Ben Acker (@nvcexploder / Walmart) - Node in Production
- Impetus: Walmart wanted a mobile presence. They built an application that looked like it was created by a giant retail operation--SOAP services, etc.
- Started looking for other options: native apps,
- Started with services team (worked on original app, spinning out to other mobile apps)--all of a sudden had loads of different clients consuming the services. Converting old soap/XML into something mobile-friendly?
- High volume days (black Friday) start taking services down, and services team already distracted by mobile projects
- Time to start building better services
- Brought Eran Hammer over from Yahoo and gave him the go-ahead to use anything he wanted to improve mobile services. He chose node.
- Walmart's been open-source from the start
- But how to maintain legacy services?