|
I have a very vague memory of meeting my then colleague Tim Wagner in 2013. The term serverless didn’t exist, but we talked about different ways to enable developers to focus on code instead of infrastructure. At other times, I remember stretching my arms toward the sky and saying that it would be cool to simply throw the code in the air and have the cloud catch it, save it, and run it. After more of these meetings, Tim wrote a PRFAQ suggesting building a platform to do this, and in 2014 I was able to present AWS Lambda – Running Code in the Cloud.
From startup to enterprise
Startups that don’t have an installed base to worry about and need to innovate are often the first to seize the opportunity for something new like Lambda. Even though that actually happened, I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly incumbents (including corporations) jumped on board. After some experimentation, they quickly found a way to build an event-driven application that supported critical internal support. Use case. I took this as an early indicator that Lambda would be successful. It was easy to see how quickly our clients felt a new sense of empowerment. Customers have been able to move from idea to implementation and from there to business value faster than ever before while building systems in a scalable and composable manner.
There are currently over 1.5 million Lambda users making trillions of function calls every month. These customers use Lambda for file processing, stream processing (with Amazon Kinesis and/or Amazon MSK), web applications, IoT backends, mobile backends (often also using Amazon API Gateway and AWS Amplify), and support many other functions. Strengthens. Use case.
The first decade of serverless innovation
Let’s turn back the calendar and take a look at some of the more important Lambda releases of the past decade.
2014 – Preview release of AWS Lambda ahead of AWS re:Invent 2014, with support for Node.js and the ability to respond to event triggers from S3 buckets, DynamoDB tables, and Kinesis streams.
2015 – General release, uses Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) notifications as triggers, supports Lambda functions written in Java.
2016 – DynamoDB streams support, Python support, increased function duration to 5 minutes (later increased to 15 minutes). Access to resources in your VPC, Amazon Aurora stored procedures, environment variables, and the ability to invoke Lambda functions from your serverless application model. This year also introduced Step Functions, which provides the ability to compose multiple Lambda functions to build more complex applications.
2017 – AWS X-Ray support, AWS SAM Local and Serverless Application Repository launched.
2018 – Support for Amazon SQS with event triggers, the ability to extend AWS CloudFormation with Lambda-based macros, and the ability to write Lambda functions in any programming language.
2019 – Supports provisioned concurrency to provide additional control over performance.
2020 – Save up to 17% with access to Savings Plans, ability for Lambda functions to access shared file systems, support for AWS PrivateLink to access functions over a private network, code signing, billing in 1ms increments, available for: Features Supports up to 10 MB of memory, 6 vCPUs, and container images.
2021 – Amazon S3 objects Lambda allows you to process data retrieved from S3, and the AWS Lambda extension supports running Lambda functions on Graviton processors.
2022 – Supports up to 10GB of temporary storage per function invocation, an HTTPS endpoint for Lambda functions, and Lambda SnapStart, making function invocations faster and more predictable.
2023 – Amazon S3 object Lambda support for CloudFront, response streaming, and function scaling 12x faster when handling unpredictable amounts of requests.
2024 -New controls to make it easier to capture and search Lambda function logs, SnapStart support for Java functions using the ARM64 architecture, recursive loop detection, a new console editor based on VS Code, and an improved local IDE experience. The last two releases are designed to improve the developer experience by making it easier to build, test, debug, and deploy Lambda functions.
Again, this is just a small sample of what we’ve released. To find more product launches, check out the Lambda category tag and search for new features in Lambda.
The next decade of serverless
From the beginning, the vision for serverless has been to help developers move from idea to business value faster. With that in mind, here are some trends that seem clear when looking at the direction of Lambda over its first decade:
default selection – The serverless model definitely exists and will likely become the default operating model over time.
Continuous shift towards composability – Over time, the use of reusable pre-built components in serverless applications is expected to continue to grow. With the help of AI-based development tools, much of the new code will focus on connecting existing components in new and powerful ways. This also improves consistency and stability across applications.
Automated AI Optimized Infrastructure management– We have already seen that Lambda reduces the time and effort required to manage infrastructure. In the future, we believe machine learning and other forms of AI will help optimize cost and performance by optimally allocating resources with minimal human intervention. Applications run on automated, self-healing, and fault-tolerant infrastructure.
Scalability and integration – As a result of the previous two items, applications should be able to grow and adapt to changing conditions more easily than ever before.
security – Automated infrastructure management, real-time monitoring and other forms of threat detection, and AI-assisted remediation work together to make serverless applications more secure.
Some Lambda resources
If you’re already building serverless apps using Lambda, great! If you’re ready to get started, here are some resources that might help:
Serverless Training – Sign up for our free Serverless learning plan to learn serverless concepts, common patterns, and best practices. Read our Serverless Rampup Guide to explore a wide range of digital training courses (in both topics and languages) and in-person classroom training.
case study – Review AWS Serverless Customer Success Stories to learn how AWS customers are building and innovating with Lambda and other serverless technologies.
re:Invent 2024 session – Browse the re:Invent 2024 session catalog to find nearly 200 sessions focused on serverless computing and containers.
podcast – Listen to Episode 137 of the AWS Developer Podcast (AWS Lambda: 10 Years of Innovation) to hear Marc Brooker and Julian Wood discuss the origins, evolution, and impact of Lambda.
new book – Explore the latest books on serverless development and architecture.
We hope you’ve taken a quick look at the past, present, and future of AWS Lambda. Leave a comment and let us know what you think!
— Jeff;
