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The 8 most significant trends in software development in 2021

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olivia cuthbert
The 8 most significant trends in software development in 2021

 

The year 2021 will be a black sheep in modern history, as we haven't seen a global pandemic like COVID-19 since 2009(read this article to learn about the seven most significant pandemics in human history). It affects every country globally, every industry, and, most importantly, almost every person on our planet.

 

Despite the new variant of the coronavirus, we enter the new year with optimism and hope because we already have experience of how the virus can affect us. We know how to protect ourselves and others around us from the spread of COVID-19.

 

Forecast of 8 trends in software development in 2021

 

2021 will be an essential year for the software development industry with many breakthroughs in different areas. COVID-19 has significantly accelerated the digital transformation, and the trends in digital transformation will become more pronounced.

 

In this article, we discuss ten significant software development trends that expect to become a reality this year. Read on to learn more about how the software industry will change in 2021.

 

*Note: Vietnam's software development industry has attracted significant attention from tech giants and SMEs worldwide due to the country's talented and hard-working workforce, ability to keep up with the latest technologies, and incredible cost-saving potential.

 

1| Cloud adoption everywhere

 

COVID-19 hit most industries hard, but cloud is a leading industry and is more vital than ever before during a pandemic. COVID-19 has removed the doubt and uncertainty that existed about cloud adoption.

 

A global crisis such as the interest rate crisis shows that we need cloud computing for both growth and downturn, i.e., when demand for services drops significantly in an economic downturn. If you look at the travel and transport sectors, they have to maintain expensive data centers even though their market has fallen by 90%. 

 

It predicts that global public cloud IT infrastructure will grow by 35% to $120 billion by 2021. 

 

But whatever industry you're in, planning for cloud migration is not a futile exercise, as sooner or later, the whole world will move to the cloud. There will be a shortage of cloud engineers in the future; a little off-topic, but you will expand your career opportunities by getting a cloud certification if you are an IT engineer.

 

2| Edge computing will grow exponentially

 

There is a desire for a centralized data center that provides data and computing power in the public cloud. But in many scenarios, we have different needs. For example, data and computing power that is close to end-users. Some are very low latency (5-20 ms), high bandwidth, regulatory reasons, real-time usage, intelligent endpoints, etc.

 

Although edge computing is a rather old concept, and we have used edge computing in content delivery networks (commonly known as CDNs), it has become more prevalent in recent years. With the proliferation of connected devices (such as autonomous cars and drones), online gaming, IoT, smart devices, etc., edge computing will become a vast market attracting investment in 2021 and beyond. The proliferation of 5G mobile devices will also contribute to the expansion of edge computing.

 

By 2021, the two industry groups competing for market share in edge computing will be public cloud providers such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google (read details here) and those that already have edge infrastructures, such as telcos, data centers, and network providers.

 

Amazon is a pioneer in many services in the category of public cloud providers, such as the AWS Snow family and AWS IoT Greengrass. Microsoft also offers edge computing services such as Azure Stack Edge and Azure Edge Zone. Google also uses Google Anthos to move its data center services to end-users.

 

3|  AWS leads, but Multi-Cloud will be the future

 

There is no doubt who is in the lead among public cloud providers: Amazon, which leads the public cloud market with a 32 percent market share.

 

Microsoft is performing strongly in its cloud products, with annual growth of 48 percent last year. In the third quarter of 2020, Microsoft's market share was 19 percent, while in the third quarter of 2021, it was 17 percent.

 

Currently, Google is the third-largest provider of public cloud products, with a market share of 7 percent in the third quarter of 2020.

 

Alibaba expects to replace Google in 2021. Moreover, the multi-cloud initiative will gain momentum in 2021. Many enterprises have also switched to a multi-cloud strategy. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recently awarded its cloud contracts to multiple cloud providers instead of one.

 

Amazon was not willing to participate in the multi-cloud initiative to protect its market share. But as we have seen with Microsoft, the industry and community are more potent than the most significant single company. That is why AWS has recently quietly joined the multi-cloud initiative.

 

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) plays a crucial role in the multi-cloud movement and can consider having overtaken the Linux Foundation. This year we may see more growth in it. We will also see more initiatives that provide API compatibility with popular cloud services from specific vendors. 

 

It is such good news for the entire industry. Companies can seamlessly deploy their application on multiple clouds.

 

4| Containerisation:  will jump in, while Docker may slip out

 

Kubernetes has been the leading container orchestration and management technology for several years. Just as Linux once ruled data centers, Kubernetes now leads the public and private cloud. Initially, Google was the dominant force behind Kubernetes, but almost all major technology companies support Kubernetes.

