Microservices can be deployed in a distributed environment using a container orchestration platform such as Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, or an on-premises Platform as a Service (PaaS), such as Pivotal Cloud Foundry or Red Hat OpenShift. 

Service mesh helps reduce/overcome the aforementioned challenges and overheads on Ops, such as the operations overhead for manageability, serviceability, metering, and testing. This can be made simple by the use of service mesh providers such as Istio, Linkerd, or Consul.

As with every technology, there is no perfect solution, and each technology has its own benefits and drawbacks regarding an individual's perception and bias toward a particular technology. Sometimes, the drawbacks of a particular technology outweigh the benefits they accrue.

In the last 20 years, we have seen the evolution of monolithic applications to three-tier ones, to the adoption of the SOA/ESB architecture, and then the transition to microservices. We are already witnessing a framework evolution around microservices using service mesh, which is what this book is based on.