Mendix, a Siemens business and global provider of modern enterprise application development, is releasing Mendix 10, introducing a host of innovations that empower organizations to meet unprecedented demand for software by enabling shifts in enterprise-wide digital solution delivery.
Mendix 10 includes many additional powerful and innovative features including the latest AI and machine learning capabilities; new tools to foster business-IT collaboration; a streamlined developer experience; expansion of cloud deployment options; and a modern approach to governance and control.
“Mendix 10 is designed to enable organizations to approach new digital delivery models like fusion teams and composition with a trusted, reliable platform,” Tim Srock, Mendix CEO explained. “Mendix 10 is transformational. Our customers are trying to balance the relentless demand for digitalization with legacy technology and organizational structures. Mendix 10 enables organizations to approach heady topics like composability with a practical and accessible toolset and an ecosystem of expertise.”
According to the company, Mendix 10 was built by developers, for developers, to provide the most intuitive and powerful low-code integrated development environment (IDE) on the market.
Beta customers have been energized by numerous capabilities, such as version control based on the ubiquitous Git product, updated REST and database connectors, and numerous quality-of-life enhancements such as visual data filters, rich properties, and design controls; Start from Spreadsheet; and PDF document generator.
Later this year, Mendix 10 will also introduce a beta for a MacOS-based version of the Studio Pro IDE. Also coming is an extensibility framework that enables developers to tailor their Studio Pro experience with plugins, wizards, editors, and third-party product integrations.
Mendix has been at the vanguard of bringing AI and ML to low-code audiences, and Mendix 10 continues this leadership, according to the vendor.
Mendix developers who have been using Mendix Assist to accelerate and advise their development will be treated to the latest ‘bot,’ which generates validation logic for data entry. Later this year (and previewed at the Live Launch Event) Mendix Assist will include Mendix Chat, the first generation of generative guidance during development, a large language model (LLM) built into the IDE and trained on Mendix-specific expertise from documentation, forums, and support. Early next year will see the first beta programs for generation of application elements with AI.
The other area of investment in AI/ML is for developers working with AI services and ML models to deliver “smart apps.”
The new ML Kit included in Mendix 10 enables developers to do just this: deploy a ML model built using common ML frameworks into the Mendix Runtime. Models trained with various frameworks, from scikit-learn to PyTorch to TensorFlow, can be converted to Open Neural Network Exchange (ONNX), an open standard for machine learning models, then directly integrated into Mendix apps, ensuring high performance, data security, and favorable economics.
Together, these capabilities ensure that developer productivity and software quality are optimized, and that data is actionable and delivers value for the enterprise, according to the company.
Mendix predicts that composability—that is, creating and re-assembling tailored application experiences through a combination of internal and external building blocks—is the next big wave of change coming to delivery of digital solutions. As such, Mendix 10 includes key innovations that support the adoption of a composable enterprise strategy.
For instance, Solutions Kit is now generally available, serving both traditional enterprise customers as well as independent software vendors. Solutions Kit is a collection of capabilities that enables the delivery of solutions that can be customized and extended without sacrificing upgradability or maintainability.
Solutions Kit includes IP protection in the form of granular control of the adaptability of modules, and lifecycle management, in the form of modification preservation through advanced version control. Later this year, Adaptation Insights will be generally available, providing insights into adaptations across implementations.
Massive upgrades to the Mendix Connect integration suite in Mendix 10 are another major investment supporting composability. With enhancements to the data catalog and an ever-expanding set of connectors and services delivered by both Mendix development teams and trusted ecosystem partners, developers operating in a composable environment have easy access to the data and services they need.
Mendix 10 brings numerous capabilities to enterprises that ensure they can realize the value of cloud-based application architectures.
First, Mendix 10 offers a robust implementation of Webhooks, which enables DevOps professionals to integrate with existing CI/CD pipelines. For organizations looking for a more low-code approach to CI/CD, Mendix Pipelines will debut in beta at the end of the year. Also coming later this year is self-service management of cloud resources, and multi-region cloud failover for applications deployed on Mendix Cloud, which is soon to be available on six continents.
For customers with an investment in AWS, another key capability is available in Mendix 10. Mendix 10 offers Private Cloud customers a reference deployment and accompanying Terraform module to enable simple configuration of Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) Kubernetes Clusters.
Mendix 10 also introduces the Private Mendix Platform. Currently in beta, Private Mendix Platform addresses the unique needs of customers who want the speed and agility of the Mendix platform but adhere to policies or regulations that require fully self-controlled environments.
In Mendix 10, governance was re-imagined to better support composable architectures and larger portfolios of deployed applications.
For more information about these updates, visit www.mendix.com.