 

All major public cloud providers now offer managed Kubernetes services, such as Amazon EKS, Azure AKS, Google GKE, and their managed containerization services. 

 

By 2021, we expect to see greater adoption of Kubernetes as part of the hybrid cloud and multi-cloud strategy. Non-traditional enterprise applications such as AI/ML, databases, data platforms, serverless and edge computing applications are also likely to migrate to Kubernetes.

 

On the other hand, Docker is slowly losing its charm as modern technology. There have been several initiatives to standardize container formats and runtimes, two of which have gained significant momentum in recent years, namely the Container Runtime Interface (CRI) led by Kubernetes and the Open Container Initiative (OCI) led by the Linux Foundation.

 

Kubernetes has recently announced that it is eliminating the use of Docker container runtime. Since Kubernetes is a giant in the container ecosystem, 2021 will be the beginning of the end for Docker. On the other hand, CRI and OCI will see tremendous development momentum in 2021, especially CRI-based containers, which will see tremendous explosive growth in 2021.

 

Since Kubernetes is a giant in the container ecosystem, 2021 will be the beginning of the end for Docker. On the other hand, CRI and OCI will gain momentum in 2021, especially CRI-based containers, which will experience massive explosive growth in 2021.



5| Quantum computing gains momentum

 

Quantum computing is the most revolutionary technology. Like the digital computer, it has the potential to impact every sector. Let's look at it another way: if today's most advanced supercomputer treats like an ordinary person, a chess player, or an eighth-grade math student, quantum computing is a supercomputer like a genius, able to compete simultaneously against 50 average chess players.

 

By 2021, quantum computing will have made some significant breakthroughs and advances. In June 2020, Honeywell announced that it had built the world's most powerful quantum computer, breaking Google's previous record.

 

Many governments and tech giants are exploring and investing in quantum computing. Google and IBM are two of the biggest discoverers and investors in the field. Google has released an open-source library, TensorFlow Quantum (TFQ), to criterion quantum machine learning models.

 

Given the enormous payoffs and limitless possibilities, 2021 will see breakthroughs and unique discoveries in quantum computing.

 

6| AI will benefit everyone

 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most popular technologies of recent times and will also have many breakthroughs in 2020. Another exciting trend is that AI is starting to enter all industries: 'AI for all.'

 

In 2021, natural language processing will breakthrough, and Will use AI bots to write articles and small applications. 

 

Another exciting development is AutoML 2.0, which supports design automation. By 2021, the automation of the whole AI cycle will have made significant progress.

 

AI is not AI without bias, and ethical AI is an increasingly attractive option. Another significant trend in AI is XAI (explainable AI), where certain AI decisions require explanation.

 

AI will also be widely used in the aviation sector in 2021 and beyond. Some time ago, the US Air Force used AI as a co-pilot to pilot an aircraft.

 

AI solutions expect to bring many exciting innovations and democratization by 2021.

 

7| Blockchain is still hype

 

Blockchain, commonly known as a decentralized ledger, is one of the most significant disruptive technologies in recent years. Blockchain has great potential to drive change across all industries.

 

Many rogue organizations are exploiting Bitcoin's popularity by setting up fraudulent projects to scam people who want to get rich in a short period. It is why some governments are intervening in cryptocurrencies to prevent fraud.

 

Facebook is moving its Libra cryptocurrency but faces enormous regulatory pressure in 2020. Other open-source blockchains, such as Etheruem, are placing code in blocks to be used in smart contracts. It is the future of blockchain.

 

Blockchain technology is predicted to be used more as a mechanism for smart contracts in 2021, which will cause a big explosion.

 

8| Deep learning library: TensorFlow 2.0 and PyTorch

 

Google and Facebook are known as the two dominant players in deep learning and neural networks. Google's primary business is its search business, and it is an innovative leader in natural language processing. Facebook's primary business is social networking, and it has to process images, videos, and text. In image processing, Facebook is a technology leader with many innovations.

 

TensorFlow was the leading library for deep learning before PyTorch releases in 2016. Instead of static graphs, PyTorch uses dynamic graphs and is more Python-friendly. In response, Google created TensorFlow 2.0 in 2019, which replicates many of PyTorch's features.

 

Conclusion 

 

Based on the facts, current trends, and data, we can predict the most critical trends in software development for 2021. However, the entire software development sector is much broader, so we could not cover all the points; therefore, we recommend you top software development companies in India more perspectives on the IT industry in general and the software development sector

 

 

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