The Blu-J Technical Journey

When we set off on this journey to build a solution to a very real problem, we did not expect to encounter so many forks in the road, so early on.  We found ourselves having to make decisions on what impact will our product have on the environment, how technically advanced should it be, and how do we make it sustainable, and scalable to name a few. We were always prepared to have these important conversations and were expecting to make these decisions, but perhaps not so early.

What have we learned?

We learned that if you are going to be technically advanced, make a difference, look after the environment, and achieve sustainable growth, these discussions need to be had at the start of the journey and regularly throughout. They are topics that run throughout and.  Learn more about our journey and the decisions we made here:

Abstract

The modern information technology dilemma; technical advancement versus environmental impact. Here at Blu-J, we utilise a blend of performance-driven technical innovations and practices whilst considering how to minimise, and in some areas even eradicate CO2e emissions. Using Amazon Web Services, the world’s leading cloud architecture platform, as well as industry best practices that put robust development procedures in place to ensure a stable and secure application. Adopting a Net Zero approach to cloud compute resourcing sets the basis of these two mammoth considerations on a healthy footing.

The Architecture

Creating good software systems may start with development, but its ultimate success rests within its environment – its cloud architecture. This is an area of the Blu-J platform that has been engineered to scale, adapt and consume change for years to come. Rather than developing the platform with traditional hosted servers or virtual machines, we have utilised container-based architecture to adopt a ‘serverless’ practice. This allows the space and bandwidth to grow seamlessly with the application’s user base and functional capabilities.

For data storage, we have adopted an Amazon Web Services hosted datastore that is ‘relationless’ in form. This form factor provides it with the capacity to scale both vertically and horizontally. This same technology allows a company such as Apple to run a data store across a cluster of 75,000 servers.

The Build

Designing an application with low-latency, high-availability output at the forefront of its priority means that every angle of scalability must be considered. Blu-J is designed with the real-time focused Node.js backend language to form its business logic. Used to transform customer-focused giants such as Netflix and Uber, the programming technology allows a blend of lightweight minimal forms that can be scaled up to handle large volumes of concurrent connections. As well as this the language lends itself to microservice architecture to split the capabilities of a growing system into smaller, more manageable areas.

We have also adopted effective user interface practices including modular components, flexible services, and styling preprocessors. These front-end technologies provide a dynamic blend of bleeding edge and established methodologies, enabling Blu-J to become a robust and effective platform that can cope with demands of any size.

The Security

No modern-day application can advocate itself as a success without a rigorous approach to security and data governance. We have taken this very seriously at Blu-J – with availability and privacy at the heart of the build. To ensure our user’s data is secure, we encrypt all data stored in our datastore in its restful state, meaning that all information is secure in its underlying storage.

Whilst being transported, data is also encrypted – as well as another layer of protection with owner signatures to access data payloads. User accounts themselves have two-factor authentication by standard, with password attempt limits and rate limiting as a further method of account protection.

The Sustainability

Last, and absolutely not least is our angle on sustainability. A subject close to the heart of our leadership team, we wanted Blu-J to complement its surroundings and not abuse them. Amazon Web Services was the obvious choice to start these conscious lead decisions, in turn already powering all of our infrastructure with over two-thirds renewable energy. We calculate the remaining carbon footprint byproduct of using this technology and offset it to create a net-zero infrastructure stack. Furthermore, we have an outlook to become a carbon-negative organisation by adopting a ‘plant a tree scheme partner that scales alongside our user base. As with any environmental plans, ours are fluid and ever-evolving, view these changes as well as our methodologies for calculating Co2e in future articles on our website.