APIdays is all about the business and technology of APIs. Last week I described some of the API management highlights at our Melbourne event on September 19th and 20th.

Another important API dimension is the back-end architecture. How do you build APIs that are reliable, resilient, scalable and evolvable? 

Last year we saw how containers had “crossed the chasm” revolutionising the way we package and distribute software. Containers have simplified our CI/CD pipelines and provided true portability across different environments - on premise and into the cloud.

At that time the best way to orchestrate containers was perhaps still open for discussion but now we can safely assert that Kubernetes has become the standard for container orchestration as witnessed by the following InfoQ graphic taken from their DevOps Trends report of February 2019. 

This is great news because now we can get on with the real work of building on our infrastructure rather than working in our infrastructure. To quote a recent tweet from @KubeKween:

To give us an inside look at the trajectory of Kubernetes we are delighted to have Craig Box as a keynote at APIdays Melbourne. Craig leads the Cloud Native Advocacy team at Google Cloud and you may know him as a co-host of the Kubernetes Podcast. Craig will give us an inside look at the development of Kubernetes at Google from being a “weird greek name” to becoming “table stakes for modern IT”. 

The theme of modern IT is woven through the APIdays agenda. We have a panel session with three local technology leaders sharing their experience with transformation towards modern architecture. We are very pleased to host panelists Teresa Finlayson, CIO of Monash University, Sergei Komarov, Chief Architect of NAB and Russell Parker, CIO of Service Victoria. 

With Kubernetes as the “agreed” platform, many of us are now shifting our attention to higher level concerns around microservices architecture. At APIdays we’ve got that covered with:

• microservices experience from the trenches with Lara Timbo Araujo, Dasith Wijesiriwarden and Przemek Kulik
• serverless benefits and pitfalls with Paco De La Cruz
• the confluence of API management and service meshes with Rod Cope
• and event-driven architecture with Sanvy Sabapathee, Duana Stanely and Phil Scanlon.

These topics are very relevant and timely, as our experience and maturity with microservices continues to develop. We all know microservices come with benefits and pitfalls. Dealing with cross-cutting concerns such as security and observability are a new and important focus. Loose coupling is fundamental which is aided by event-driven approaches to supporting data consistency across your systems landscape. APIs are no longer restricted to request/reply transports.

That’s about a quarter of the conference experience we have lined up for you. Exhibitions, workshops and a cocktail party - I haven’t even started on the business strategy topics, the case-studies, the open banking and the emerging technologies. I’ll write about those in the coming days.

APIdays happens on September 19th and 20th at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Tickets are on sale now with early-bird prices still available for a limited time.