Microsoft has launched “Orbit,” a unique cloud-focused application system built on open-source frameworks, aiming to simplify the interaction and collaboration between developers, IT specialists, and infrastructure experts in deploying and managing apps on various cloud environments.

Revealed on October 18 by Microsoft’s Azure Innovations division, Orbit not only aids in deploying apps on in-house clouds but also on major players like Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. Future integrations with other cloud services are in the pipeline.

Key features of Orbit’s maiden version include:

• A streamlined development process, ensuring the same app design can be implemented across any cloud or on-site systems.
• Efficient and scalable roll-outs, distinctly dividing tasks between developers and operators. Customizable templates facilitate infrastructure setup and environment specification.
• A detailed app map that highlights all resources and how they interconnect within an app. Accessible via orbapp.net, Orbit emerges as a solution to the intricate nature of modern applications, especially as navigating them in the cloud intensifies in complexity. Such apps often comprise interwoven services, dispersed across various cloud platforms and in-house systems.

Though Kubernetes plays a pivotal role in cloud-centric apps, there’s a tendency to overlay it with other structures, primarily to bypass its constraints, as observed by Microsoft. Kubernetes lacks a concrete app definition, tends to blend app and infrastructure elements, and can be intricate. Moreover, developers sometimes realize their creations demand more than just Kubernetes, necessitating features like API support, front-end interfaces, storage solutions, and memory caches.

Orbit embraces Kubernetes while integrating tools like Terraform and Helix. It also syncs with CI/CD solutions such as GitHub Motions, granting developers a holistic view of their app components. As and when new elements are incorporated, Orbit seamlessly weaves them together, overseeing permissions, connectivity details, and related challenges.

Moreover, Orbit guarantees that the cloud foundation supporting apps complies with cost, operational, and security benchmarks. Such standards are encapsulated in “blueprints”, charted by IT specialists, infrastructure professionals, or security experts. Comprehensive details on the Orbit initiative are available on GitHub.