6 examples of enterprise Node.js projects

Node.js has gained massive traction since its release in 2009. Companies like Microsoft, IBM, and Netflix are just a few among many others that are currently running Node.js projects.

Why are Node.js projects so popular? The critical advantage of Node.js is that it allows frontend developers to build and execute code on the server-side, ensuring comfortable work and short development cycles.

Still, who exactly is using Node.js today – and why? Here are six examples of Node.js projects for enterprises to help you understand the current use cases and the future potential of this fantastic technology.

What is Node.js? – Quick explanation

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment; an open-source technology that is used for network applications building. Today, Node.js is part of the JavaScript paradigm that unifies app development and removes the need for using different languages for the application’s frontend and backend. It allows frontend developers to execute the code on the server-side – on their computers or directly in their browsers.

Node.js is light, fast, and scalable. Developers mainly use it to create web applications in real time. However, it also comes in handy in mobile app development.

Why are so many companies today using Node.js development? Here are a few benefits of this technology:

• • Scalability – Node.js provides developers with an option of easy application scaling, both horizontally and vertically.
  • Gentle learning curve – JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages in the world, and many frontend developers have a good grasp of it. That’s why it’s easier for them to learn and use Node.js at the backend.
  • No need for a server-side programming language – Node.js can be used as a single programming language because it allows developers to write frontend and backend web applications in JavaScript using the handy runtime environment. That makes deploying web applications simpler as almost all web browsers on the market support JavaScript.
  • Cost savings – since Node.js offers a full-stack JavaScript, you don’t need to hire separate development teams for developing the backend and frontend of your application. That saves a lot of money and accelerates the development process because only one team is responsible for the app.
  • High performance – Node.js uses Google’s V8 JavaScript engine. This engine compiles the code directly onto the machine code, implementing it quickly. And since the runtime environment supports nonblocking I/O operations, code execution is even faster.
  • Community support – Node.js is surrounded by a large and active community of developers who contribute towards its further development. Hiring experts for your project will be easy, and you can be sure that there are plenty of development teams out there working on ready-made solutions published as open-source.
  • Easy customization – development teams can extend Node.js to match the individual project requirements.

Now that you know what Node.js is and what its key advantages are, take a look at some of the most popular enterprise use cases of Node.js projects that showcase the unique capabilities of this technology.

Examples of Node.js projects

1. Node.js in Netflix

The largest video content and streaming service, Netflix bet on Node.js to bring its users fantastic content at top speed. This is one of the most interesting Node.js use cases on the market because it was used by Netflix developers to build a reliable and attractive user interface.

According to the company’s reports, the development team at Netflix managed to reduce build times and enable user customization with the help of Node.js. The company has improved its application’s load time by 70%. 

Netflix is planning to write scripts and Node.js applications only. To make sure they’re going in the right direction, developers use the TTI (time to interactive) metric – the time between the application launch and the first user interaction.

2. Node.js in LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the largest business networking platform in the world that boasts over 450 million members. In 2016, Microsoft bought it for $26 billion. And guess which technology LinkedIn used for building its mobile app backend? That’s right, Node.js.

This use case shows that technology can also be used in mobile development. Scalability and performance were the two primary reasons behind LinkedIn’s move to Node.js. And the company has been loyal to technology ever since. LinkedIn managed to build an app that has double the traffic capacity and works faster from 2 to 10 times on the client-side, reducing server requirement from 15 to 4.

3. Node.js in PayPal

PayPal is part of every Node.js use cases list – and for a good reason. The platform needs to handle more than 200 million active user accounts all over the world. And last time we checked, it was working seamlessly.

The problem of PayPal was that its teams were dispersed and completing tasks separately for the server and browser applications. To help developers unite, the company adopted Node.js and the single language of JavaScript.

PayPal claims that the application was written 2x faster than usual and contains 33% fewer lines of code. Since millions of customers entrust their payments to the platform, it means that Node.js is a reliable and secure technology that organizations can count on.

4. Node.js in eBay

As one of the largest online marketplaces in the world, eBay needs the right technology for managing its massive traffic. Since the company was already using JavaScript as part of their tech stack, Node.js was an obvious choice for the e-commerce giant.

After internal discussions, the eBay development team chose Node.js and hasn’t looked back since. The primary goal of implementing the technology was making the eBay application as real-time as possible. The app handles more than 170 million active users, showing that technology is a great source for high-traffic applications that needs to maintain live connections to servers. eBay started with a single product but is now transitioning to a full-featured backed on Node.js.

5. Node.js in Uber

Another excellent example of Node.js in action is Uber. Uber’s mobile app was built with Node.js right from the start. Given the company’s rapid growth over the last couple of years, it’s clear that technology has amazing data processing capabilities. That makes Node.js a great choice for enterprise applications that need to process large volumes of data.

Uber’s success is also a testament to Node.js scalability. The rising demand for mobile taxi services meant that Uber had to invest in a reliable system for its customers and drivers. When asked about Node.js, Uber cited its capability to process large amounts of data reliably and quickly, convenient analysis of errors, quick code deployment, and continuous technology improvements thanks to the open-source community. With the help of this technology, Uber can process over 2 million remote procedure calls within one second.

6. Node.js in Medium

This publishing platform is another great enterprise use case of Node.js. Medium takes advantage of Node.js for its app servers that are built with the technology, paired with Nginx. Medium also uses Matador as its framework for the Node.js environment.

Today, Medium has a service-oriented backend structure, which allows the platform to share code between the client- and server-side. By using Node.js, Medium teams can deploy five times a day, being capable of 10 times.

Key takeaway

This list of enterprise use cases is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more organizations that decided to start Node.js projects for the reasons we stated above. The listed use cases show the capabilities of this technology for applications built at the enterprise scale. If you’re looking for a reliable web development technology that can process massive volumes of data and accelerate the development process, Node.js development services will be your best pick.

Are you looking for a team of Node.js experts to build your next enterprise application? Get in touch with us; we help companies launch successful Node.js projects using as the core technology.

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