Your organization’s digital offerings, including software interfaces, websites, and applications, need to continuously evolve and perform efficiently in today’s rapidly changing digital landscape. This is primarily driven by the availability of vast computing resources through cloud computing vendors, which have made computing power easily accessible to all organizations.
As a result, consumer expectations have increased, with users demanding more complex and ever-changing applications to meet their needs. The advent of greater computing power has fueled a digital transformation race, where organizations strive to stay ahead of the curve.
In this environment, application servers play a crucial role in meeting consumer demands and ensuring that your digital offerings remain competitive. If your organization has a digital presence, particularly if it is a large organization in any sector, chances are you are operating enterprise applications that could benefit from an enterprise application server.
So, what exactly is an enterprise application? It is a software application developed by an organization to solve a specific problem for a target market. These applications are used either by customers or internally within the organization to benefit customers. They are often referred to as “mission-critical” and can range from e-commerce platforms to in-car automotive software or CRM systems.
What sets enterprise applications apart is their complexity. They typically consist of three tiers: the user interface (UI), the middle layer, and data storage. The UI is where end users interact with the application, while data storage refers to the vast amounts of data that the application operates on. The middle layer acts as the connective tissue between the UI and data storage, handling interactions with the data and performing various infrastructure tasks.
This middle layer is where an enterprise application server comes in. An enterprise application server takes care of these middle-layer tasks, such as retrieving information, responding to user requests, and efficiently using compute resources. It acts as the software sitting between the data storage and UI, handling HTTP requests and performing additional functions like security, resource management, and providing metrics about the application’s performance.
Compared to web servers, which only handle HTTP requests, application servers offer a broader set of features that make application development easier and faster. They save developer time by providing code for enterprise-specific tasks and allow developers to focus on enhancing the application’s functionality and keeping up with the digital transformation.
Using an application server offers several benefits. It saves developer time by outsourcing infrastructural tasks, reduces the chances of application failure through high availability, improves scalability and resource management, provides metrics for performance analysis, and offers a cleaner development experience by separating business functions from infrastructural tasks.
Overall, incorporating an enterprise application server into your digital offerings can help your organization stay ahead of the curve, meet consumer expectations, and ensure the efficient and effective performance of your digital applications.
