Service Mesh

Microservices

An architectural style structuring an application as a collection of loosely coupled, independently deployable services.

Monolithic Architecture

A software architecture where all components are tightly integrated into a single deployable unit.

API

Application Programming Interface — a set of protocols and tools for building and integrating software applications.

REST API

An API architectural style using HTTP methods and stateless communication for web service interaction.

GraphQL

A query language for APIs that lets clients request exactly the data they need in a single request.

gRPC

A high-performance remote procedure call framework developed by Google using Protocol Buffers for serialisation.

Event-Driven Architecture

An architecture pattern where the flow of the system is determined by events — significant changes in state.

Message Queue

A communication method where messages are stored in a queue until the receiving application can process them.

Pub/Sub

A messaging pattern where publishers send messages to topics and subscribers receive messages from topics of interest.

Edge Computing

Processing data near the source of data generation rather than in a centralised cloud data centre.

Content Delivery Network

A distributed network of servers that delivers web content to users based on their geographic location.

An IT architecture combining on-premises infrastructure with public and private cloud services.

The specialised hardware, software, and networking stack required to train and serve AI models at scale, including GPU clusters, high-bandwidth interconnects, and model serving frameworks.

A database service that automatically provisions, scales, and manages infrastructure on demand without manual server management.

The process of moving workloads back from public cloud environments to on-premises or private cloud infrastructure.

A lightweight, portable software package that bundles application code with all its dependencies for consistent execution.

An approach to building applications that fully exploit cloud computing advantages including microservices, containers, dynamic orchestration, and continuous delivery.

A configuration where an application runs in a private cloud and bursts into a public cloud when demand spikes.

A platform for developing, shipping, and running applications in isolated containers with consistent environments.

Observability

The ability to understand a system's internal state from its external outputs, encompassing metrics, logs, and traces.