BackstageCon 2024, held alongside KubeCon in the picturesque city of Paris, represented a pivotal moment for the software engineering community, particularly those immersed in the realm of platform engineering. What was abundantly clear from the outset was the enthusiasm of the 200 person audience, most of whom were already avid users of Backstage.
Navigating Complexity with Backstage
Throughout the day, a chorus of speakers echoed a central refrain: Backstage is the single pane for platform engineering, underlining the pressing need to address the complexity facing developers today.
With a landscape cluttered by an array of tools, compounded by the proliferation of microservices and distributed cloud/hybrid architectures, Backstage emerges as the essential solution. It’s not merely about streamlining operations; it’s about aligning with strategic business initiatives and achieving unparalleled business agility – a fundamental departure from the conventional emphasis on swifter and cheaper delivery under the DevOps banner.
The Evolution of Backstage
Marking its fourth anniversary since becoming open source on March 17, 2020, Backstage stands as a testament to collaborative innovation. Boasting over 1.4K contributors, 5K project forks, and a staggering 50K+ contributions, Backstage has firmly established itself as a cornerstone of modern software engineering. With 150+ open-source plugins and a noteworthy 25K+ stars, the recent release of version 1.24 signals a continued commitment to evolution and enhancement.
Spotify and Backstage
Underscoring the significance of Backstage, Spotify showcased not one but two commercial offerings. The introduction of Spotify Plugins for Backstage, encompassing essential functionalities like QA, RBAC, and an internal marketplace dubbed Skill Exchange, exemplifies a concerted effort to address diverse needs.
Meanwhile, the impending launch of Spotify Portal for Backstage promises to elevate user experience further, with details set for unveiling on April 30. Notably, the question of integration between these offerings remains open, hinting at potential consolidation or synergistic coexistence.
Beyond Spotify: Exploring Vendor Contributions
While Spotify commanded attention, other vendors made noteworthy contributions to the Backstage ecosystem. RedHat, positioned as the second-largest project contributor after Spotify, showcased its Backstage distribution, RedHat Developer Hub. Focused on augmenting enterprise functionality, RedHat’s efforts underscore the growing enterprise appetite for Backstage-driven solutions.
What about Spotlight from Solo.io?
Despite notable progress, challenges persist in enterprise adoption and functionality enhancement within the ecosystem. Spotlight from Solo.io aims to tackle these challenges head-on by leveraging our expertise in cloud-native networking and platform engineering. With a focus on issues like plugin deployment, enterprise security, and multi-cluster deployments, Spotlight emerges as a pragmatic, heterogeneous solution poised to make a significant impact on the Backstage landscape.
Find out more about Spotlight from Solo.io.
Embracing the Backstage Wave
As the curtain falls on BackstageCon 2024, one thing is clear – the journey with Backstage has only just begun. With the promise of enhanced enterprise functionality, streamlined deployment experiences, and a burgeoning ecosystem of plugins and offerings, the future looks bright. For those willing to embrace the challenge, the rewards are boundless.
