A User's Guide To Application Delivery Platforms

By TechDogs Editorial Team

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Overview

What does the desktop of your PC have in common with the screen of your smartphone? Both are filled with application icons! #WeTryToBeFunnySometimes

While each app has its own utility, if there’s one thing that everyone desires from the apps they use, it’s a smooth front-end or interface. However, do any of us give a thought to how much work goes into building and maintaining that beautiful outer appearance? Maybe, maybe not!

Most modern applications have a highly complex background functioning that allows them to communicate with the internet and with our devices such that they can deliver a seamless experience to us. This functioning is encapsulated within an advanced framework known as an Application Delivery Platform, and that’s exactly what we’re going to ponder upon in this article.

Mobile apps have gained center stage in our lives. They keep us busy all day and they’re also fun to use. All of us have different types of applications on our phones revolving around varied themes – productivity, games, Ecommerce, tools and utilities, etc. – and we’ve become so used to them that we simply can’t ignore them.

Yet have you given a thought to how these apps function and deliver results to you?

Modern apps are not standalone apps or programs installed on your mobile. They have interfaces linked to the internet which allows them to function intelligently. For example, imagine a shopping app installed on your phone and suppose you’re searching for mobile phones for under $500. Can the mobile app by itself provide the results?

The answer is a big ‘No.’ The app needs to communicate with vendors selling mobile phones on the internet, filter out the phones that fall in the ‘under $500’ category, present all the information to you in an attractive manner and also facilitate digital payments so that you can complete the purchase. That’s just 4 of the highly complex functions that the app is expected to perform in a fraction of a few seconds. We haven’t even talked about user profile creation, address and shipping processing, and a whole lot of other stuff that would also need to be factored in.

Isn’t it obvious there’s some sort of witchcraft involved in making an app function the way it is supposed to?

Well, it’s not witchcraft, it’s just an Application Delivery Platform!

An Application Delivery Platform (ADP) encompasses the complete framework that starts from downloading and installing an app on your mobile to every action you perform on it. No matter what you do with the application, the ADP is at work. Even small actions like opening the mobile app on your smartphone pull the ADP into the loop.

Given that background, can you imagine the kind of work such platforms do every millisecond with millions of apps installed on mobile devices worldwide?

Not meaning to confuse you to insanity but ADPs actually handle crazy amounts of data and workload every nano-second. And that’s why we have mad respect for them (enough for us to dedicate an entire article to them!).

Since we know you’re intrigued by them too, allow us to familiarize you with a few concepts about this wondrous technology. Let’s start with the basics!

What Is An Application Delivery Platform?

An Application Delivery Platform (ADP) is a software system that deploys, hosts and manages the delivery of applications. ADPs are used by organizations to automate their application delivery and infrastructure management tasks, such as deploying web applications and virtual machine images.

Such platforms can be used to improve application performance, reduce deployment time and lower costs. They are also beneficial for DevOps teams, who can decrease the time spent on application development and deployment by leveraging ADP technologies. Since ADPs typically provide a large number of capabilities, many different types of organizations use them.

Imagine a situation where users want “n” number of features in their applications but the application developers are hesitant because the devices those users have may not be powerful enough to handle the processing load. With ADPs by their side, app developers have a variety of options to build and deliver applications without worrying about the restrictions of the installation or runtime environment.

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While there are many different types of ADPs out there (and more are being created as we speak), there are four main types of Application Delivery Platforms, namely, container-based, cloud-based, PaaS, and IaaS.

Container-based ADPs run on container technologies like Docker or Kubernetes and provide a way to package up applications as containers that can be deployed easily on any infrastructure.
Cloud-based ADPs run in the cloud on either public or private infrastructure. This type of model is useful because it provides many benefits: scalability, elasticity and cost savings.
IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service) refers to on-demand access to cloud-hosted virtual and physical servers. The framework uses the backend IT infrastructure and workloads in the cloud.
PaaS (platform-as-a-service) is on-demand access to the ready-to-use cloud-hosted platform for developing, running, maintaining, and managing applications.

History Of ADPs

The history of ADPs can be traced back to the early days of commercial internet during the dotcom crisis. During the early days, the mainframes did not have server software and even if some did, they weren’t affordable for small businesses. The main problem with the single server setup was that it was inadequate to handle all the web traffic coming from the application. If the server crashed due to an overload, your app would go offline and your business would not be reachable.

Fortunately, some DevOps thought of load balancing as an intelligent solution. Several technocrats tried building purpose-built load-balancing devices that could be scaled as per need. With their help, businesses were able to improve the availability of their applications. The most prevalent technology that was used for load-balancing during those days was DNS round robin (it’s still being used today). In this method, the DNS would assign different unique IP addresses to multiple servers but with the same DNS name. When a user requested resolution, the request would be passed to the first server until it reached the bottom of the line. The solution was simple and effective and it led to even distribution of load on an array of machines.

From a scalability point of view, DevOps would be able to add a limitless number of unique IP addresses (servers) under one DNS name. However, this model had one drawback. There was no way to know the availability of the server before passing on the request. When the request would be sent to an unavailable server, it would lead to a suspended session for the user.

