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Technology Journey

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Explore how our stack has grown and see how past choices shape the way we develop today. Whether you're a new joiner looking to get up to speed or a long-time developer curious about our progress, this page is here to give you the bigger picture.

🚀 Our journey is ongoing and so is this timeline.

February 2025​

Flutter | Languages & Frameworks​

Flutter is an open-source UI toolkit developed by Google for building natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase.

How We Use It:
We use Flutter to develop cross-platform mobile applications with a single codebase, enabling faster development cycles and a consistent user experience across iOS and Android. It allows us to build high-performance, visually appealing apps with a modern UI.

Getting Started:

January 2025​

.NET Aspire | Languages & Frameworks​

.NET Aspire is a cloud-native application development stack for .NET, providing streamlined service discovery, telemetry, and configuration management.

How We Use It:
We use .NET Aspire to simplify building and deploying distributed applications. It helps with service-to-service communication, observability, and local development experience, making it easier for teams to manage microservices in our environment.

Real Use Case & Repository:
Repository: DevPlatform Intune Upload
Description: This project uses Azure container apps.

Getting Started:

Azure Container Apps | Platforms​

Azure Container Apps is a fully managed service for running containerized applications without managing Kubernetes directly. It provides built-in scaling, networking, and observability for microservices and event-driven workloads.

How We Use It:
We use Azure Container Apps to deploy lightweight, scalable containerized applications and microservices. It allows us to run background workers, API services, and event-driven processing with minimal infrastructure management.
Example here: https://github.com/JTI-Corp/plat-devplatform-intune

Real Use Case & Repository: see .NET Aspire

Getting Started:

Wiz | Tools​

Wiz is a cloud security platform that provides deep visibility, risk assessment, and vulnerability management across cloud environments without agents.

How We Use It:
We use Wiz to continuously scan our Azure environment for misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, and compliance risks. It helps us proactively identify security issues and prioritize fixes based on risk severity. See the MDC Wiz Dashboard here.

How To Get Access:
The following Azure AD groups were created for MDC and mapped in Wiz:

  • Cloud-CSPM GDC MMDC Reader
  • Global-CSPM GDC MMDC

If there are other members that need to be added to the groups, please ask them to submit a request here: Cloud only AD Security group membership modification - myIT Portal

Getting Started:

Owner/Contact:
MarkGerald.Paras@jti.com

December 2024​

Feature Flags | Techniques​

Feature Flags enable dynamic control over application functionality without deploying new code. They allow teams to toggle features on or off, perform A/B testing, and roll out changes gradually.

How We Use It:
We use Feature Flags to deploy new features safely, control access to experimental functionality, and reduce deployment risk. This helps us enable progressive rollouts, perform canary releases, and quickly disable features if issues arise.

Real Use Case & Repository:
Repository: GSC LEAF LeafPoint NextGen
Description: This project uses feature flags with Azure App Configuration to perform a staged rollout for new features.

tip

For detailed information on implementing Feature Flags with Azure App Configuration, see here:

https://github.com/JTI-Corp/prod-gscleaf-leafpoint-nextgen-ops-center

Getting Started:

DevExpress .NET Reporting Tools | Languages & Frameworks​

DevExpress .NET Reporting is a suite of reporting tools that enables developers to create, customize, and export reports in .NET applications with rich data visualization capabilities.

How We Use It:
We use DevExpress .NET Reporting Tools to generate dynamic reports in our applications, providing users with detailed insights and exportable data. It helps us build customizable reports with charts, tables, and interactive features while integrating seamlessly into our .NET solutions.

Real Use Case & Repository:
Repository: GSC LEAF ORCA Description: This project uses DevExpress Reporting to generate PDF reports.

Getting Started:

November 2024​

GitHub Actions | Tools​

GitHub Actions is a CI/CD automation tool that enables developers to build, test, and deploy applications directly from GitHub repositories using customizable workflows.

How We Use It:
We use GitHub Actions to automate our CI/CD pipelines, ensuring efficient builds, tests, and deployments.

Real Use Case & Repository:
Repository: Microsoft Software Engineering Platform Site
Description: This project uses GitHub Actions in order to deploy the site to GitHb pages (DEV environment) and to an Azure static website (QA environment).

D2 Diagrams | Tools​

D2 is a modern, declarative diagramming language that enables developers to create diagrams using simple text-based definitions.

How We Use It:
We use D2 to generate architecture diagrams, system workflows, and infrastructure representations as code. This allows us to maintain versioned, easily updatable diagrams within our repositories.

Real Use Case & Repository:

  • Repository: SEE Internal Developer Portal
  • Description: This project uses D2 to document our architecture. The diagrams are stored in the repo as text and also as pictures that are added to readme files .

Getting Started:

July 2024​

Flux V2 | Tools​

Flux V2 is a GitOps toolset for Kubernetes that automates the deployment and lifecycle management of applications by continuously syncing cluster state with a Git repository.

How We Use It:
We use Flux V2 to implement GitOps workflows for managing AKS Edge configurations. It ensures that our clusters remain in the desired state by automatically applying changes committed to our Git repositories.

Real Use Case & Repository:

  • Repository: GSC LEAF LeafPoint NextGen
  • Description: This project uses Flux V2 to manage application deployments in our AKS Edge clusters. Changes to Helm charts and manifests in the repository are automatically applied to ensure consistency and reduce manual intervention.

Getting Started:

April 2024​

AKS Edge | Platforms​

AKS Edge is a lightweight, edge-optimized version of Azure Kubernetes Service that enables running containerized workloads in on-premises and remote environments with Azure consistency.

How We Use It:
We use AKS Edge to deploy and manage containerized applications in environments with limited connectivity or specific on-premises requirements. It allows us to run Kubernetes workloads closer to the source of data while maintaining integration with Azure services.

Real Use Case & Repository:

  • Repository: GSC LEAF LeafPoint NextGen
  • Description: This project uses AKS Edge to deploy green leaf related applications in warehouses/factories environments all around the globe.

Getting Started: