This article explains how Ably complements Kafka to reach end-users on the public internet.

Our everyday digital experiences are in the midst of a revolution. Customers increasingly expect their online experiences to be interactive, immersive, and realtime by default. The need to satisfy user expectations is driving the exponential growth of event-driven architectures in organizations of all shapes and sizes. And by enabling users to have realtime experiences whenever and wherever they want, 24/7, mobile drives this change further and faster.

When it comes to the apps we rely on everyday for chatting with family, checking how close our delivery is, and collaborating with colleagues in a shared whiteboard, we expect seamless realtime experiences without delays or downtime. Ably surveyed over 500 engineering leaders about the challenges of building realtime edge messaging infrastructure in-house to power these shared live experiences.

Computing advances have taken us full circle. From terminals and a mainframe to individual personal computers, to cloud-based centralization again. Today, the devices we carry with us exceed the power of those original mainframes. They connect and inform us with a range of responsive, live experiences. Where would we be without live sports scores, online chat, order-delivery tracking, or synchronized document collaboration?

A recent GartnerⓇ report recognizes Ably as playing a critical role in powering meaningful online experiences by extending event-driven architectures to the edge. Within the spectrum of event-driven architecture use cases, Ably reaches end-user devices with last-mile connectivity: it’s at the heart of what we do. Ably is edge messaging!

We're excited to announce the Ably VS Code extension! With this extension you can manage your Ably applications directly from VS Code.