Solving the Hard Problems in Microservices (Without Adding More Complexity)

Microservices architectures sound great — until reality shows up. Databases become bottlenecks. Cache invalidation turns into a daily headache. Distributed coordination breaks under load. Latency stacks up with every service call. And somehow, you end up managing five new data systems just to keep things running.

In this session, we’ll explore the real-world challenges that emerge once microservices hit scale — the tough stuff most architecture diagrams conveniently ignore. We’ll dig into proven strategies for managing distributed state, reducing latency, ensuring consistency, and processing data in real time — all while keeping your system architecture manageable.

Along the way, we’ll demonstrate how Java developers can apply these patterns using JVM-native tools like Hazelcast, helping teams simplify distributed systems without sacrificing performance.What you’ll take away:

• Patterns for solving common bottlenecks in microservices
• Approaches to coordination, state, and performance at scale
• Live demos of techniques in action using Java-first tooling
• Ideas for reducing complexity without adding yet another system

Joe Sherwin is a Principal Solution Architect at Hazelcast with 22 years of experience in the design, development, and implementation of application systems within multi-tier distributed computing environments. Working with clients such as Vanguard, Fannie Mae, Federal Reserve Bank, Citi Group, Bear Stearns, Fixed Income Clearing Corporation, Comcast Corp, Webster Bank, Gartner Group, The Hartford Life Company, IBM Global Services, Mass Mutual, Lincoln National Financial Corporation, Bank of America, and Barnes & Noble Online Group, Mr. Sherwin has been instrumental in the development of large-scale mission-critical E-commerce, insurance, and financial systems. He has experience architecting & implementing solution using CORBA, RMI, Java EE compliant distributed Object architectures, in-memory high transaction/low latency solutions using Hazelcast IMDG®, GemFire, Ehcache & Oracle Coherence, and solutions deployable on IaaS or PaaS platforms like Cloud Foundry, Amazon Web Services, Rackspace or Heroku.