BitNami Launches MongoDB Stack To Develop Apps As Demand Scales For AWS-Based Services

BitNami has added a MongoDB stack for developers to build web apps on the popular NoSQL database. The stack, available next week, allows developers to deploy and manage either on-premise, through Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Windows Azure.

The Y Combinator alum’s new stack will come integrated with Node.js and be available for free from the BitNami app store as a native installer or virtual machine for local development, or as a cloud template for the Amazon and Windows Azure cloud computing platforms. The complete package will contain the following, which are sometimes referred to as the “MEAN” stack:
• MongoDB
• Node.JS
• Apache Web server
• Git
• PHP (optional)
• RockMongo (optional)
• AngularJS
• Express
• Mongo drivers for PHP and Node.js

BitNami will add other programming languages in combination with the MongoDB stack. For now, a customer that uses Ruby on Rails would install the BitNami Rails stack and the MongoDB stack, said COO Erica Brescia in an interview today over Skype.

The company offers its own cloud hosting service to run on Amazon. That service provides automatic backups, built-in monitoring and other features to manage apps in the cloud.

BitNami also announced it will launch a new library with DreamFactory next week. DreamFactory is an open source, mobile backend platform.

In 2012, BitNami emerged as a key partner with AWS for the launch of its new marketplace. BitNami, with its 80 stacks, helps app developers bundle what’s needed to operate as a service in the marketplace. On AWS Marketplace, BitNami offers WordPress, Drupal and dozens of other apps that can be used on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Brescia said that the number of BitNami applications deployed to Amazon Web Services increased by 98 percent in 2012 and is expected to increase 160 percent in 2013. She said they also estimate that this year the applications will generate over 100 million hours of usage on AWS.

BitNami also recently completed a survey of 3,600 people who represent some aspect of the application development and management process. The results are not too surprising. More people are using the public cloud, and small companies are more likely to use cloud apps than their larger counterparts.

The survey’s most surprising results showed in the respondents’ next most common cloud deployments after AWS. Private clouds received 27 percent followed by Google Compute Engine with 16 percent. Microsoft Azure and VMware Cloud came in at 11 percent each. Rackspace had 8 percent of the vote. Google is doing better than Azure? That should make any cloud watcher pause about Google’s growth and Azure’s overall strength as a cloud service.

BitNami is one of a number of providers in the apps marketplace arena that is thriving with the advent of web and mobile apps. AppDirect, for example, provides developers with a way to connect with channel reseller partners that are using the platform. In its model, a developer can point an API to the partner selling the technology.

Identity, provisioning and billing are the key endpoints that serve as the foundation for the service. The company recently raised $9 million, formed a partnership with Cloud Foundry and acquired Standing Cloud, which packages apps for use with cloud services to ease the complexity of deploying and managing apps. That’s a service similar to BitNami and a pointed example for how app marketplaces are becoming platforms for developing and selling services to a growing market base.

(Feature image via mrMark on Flickr)