A recent announcement from Mendix, a business segment of Siemens, introduced the general availability of Mendix 10.6. This fresh iteration of the platform, which focuses on a suite of first-to-market AI enablement tools, promises to simplify and accelerate enterprise applications.
Jethro Borsje, Chief Ecosystem Officer of Mendix, expressed enthusiasm about the upgrade, stating, "The 10.6 platform release democratises access to AI's game-changing capabilities, thereby reducing the risk and complexity for any enterprise undertaking these efforts."
Gartner, the well-known analyst firm, has forecasted that by 2025, GenAI will be partnered with 90% of companies globally. However, Forrester cites roadblocks such as lack of skills and capacity, complexity in integrating multiple technologies, and the challenge of staying competitive whilst managing legacy systems. Mendix 10.6 comes equipped to overcome these barriers.
The Mendix 10.6 release enriches developer productivity with AI-assisted developer (AIAD) tools and updated editors for a faster and more intuitive experience. In addition, Mendix 10.6 has greatly simplified the process of augmenting Mendix applications with AI, expanding visibility and transparency, and imparting real-time insights and feedback for better management and optimisation of production and deployment across an organisation's software portfolio.
Borsje further added, "A platform experience that can harness the domain expertise of data scientists, business technologists, and development teams is one that best equips an organisation's AI investment to deliver results."
Borsje also noted that Mendix 10.6 is purposefully built to unlock the value found in disparate systems, data, and siloed teams by facilitating collaboration and oversight across an enterprise's digital landscape, enabling a connection between data and information to automation and decision-making.
Sheryl Koenigsberg, Vice President of Product Marketing at Mendix, stated, "Mendix 10.6 is designed to make software development more efficient with AI-assisted development, freeing developers to work on strategic objectives. The 10.6 capabilities also position enterprises to reap tremendous value through embedding AI in multiple use cases and modalities, and strategic imperatives."
Among the new introductions in Mendix 10.6 are AIAD Tooling, Mendix Chat, and MX Assist, which introduce an AI-powered chatbot and co-development logic bots to enhance development efficiency and software quality. It simplifies the process of using AI / ML to build smart applications by leveraging third-party hosted API services or embedding open-source ML models within Mendix Studio runtime. In addition, an expanded toolkit supports creating immersive AR / VR applications, chatbots, and voice-assisted interfaces from a single integrated environment across web and mobile platforms.
The latest validation of Mendix's strategic approach to creating digital solutions for enterprises comes from their continued leadership position in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-code Application Platform (LCAP), where they have been named a leader and placed highest for their ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision.
Mendix 10.6 arrives at a time when analysts highlight an urgent need for enterprise adoption of AI. It is set to destigmatise AI adoption by making it simpler and faster for businesses to embrace AI technologies and integrate them within their existing systems.