News: Acquia Debuts Node.js and Headless Drupal on Acquia Cloud

BOSTON -- September 20, 2017 -- Acquia today unveiled a new application service for Acquia Cloud that makes it easy for digital IT teams to build and run JavaScript alongside Drupal. Acquia Cloud now supports the use of Node.js in addition to Drupal.

“Decoupled applications using JavaScript front ends are on the rise. They’re making it possible to create experiences with responsive, elegant, application-like behavior,” said Dries Buytaert, co-founder and CTO of Acquia.  “To help our customers build such digital experiences with headless Drupal, we added Node.js support to Acquia Cloud.”

Node.js and Drupal are the two preferred open source development technologies for digital experience development in the enterprise, and now both are integrated and production-ready within Acquia Cloud. With Drupal, teams get the benefits of a scalable web CMS. With Node.js, developers will be able to build scalable, networked JavaScript applications that support front-end frameworks like Angular.js, Backbone.js, Ember.js, and Meteor.js. Together with Drupal they enable decoupled, or headless, applications where Drupal provides content management and JavaScript delivers interactive web and mobile experiences.  

“Node.js is a lightweight, efficient development environment that our customers are using to build highly scalable web applications, and today it is fully integrated into Acquia Cloud,” said Christopher Stone, Acquia chief products officer. “Organizations can run their entire application on one platform with monitoring, alerting and support across the whole architecture.”

Bret Otzenberger, Mirum’s North American chief technology officer, said his agency has been working with a headless Drupal CMS coupled with front-end frameworks for many years.

 

“In the past we’d build a Drupal site on the Acquia Platform and have our Node team manage a separate server for the application functionality that we were building for our client. It creates additional overhead and potential roadblocks when we’re managing two different environments for one project,” Otzenberger said. “Bringing Node.js into the Acquia Cloud makes it easier for our clients to get more value out of the platform. It removes redundancies and inefficiencies that can get in our way. End users will have a great experience, and our clients will benefit from the latest technology and better quality at a lower overall cost.”

 

Acquia Cloud provides a modern, open source stack on which to deploy and manage digital experiences. Integrated developer tools such as Acquia Cloud CD enable teams to develop, deliver, optimize and manage next-generation digital experiences faster. Developers will now be able to leverage tools enabling continuous delivery and integration across Node.js and Drupal from one user interface. Acquia provides unparalleled support so its customers’ teams can focus on developing digital customer experience applications rather than maintaining their development and deployment platform.

• IT professionals benefit from one secure, compliant cloud for Drupal, decoupled Drupal, and JavaScript. Teams can capitalize on the popularity of JavaScript to build and test solutions quickly. Acquia Cloud makes it easy to add new front-end technology to the stack without a replatform.

 

• Developers gain a single platform that supports their preferred development language and tools to ensure application quality. Acquia Cloud also offers DevOps services that enable teams to automate their build, test and deployment processes.

 

• Marketers can take advantage of fast-rendering pages through Node.js and web applications that support omnichannel delivery for connected devices, displays, digital signage, and more.

Acquia Cloud provides a secure, compliant, and scalable platform for developing, testing and managing digital experience applications. Additional layers of security are available through the Acquia Cloud Edge family of products for DDoS protection and content delivery.