Spin handles compilation from source to WebAssembly bytecode and manages execution on target platforms. The runtime abstracts the underlying technology while preserving WebAssembly’s performance and security characteristics. This bet on WebAssembly standards has paid off as the technology matured.
WebAssembly has evolved significantly beyond its initial browser-focused design to support server-side execution. Earlier this year, WebAssembly 3.0 was released. Butcher called it “a major sort of unblocking event that everybody was very excited about.”
Language support has become the critical factor enabling enterprise adoption. Production-grade WebAssembly compilers now exist for Rust, JavaScript, C, C++, Go and Python. Oracle announced Java support earlier this year, addressing what had been a significant enterprise gap. The .NET runtime has WebAssembly support in beta, though it has remained in that state for over a year.
Why Akamai is buying Fermyon
Akamai isn’t the first edge network provider to embrace the promise of WebAssembly. Both Cloudflare and Fastly already have integrated WebAssembly capabilities for precisely the same reason why it’s attractive to Akamai.
Jon Alexander, senior vice president of products at Akamai Technologies, told Network World that at the edge customers want more powerful compute, a better developer experience, and a richer range of languages.
Existing edge computing offerings couldn’t address all these requirements. WebAssembly and Fermyon together solved this. The company has already had a year-long partnership that will now only develop further with more deeply integrated offerings.
