G. Ryan Spain

Trend Report

Enterprise AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) has continued to change the way the world views what is technologically possible. Moving from theoretical to implementable, the emergence of technologies like ChatGPT allowed users of all backgrounds to leverage the power of AI. Now, companies across the globe are taking a deeper dive into their own AI and machine learning (ML) capabilities; they’re measuring the modes of success needed to become truly AI-driven, moving beyond baseline business intelligence goals and expanding to more innovative uses in areas such as security, automation, and performance.In DZone’s Enterprise AI Trend Report, we take a pulse on the industry nearly a year after the ChatGPT phenomenon and evaluate where individuals and their organizations stand today. Through our original research that forms the “Key Research Findings” and articles written by technical experts in the DZone Community, readers will find insights on topics like ethical AI, MLOps, generative AI, large language models, and much more.

Trend Report

The Modern DevOps Lifecycle

While DevOps is here to stay, as the years pass, we must continuously assess and seek improvements to our existing software processes, systems, and culture — and DevOps is no exception to that rule. With business needs and customer demands constantly shifting, so must our technology, mindsets, and architecture in order to keep pace.Now is the time for this movement that's all about "shifting left" to essentially shift.In our annual DevOps Trend Report, we explore both its fundamental principles as well as the emerging topics, methodologies, and challenges surrounding the engineering ecosystem. Within our "Key Research Findings" and featured articles from our expert community members, readers will find information on core DevOps topics as well as new insights on what's next for DevOps in 2024 and beyond. Join us to learn about the state of CI/CD pipelines, the impact of technical debt, patterns for supply chain management<>DevOps, the rise of platform engineering, and even more!

Trend Report

Enterprise Security

This year has observed a rise in the sophistication and nuance of approaches to security that far surpass the years prior, with software supply chains being at the top of that list. Each year, DZone investigates the state of application security, and our global developer community is seeing both more automation and solutions for data protection and threat detection as well as a more common security-forward mindset that seeks to understand the Why.In our 2023 Enterprise Security Trend Report, we dive deeper into the greatest advantages and threats to application security today, including the role of software supply chains, infrastructure security, threat detection, automation and AI, and DevSecOps. Featured in this report are insights from our original research and related articles written by members of the DZone Community — read on to learn more!

Trend Report

Observability and Application Performance

Making data-driven decisions, as well as business-critical and technical considerations, first comes down to the accuracy, depth, and usability of the data itself. To build the most performant and resilient applications, teams must stretch beyond monitoring into the world of data, telemetry, and observability. And as a result, you'll gain a far deeper understanding of system performance, enabling you to tackle key challenges that arise from the distributed, modular, and complex nature of modern technical environments.Today, and moving into the future, it's no longer about monitoring logs, metrics, and traces alone — instead, it’s more deeply rooted in a performance-centric team culture, end-to-end monitoring and observability, and the thoughtful usage of data analytics.In DZone's 2023 Observability and Application Performance Trend Report, we delve into emerging trends, covering everything from site reliability and app performance monitoring to observability maturity and AIOps, in our original research. Readers will also find insights from members of the DZone Community, who cover a selection of hand-picked topics, including the benefits and challenges of managing modern application performance, distributed cloud architecture considerations and design patterns for resiliency, observability vs. monitoring and how to practice both effectively, SRE team scalability, and more.

Trend Report

Kubernetes in the Enterprise

Kubernetes: it’s everywhere. To fully capture or articulate the prevalence and far-reaching impacts of this monumental platform is no small task — from its initial aims to manage and orchestrate containers to the more nuanced techniques to scale deployments, leverage data and AI/ML capabilities, and manage observability and performance — it’s no wonder we, DZone, research and cover the Kubernetes ecosystem at great lengths each year.In our 2023 Kubernetes in the Enterprise Trend Report, we further dive into Kubernetes over the last year, its core usages as well as emerging trends (and challenges), and what these all mean for our developer and tech community. Featured in this report are actionable observations from our original research, expert content written by members of the DZone Community, and other helpful resources to help you go forth in your organizations, projects, and repos with deeper knowledge of and skills for using Kubernetes.

Trend Report

Data Pipelines

Enter the modern data stack: a technology stack designed and equipped with cutting-edge tools and services to ingest, store, and process data. No longer are we using data only to drive business decisions; we are entering a new era where cloud-based systems and tools are at the heart of data processing and analytics. Data-centric tools and techniques — like warehouses and lakes, ETL/ELT, observability, and real-time analytics — are democratizing the data we collect. The proliferation of and growing emphasis on data democratization results in increased and nuanced ways in which data platforms can be used. And of course, by extension, they also empower users to make data-driven decisions with confidence.In our 2023 Data Pipelines Trend Report, we further explore these shifts and improved capabilities, featuring findings from DZone-original research and expert articles written by practitioners from the DZone Community. Our contributors cover hand-picked topics like data-driven design and architecture, data observability, and data integration models and techniques.

