WebAssembly (Wasm) was originally conceived for running in the browser but has since evolved to run outside the browser on servers and at the edge. As developers turn their attention to how best exploit this runtime, a startup economy has grown around Wasm, showcasing its benefits for the enterprise. This report maps the Wasm vendor landscape and where it is heading.

Summary

Catalyst

WebAssembly (Wasm) was created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It was conceived in 2015 and became a recommended language in 2019. As an official web standard like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, Wasm is the fourth “language” (more accurately, a low level assembler) to run natively in browsers, and it is supported by all the major browsers. It was built from the ground up to be secure and follow the “write once, run anywhere” concept, as Wasm supports multiple processor architectures and operating systems with a small footprint and high performance. Originally conceived for running in the browser, Wasm has evolved to run outside the browser on servers and at the edge. As developers turn their attention to how best to exploit this runtime, a startup economy has grown around Wasm, showcasing its benefits for the enterprise. This report maps the Wasm vendor landscape and where it is heading.

Omdia view

Wasm offers a powerful alternative programming environment for software developers that is well-tuned to the needs of the cloud era. The fast load time for a Wasm app makes it suitable for microservices and serverless functions, as well as for scale-to-zero requirements. Developers can program in their preferred language (see Figure 1), as Wasm runtimes in the market contain a range of language software development kits (SDKs). The wasi-thread project, currently in development, will help toward enabling Java and .NET programs, which require a threading model, but there is also a need for garbage collection.