MicroStream Roadmap 2022

During the first years we have focused on the MicroStream core framework and to open source it. For the upcoming year 2022 we plan several very exciting milestones that will bring MicroStream on the next level.

Integrating MicroStream into Open Liberty

Last year, we have already started a collaboration with the Open Liberty team at IBM to integrate MicroStream seamlessly into Open Liberty, which is a Java framework for developing microservices in Java using features of the Eclipse MicroProfile and Jakarta EE standards. Open Liberty is the base of IBM WebSphere Liberty. This year, we want complete the integration.

Integrating MicroStream into Micronaut

In 2022 we are going to collaborate with the Micronaut team to integrate MicroStream seamlessly into the Micronaut core framework. Micronaut is one of the most popular frameworks for developing microservices. Micronaut is a JVM-based, full-stack framework for building modular microservices and serverless applications.

MicroStream serializier standalone

MicroStream is a high-secure serialization. Different from other serializer, MicroStream does not base on Java serialization, but it’s written from scratch to work fundamentally different from Java serialization, which is one of the biggest security leaks of Java ever. Java serialization transfers not only data but also class information and executes code fully automated through deserialization to create the objects. This mechanism is used to inject and execute malicious code, which can even be generated by tools. MicroStream transfers data only, but never class information. Through deserialization, MicroStream doesn’t execute code to create the objects. Thus, MicroStream eliminates dangerous deserialization attacks. In addition, MicroStream eliminates various limitations of Java serialization. All Java types can be serialized without the need for implementing Serializable. There are neither annotations, nor specific superclasses or interfaces. MicroStream itself has no dependencies, exceptionally the JDK.

MicroStream serializer is part of the MicroStream persistence framework core. We want to enable you to use MicroStream serializer also stand-alone without the persistence features overhead. To improve the useability, we want to offer a small convenience API. On this occasion, we will try to increase the performance.

MicroStream Cluster

MicroStream was initially designed as a single node persistence 10 years ago. Certainly, even today there are plenty of use cases for which MicroStream is perfectly suited. Modern enterprise software applications should be cloud-native, which means built for running in the cloud, highly available, highly scalable, run in public or hybrid cloud environments, and based on a modular microservice infrastructure. To go along with these requirements, we have been working on a MicroStream cluster that enables you to build distributed MicroStream apps and microservices. Our goal is to launch MicroStream Cluster as a service as well as for On-Prem hardware until September 2022.