Trend Report

Database Systems

This data-forward, analytics-driven world would be lost without its database and data storage solutions. As more organizations continue to transition their software to cloud-based systems, the growing demand for database innovation and enhancements has climbed to novel heights. We are upon a new era of the "Modern Database," where databases must both store data and ensure that data is prepped and primed securely for insights and analytics, integrity and quality, and microservices and cloud-based architectures.In our 2023 Database Systems Trend Report, we explore these database trends, assess current strategies and challenges, and provide forward-looking assessments of the database technologies most commonly used today. Further, readers will find insightful articles — written by several of our very own DZone Community experts — that cover hand-selected topics, including what "good" database design is, database monitoring and observability, and how to navigate the realm of cloud databases.

Trend Report

Automated Testing

The broader rise in automation has paved the way for advanced capabilities and time savings for developers and tech professionals, especially when it comes to testing. There are increasingly more conversations around how to transition tests to an automated cadence as well as a deeper push toward better automated testing integration throughout the SDLC. Solutions such as artificial intelligence (AI) and low code play an important role in implementing tests for development and testing teams, expanding test coverage and eliminating time spent on redundant tasks. It's a win-win-win.In DZone's 2023 Automated Testing Trend Report, we further assess current trends related to automated testing, covering everything from architecture and test-driven development to observed benefits of AI and low-code tools. The question is no longer should we automate tests; it's how do we better automate tests and integrate them throughout CI/CD pipelines to ensure high degrees of test coverage? This question will be examined through our original research, expert articles from DZone Community members, and other insightful resources.As part of our December 2023 re-launch, we've added updates to the Solutions Directory and more.

Trend Report

Development at Scale

As organizations’ needs and requirements evolve, it’s critical for development to meet these demands at scale. The various realms in which mobile, web, and low-code applications are built continue to fluctuate. This Trend Report will further explore these development trends and how they relate to scalability within organizations, highlighting application challenges, code, and more.

Trend Report

Containers

The proliferation of containers in recent years has increased the speed, portability, and scalability of software infrastructure and deployments across all kinds of application architectures and cloud-native environments. Now, with more and more organizations migrated to the cloud, what's next? The subsequent need to efficiently manage and monitor containerized environments remains a crucial task for teams. With organizations looking to better leverage their containers — and some still working to migrate out of their own monolithic environments — the path to containerization and architectural modernization remains a perpetual climb. In DZone's 2023 Containers Trend Report, we will explore the current state of containers, key trends and advancements in global containerization strategies, and constructive content for modernizing your software architecture. This will be examined through DZone-led research, expert community articles, and other helpful resources for designing and building containerized applications.

Trend Report

Software Integration

Seamless communication — that, among other consequential advantages, is the ultimate goal when integrating your software. And today, integrating modern software means fusing various applications and/or systems — many times across distributed environments — with the common goal of unifying isolated data. This effort often signifies the transition of legacy applications to cloud-based systems and messaging infrastructure via microservices and REST APIs.So what's next? Where is the path to seamless communication and nuanced architecture taking us? Dive into our 2023 Software Integration Trend Report and fill the gaps among modern integration practices by exploring trends in APIs, microservices, and cloud-based systems and migrations. You have to integrate to innovate!

Trend Report

DevOps

The DevOps movement has paved the way for CI/CD and streamlined application delivery and release orchestration. These nuanced methodologies have not only increased the scale and speed at which we release software, but also redistributed responsibilities onto the developer and led to innovation and automation throughout the SDLC.DZone's 2023 DevOps: CI/CD, Application Delivery, and Release Orchestration Trend Report explores these derivatives of DevOps by diving into how AIOps and MLOps practices affect CI/CD, the proper way to build an effective CI/CD pipeline, strategies for source code management and branching for GitOps and CI/CD, and more. Our research builds on previous years with its focus on the challenges of CI/CD, a responsibility assessment, and the impact of release strategies, to name a few. The goal of this Trend Report is to provide developers with the information they need to further innovate on their integration and delivery pipelines.

Trend Report

Enterprise Application Security

Data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other security vulnerabilities have become the norm in recent years. Hackers have become shrewder. And with that, development teams bear the responsibility of ensuring that all stages of the SDLC have strong security.DZone's 2022 Trend Report, Enterprise Application Security: Building Secure and Resilient Applications, focuses on key factors of security practices including supply chain security, principles of zero-trust security, how to secure mobile applications, common DevSecOps practices, and what to do after your organization experiences a security breach. Our research dives into sentiments on perceived application security risks, development techniques for securing applications, and where the role of security lies for teams within today's organizational structures. The goal of this Trend Report is to equip developers with the tools, best practices, and advice they need to help implement security at every stage of the SDLC.