From GeneXus to GeneXus Next and Globant Enterprise AI

By Gustavo Carriquiry | COO of GeneXus

My relationship with GeneXus began over 30 years ago, initially as part of a project for a client, and later as a member of the GeneXus team.

During this time, I have witnessed the evolution of technology and how GeneXus has adapted to those changes.

When I started, only Transactions (CRUD) and Reports (lists) existed, and the supported technologies were DBase III Plus/Clipper with DBFs for “prototyping” and COBOL/400 (AS/400, iSeries).

I still remember those days when data structures, especially databases, seemed “set in stone.” Programs had to navigate around limitations, and “filler” fields were multipurpose—only God and the programmer at the time knew their semantics (and sometimes even God seemed unsure).

The first mission-critical system I worked on was GX/DB III Plus on DBFs. It was a time when PCs were starting to become powerful machines, and applications were beginning to be used in production environments. I consider myself a “PC native” because my professional journey began in this context.

While at GeneXus, I participated alongside Rafael and Freddy in developing the billing system for ANCEL, which at the time was the mobile telephony company and is now part of ANTEL. Mobile phones were just beginning to appear, and calls were charged by pulse (every 3 minutes of airtime, later reduced to 1 minute). Interestingly, the recipient paid the cost (so you were cautious about giving out your number).

Previously, a consulting firm had estimated that ANCEL would have about 4,000 customers by the end of 1995. The system, which went into production in September 1994, reached 4,000 customers by the end of that same year, showing how unpredictable reality can be.

This posed a huge challenge since ANCEL had to bill thousands of phones daily and hundreds of thousands of pulses, each with different plans and rates. While the DBFs managed this initial volume well, it became clear that with the much higher-than-estimated projections, the solution would not scale.

In less than a month, the system was deployed on COBOL AS/400, ensuring the scalability needed for ANCEL to maintain its operations and continue growing seamlessly.

Completeness and Coverage

The journey of GeneXus has always been shaped by multiple “waves” of evolution. On the one hand, there were waves of completeness: batch procedures, work panels for queries, among others. On the other hand, platform waves: from Visual Basic and FoxPro for Windows, to Client/Server, the advent of the Web (with the first web panels), to Java, .NET, iOS, and Android.

These transformations drove the evolution of both the GeneXus language and the IDE itself. First, it adapted to Windows, then migrated from c-tree to SQL Server, and later to .NET. Along the way, numerous products were born, with GeneXus Server standing out as it revolutionized teamwork by eliminating the need to manually manage XPZs (knowledge export files between environments).

However, the mission has always remained the same: to automate everything automatable in the development cycle.

To maintain this vision, several key elements have been fundamental:

The Genesis of the Process:

Starting from the partial and subjective visions of users.
Building a “Knowledge Base” (KB) to formalize those functional and partial perspectives.

Complete Vision:

The KB consolidates knowledge in a structured and complete form.
The KB ensures that all parts of the system are based on the same source of truth.

Specific Code Generation:

Supported by Artificial Intelligence algorithms, GeneXus generates specific code as a direct result of formalized knowledge.
Code is treated as a temporary and perishable artifact (by definition), not as an end in itself.

System Integrity and Consistency:

The evolution of knowledge in the KB impacts the entire system, maintaining a complete and coherent vision.
This enables more agile functional evolution, ensuring systems quickly adapt to changes without losing consistency.

GeneXus Next and Globant Enterprise AI: The Future of Software Development

Today, with the arrival of GeneXus Next, the new edition of GeneXus, and Globant Enterprise AI, GeneXus is redefining the future of software development.

GeneXus Next enhances the ability to co-create with AI agents, making knowledge formalization faster and more precise. This process allows the generation of optimal applications to solve challenges never before imagined.

Meanwhile, Globant Enterprise AI integrates agents and tools that simplify the use of LLMs, enabling companies to naturally incorporate artificial intelligence into their solutions, regardless of the technology they were developed with.

What is a bit more subtle and relevant for those of us creating these solutions is that it not only changes WHAT solutions are built, as it did when transitioning from DB III Plus to iOS, but also HOW we build the knowledge that forms the foundation of everything else. [To delve deeper into this, you can read my article GeneXus Next and Globant Enterprise AI: Innovation in the What and the How of Software Development].

With GeneXus Next and Globant Enterprise AI, we offer platforms that not only simplify the integration of AI into processes but also enable organizations to innovate faster, adapt better, and solve challenges that were previously unthinkable.

At GeneXus, we are committed to empowering companies to fully leverage these technologies, leading in a world where AI not only transforms industries but also redefines the rules of the game.

To learn more about these technologies, don’t miss these videos: