The monolithic architecture is prevalent in industrial and manufacturing software development and deployment. Rigid and complex to modify, a monolithic application is a large code repository where changes or updates require manual installation and scheduled downtime. Patches are also released during the release cycle, which can take months. A single failure can affect the entire application, and the system must recover completely to resume operations. In increasingly changing and digitalized business environments, business agility and flexibility have become pivotal and the monolithic architecture inadequate.

Microservices are the alternative to the monolithic architecture for better, faster, and more reliable performance in industrial and manufacturing applications. Solutions built on the microservices architecture can provide manufacturing companies with the agility, flexibility, and responsiveness they seek. Applicable to any system, from manufacturing execution systems to the industrial internet of things platforms and edge components, microservices have become increasingly popular. The growth of microservices adoption will continue as more companies strive for agility to thrive in a dynamic and disruptive environment where rapid changes are the new normal.

This Frost & Sullivan deliverable, with 2021 as the base year, discusses the advantages of the microservices architecture for developers and end users and why a monolithic model will not suffice in today's industry requirements.

Author: Sankara Narayanan Venkataramani