Think of it like the scenario wherein you can feel elephants parading in your tummy as you launch an app to order food online. You scroll through the menus but some of your favorite options are disabled and you’re left with no choice regarding food that can be delivered to your home.

TechDogs-"A Meme About The Analogy Of Food Apps"

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How Does An Application Delivery Platform work?

To understand how these platforms work, you need to first understand the basic elements of the framework:

Application Delivery Controller

The application delivery controller is an important component that employs policies and algorithms to determine how inbound traffic should be distributed. Round robin is the basic form of traffic management approach under which the application forwards client requests to each server in the order that they are submitted. The application delivery controllers check the requested file types and inspect packet headers for keywords. The request is then diverted to the appropriate server based on the information.

Load Balancing

Every application sends requests and receives data from application servers. The application delivery platform performs the crucial task of load balancing through the efficient distribution of traffic between multiple servers. The load balancer of the framework continuously monitors the health of backend servers and directs traffic to servers that are capable of handling application requests. The traffic management works inside the ADC to improve the performance of microservices-based apps and the web. Load balancing distributes traffic across clusters of servers to improve responsiveness, optimize utilization, and increase availability.

Application Delivery Management

Application delivery management offers holistic visibility into how your application is delivered in multi-cloud environments. A strong application delivery management allows IT teams to monitor application delivery everywhere and streamline operations. The platform also helps DevOps to improve security and speed up the troubleshooting process.

An ADP needs to manage the delivery of the update packages to the user devices. The developer would be required to develop different update packages as per user device specifications. For example, a different update package for iOS phones and different update packages for Android platforms. If the application delivery management is not able to handle the package delivery in the right way, it could lead to user devices being bombarded with updated packages that are incompatible with the application version installed on the user’s device. The result would be chaos that will cause the application to fail.

Application Delivery Network

The application delivery network refers to a network that is used to deploy applications. It works to speed up load times and increase IT visibility across the spectrum.

Why Do Businesses Need Application Delivery Platforms?

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Today, it is common for businesses to have a distributed workforce and unlike in the past, you don’t see all employees congregate in one place known as HO or headquarters. Exchanging information through messaging apps and emails is a huge risk and also inconvenient. In such a scenario, enterprise apps make information sharing more secure and easier. ADPs make this information distribution and sharing secure.

Mobile apps serve as a robust connection between businesses and customers and do away with the need for customers to visit websites to make purchases. The apps serve as a channel to provide personalized communication and push updates to customers in a convenient manner. Moreover, since they’re updated from time to time, businesses can keep customers updated about the latest offers and changes in policies and support. An ADP centralizes the application domain and keeps everyone on the same page.

Future Of Application Delivery Platforms

Although the platforms are widely used and needed at present, as per a few reports, by 2026, you could see some components of ADPs, like application delivery controllers, becoming obsolete except in cases where it is too expensive to migrate the application to cloud-native environments. You will see monolithic applications running in VMs and transitory application services managed by a centralized control plane. To keep up with the rapid change in the application delivery platform infrastructure, app services will be required to achieve vast and rapid scalability.

To Conclude

Application Delivery Platforms are the backbone of enterprise applications, and as the technology landscape changes, you could see app components (elements) evolving and functioning as standalone containers exchanging information with services and user devices. The future of the ADP paints a picture of decentralized applications hosted in diverse cloud environments and functioning efficiently without any hiccups.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is An Application Delivery Platform?

An Application Delivery Platform (ADP) is a software system designed to deploy, host, and manage the delivery of applications. It automates tasks related to application delivery and infrastructure management, such as deploying web applications and managing virtual machine images. ADPs play a crucial role in improving application performance, reducing deployment time, and lowering costs for organizations. These platforms are beneficial for DevOps teams, enabling them to streamline application development and deployment processes by leveraging ADP technologies. With ADPs, developers can build and deliver applications with various features without concerns about device limitations, ensuring efficient performance across different user devices.

What Is The History Of ADPs?

The history of Application Delivery Platforms traces back to the early days of the commercial internet, particularly during the dotcom crisis. Initially, single-server setups struggled to handle the increasing web traffic, leading to application downtime and business unreachability during server crashes. To address this, load balancing emerged as a solution, distributing traffic across multiple servers to improve application availability. However, traditional load-balancing methods like DNS round robin lacked server availability checks, resulting in user inconvenience and disrupted sessions. The evolution of ADPs has significantly enhanced application availability and scalability, ensuring seamless user experiences.

How Does An Application Delivery Platform Work?

To comprehend the functioning of ADPs, it's essential to understand their fundamental elements. Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) play a vital role by employing policies and algorithms to distribute inbound traffic among servers efficiently. Load balancing, another critical aspect, ensures even distribution of traffic across server clusters to optimize responsiveness and availability. Application Delivery Management provides comprehensive visibility into application delivery across multi-cloud environments, facilitating streamlined operations and troubleshooting. Additionally, Application Delivery Networks enhance load times and IT visibility, contributing to efficient application deployment. These components collectively enable ADPs to manage application delivery effectively, ensuring secure and seamless user experiences.

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Application Delivery Platforms Application Delivery Network Application Delivery Controller

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