As someone who has been involved in the development of the service since its early stages, I am particularly struck by the evolution of the development organization. In the early days, the development team handled everything themselves, including not only developing new features but also testing, post-release inquiries, and maintenance. However, as the number of customers increased, the number of inquiries also increased, making it difficult to complete planned tasks. In addition, as the product was adopted by enterprises, a higher level of quality was required. Therefore, we created a QA team to ensure high quality and established an environment where quality could be guaranteed with specialized expertise. In terms of development, we also significantly evolved the development organization by creating teams that specialize in handling both planned development tasks and unexpected maintenance tasks. I strongly feel that the development organization has grown along with the growth of the product.

Although my own involvement with DataSpider is relatively recent, upgrading the internal JDK version inevitably leads to some behavioral changes. We made a strong effort to ensure that the behavior as seen by customers remained unchanged, even while refining the internal code. For many of our long-time customers, "not changing" is one of the values they value. We put a lot of effort into making it appear as if nothing had changed. While there is a testing phase after development, we adopted a process of conducting compatibility verification tests in advance during the development phase, which was one of the approaches we focused on.

Those with programming experience will likely appreciate this even more, but I think it's the tactile, intuitive operation. The fact that you can create data integration processes simply by connecting icons with data flows and process flows is truly wonderful. Its relative stability is also one of its charms. Furthermore, the name Fantasista not only means multi-talented and versatile, but also means exciting the audience with various ideas. I think the mindset of members like Mr. Ono, who love positive surprises, is well reflected in the product.

It may sound cliché, but we want to continue providing the value of stable data integration without changing it. However, as data is becoming more and more distributed across cloud environments such as IaaS, on-premises systems, and services like SaaS, I believe there is definitely value in taking on a challenge to provide a platform that allows customers to achieve what they want without having to worry about where the data is stored. We believe that the flexibility that comes from having both HULFT Square in the cloud and DataSpider Servista on-premises is of great value to us, and we think that one path forward is to aim for a product that can become even more integrated into our customers' infrastructure.

The use of generative AI is an inevitable trend, so this version upgrade can be seen as an effort to lay the foundation for that stage. There is no doubt that focusing on and considering the use of AI will be one of the major trends going forward. In an era where code can be generated by AI, I personally don't imagine that in a few years we'll be manually creating scripts. I believe that a world like Vibe Coding, where code is generated by giving instructions in natural language, will become important in DataSpider Servista as well.

While DataSpider Servista provides reliable and secure integration in on-premises environments, and HULFT Square enables integration with cloud services, we are currently discussing merging these two and having DataSpider Servista operate as an agent for HULFT Square. Furthermore, with security in mind in the age of AI, we believe that agent orchestration functionality will become the foundation of both HULFT Square and DataSpider Servista, as we consider how to connect AI and data. The ability to prompt responses by passing human-approved data, based on workflows created by the customers themselves, to the AI will undoubtedly be a crucial question for both products and will align with the needs of the field.
Along with DataSpider Servista, which has garnered customer support for its stable and smooth operation, HULFT Square will continue to be refined to comply with user management and access control requirements as a service, as well as requirements for personal information protection such as GDPR, with an eye toward overseas expansion.

Rather than focusing on HULFT Square alone, I believe the significance lies in having both HULFT Square and DataSpider Servista. For a long time, there was a time when moving everything to the cloud was considered the right thing to do, but recently, there has been increasing talk about a return to on-premises solutions. Discussions about sovereign clouds, which allow companies to maintain sovereignty over their data and infrastructure while complying with regulations in various countries, are one example of this.
While the value of the cloud will never fade, there is a growing trend to consider architectures that strategically combine cloud with on-premises options. The ability to choose between the two and connect them effectively, which is essential for the future, is a significant advantage.

As the word "fantasista" suggests, perhaps it refers to a magical player who isn't bound by conventions and can flexibly connect various things. In fact, that's the kind of player we aimed to create with this product.
However, personally, I'd like to see them be more of a "fantasista" (a creative, imaginative force). I've been at Credit Saison for several years now, observing things from the outside, and I often hear people say that DataSpider's development is slow. With the release of version 5 and the upgrade of the core components, I think they've solidified their foundation for change. I hope they continue to cherish the idea behind the name Servista, which means "connecting things freely like a fantasista."

Initially, we were a company that handled HULFT and SI (Systems Integration), but since we started using DataSpider, we've realized that we can now connect data ourselves. I think DataSpider is truly the source of Data Integration. I believe that many of our customers feel the same way, which is why they have become fans of DataSpider. I think it can truly be described as the source of power for Data Integration.

My impression is that it's crucial middleware that can form the core of our customers' businesses, and it's software with a mysterious charm that attracts a large number of core fans. I have certainly heard complaints about slow development, so I want to return to the roots of being a fantasista that surprises the audience with various ideas, and create something that will quickly and impressively amaze them.

From my perspective, DataSpider is my starting point as an engineer, and it's a product that continues to grow together with our customers and partners. In that sense, I want to continue to thoroughly explore what value DataSpider can bring to our customers' modernized systems, including the shift from on-premise to the cloud and the emergence of generative AI.
Ultimately, it's the code that shapes a product. Unless developers are aware that every single line contributes to its value, a good product cannot be created. Having been away from DataSpider development for a while myself, I want to build an engineering organization that can properly pass on this vision, including through member training and recruitment.