise Management Associates. “The benefits of being data-driven include being able to respond to issues or opportunities immediately in real-time and the ability to leverage advanced analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to more effectively address customer needs. Furnace is one of the first products we have seen that natively supports stream and conventional data processing using a Serverless architecture across the leading Cloud service providers. This is a thoroughly modern approach that drives both high performance, low cost, and the ability to address a wide variety of data use cases in decision analytics and process automation.”
Launched in February, the Furnace platform is open source, bringing unprecedented speed, agility and simplicity to the creation of streaming data applications within ‘Big Data’ sectors such as IoT, security, marketing, finance and others. Based on Serverless technology and intended to be language and Cloud platform agnostic, Furnace can be instantiated and operable within minutes, enabling organizations to rapidly build sophisticated and cost-effective streaming data solutions.
“Our clients span industry sectors, but their needs are strikingly similar,” said Ryan Layton, CEO of cybersecurity specialists, Secuvant. “They face critical talent shortages both in application and security professionals, and they are often unable to truly tap into and leverage the data pools that can support their business goals and expand their services. They seek a truly multi-cloud, serverless application development platform that addresses these pressing needs. We are very excited about the potential for such a solution – for Secuvant, for our corporate clients, and for the game changing potential it heralds for the IT developer and security communities.”
The latest update means users of Furnace can take advantage of the platform running natively in three of the leading Cloud platforms, offering users more choice and greater flexibility. The update also aids organizations in overcoming some of the challenges of Cloud vendor lock-in, where companies become tied to specific applications native only to that Cloud.
“Cloud vendor lock-in is an issue faced by many organizations today. However, tools that run natively across all the major Cloud vendors can help tackle this problem. Technology such as Furnace allows organizations to adopt the Cloud vendors that meet their specific business needs and migrate between vendors as their requirements change, thereby reducing costs and improving efficiencies,” said Rik Turner, principal analyst at Ovum.
Key features of Furnace:
- Cloud agnostic framework that makes use of Cloud-native capabilities
- Runs natively in AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform
- Integrated build pipeline and infrastructure orchestration
- Utilises GitOps methodology, clear auditable change-management
- Easily create multiple environments (development, testing and production) with minimal cost
- Extend functionality by creating your own modules, using Furnace’s standardised module format
Further platforms will include Kubernetes and other public clouds support in the near future. The platform is now functional with Node, Python and Golang language support. Furnace will, in future versions, connect cloud-based applications to legacy on-premise platforms via Kubernetes.
“While process automation continues to be a worthy IT goal, succeeding in the digital world now requires the ability to understand and meet individual customer needs in specific and precise ways,” continued Enterprise Management Associates’ Hendrick. “Data-driven services are the solution to meeting individual customer need at scale. This means that solutions need to ingest data of all types – including streams, run as native multi-Cloud applications, deliver high performance at scale, and leverage advanced analytics. Furnace Ignite is a great example of solution that embodies all of these attributes as well as being architected as a Serverless solution.”
“We are delighted to announce Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud support in Furnace and we look forward to adding further platform support in the near future. The fact that Furnace will run natively in the leading Cloud providers will be a huge win for users of the platform who regularly work in multiple environments. The Azure and Google Cloud support is just one of the many exciting updates we will be making to Furnace over the coming months,” said Danny Waite, Chief Technology Officer, Furnace Ignite.
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