This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.

Node.js is an open source, cross-platform runtime environment for server-side and network applications. Since its inception, it’s also become widely used for front-end tooling, APIs, desktop applications, and even controlling IoT hardware like drones. Node.js applications are written in JavaScript. The growing popularity and adoption of Node.js is the result of a confluence of several factors.

First, there is an increasing need by companies of all sizes to quickly build scalable, fast, distributed web applications. Second, large enterprises are finding there is inherent risk associated with running large, complex monolithic applications due to the difficulty and cost of tuning, maintaining, patching, and debugging them — and the challenges this poses to business responsiveness. Third, software developers are looking to develop a skillset that prepares them for the new market reality of agile practices, continuous integration and delivery, cloud-scale application design and a highly mobile and demanding user base.

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