Serverless computing, once a buzzword that seemed to lose momentum, is making a strong comeback in the realm of modern application development.

Initially popularized by success stories such as Capital One's "serverless-first" strategy, interest in serverless platforms waned around 2020. This was partly due to the ambiguous nature of the term "serverless," which confused developers who still needed to understand cloud-native environments. However, recent trends indicate that serverless computing is not only back in the spotlight but is also gaining traction more than ever before.

One of the key reasons for this resurgence is a clearer and more unified definition of what serverless computing entails. Despite its misleading name, serverless does involve servers—just not ones that developers need to manage directly. Instead, a serverless application operates within an environment that handles deployment, runtime, protocols, and process isolation, allowing developers to focus solely on their code.

Another factor contributing to the renewed interest in serverless is the success of enterprise-level implementations. Initially, serverless was seen as a fast development option for back-end tasks, particularly by early adopters and vendors using Function as a Service (FaaS) models. Today, a wider array of enterprises are leveraging serverless solutions, proving its value across different use cases.

The serverless ecosystem has also grown significantly, expanding beyond its original scope. New ancillary services like serverless key-value stores, API frameworks, and vector databases are enabling developers to explore more complex and varied use cases. This growth has driven a shift in the marketplace, with a focus now on versatile cloud services that are replacing earlier serverless use cases.

One of the most exciting developments in the serverless space is its intersection with artificial intelligence (AI). As AI continues to dominate various sectors, the on-demand nature of serverless computing has proven to be an ideal match for AI applications, particularly given the resource-intensive demands of AI workloads.

Another promising innovation is the rise of WebAssembly (Wasm), which could be the future of serverless platforms. Wasm's advantages include drastically reduced cold start times and enhanced portability, making it a strong contender for deployment-agnostic serverless environments.

As serverless platforms evolve, we are seeing a convergence with edge computing, focusing more on applications and use cases rather than infrastructure. This shift indicates that serverless development platforms are becoming a cornerstone of cloud-native technologies.

With these trends in mind, serverless platforms are now defined as cloud-native software development environments that abstract away the complexities of cloud infrastructure. FaaS remains central to serverless architecture, but any platform that aligns with this definition is considered serverless. These platforms support the deployment of business logic, decouple state from compute, automatically scale on demand, and offer micro-billing, making them a powerful tool in the developer's arsenal.