Key Tips for App Development in a Hybrid Cloud Environment

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According to ABI Research, the evolving enterprise mobility space will see tremendous growth in new cloud-based solutions as enterprises seek to mobilize quickly and easily. 

It’s no secret that the cause of this drive towards mobility is the development and deployment of enterprise apps, especially as there is a growing number of devices and device platforms accessing enterprise content and systems. As companies seek to improve productivity, collaboration, and efficiency, apps provide the tools today’s employees require – and are demanding – on the [mobile] platforms they use 24/7.

But the development of an enterprise app isn’t always time- or- cost-effective. Recent research found that more than half (56 percent) of companies spend 7 months to 1 year building a single app, and nearly 20 percent spend more than $500K on the development of each app. 

This is where the cloud comes in – mobile continues to fuel cloud adoption in the enterprise, as 67 percent of CIOs say they’ll be turning to cloud solutions to help move their mobile projects along faster and more efficiently. In fact, ABI Research predicts that cloud platforms will generate U.S. $3.6 billion in mobile enterprise application revenue by 2019.

Regardless of how many apps you’re developing or the goals you’re looking to achieve with their deployment, it’s important to have a solid understanding of your infrastructure – and to make sure it effectively supports the work you’re doing. So, here are three key tips as you look to successfully develop and deploy mobile apps in a hybrid cloud environment:

1. You can’t leave your existing systems behind
If your enterprise is going to build meaningful, effective mobile apps, you need to leverage existing business systems. It simply does not make sense for a business to create a new identity system just for mobile initiatives. Likewise, they aren’t going to replicate a database to a more friendly system. (Think of all the headaches that would cause ensuring both identity or data systems are up-to-date.)

 And because these legacy systems speak SAML, SOAP, and other older languages while mobile developers speak REST, you need to add a new tier to your architecture. Which brings us to:

2. You need a “mobile aggregation tier” in your enterprise architecture
You will need a set of lightweight web services to serve as a translation layer. Instead of creating integrations using your existing systems of record for each and every app (which is inefficient and can lead to dangerous and expensive inconsistencies), the most effective method is to connect these systems to a translation layer and then provide RESTful connections to your mobile developers via service catalogs.
But that doesn’t completely solve the problem, because even with a mobile aggregation tier, the process needs to happen quickly. After all, we’re talking about mobile, where innovations and technologies are unveiled daily. This brings us to my final point:

3. Development needs to happen quickly, and IT needs to proceed slowly
With web applications, businesses can wait months or even years between major releases. Since IT owns the client devices (desktops and laptops), they have full control over software updates and can ensure a web application will work effectively and securely for long periods of time –albeit doing so by keeping their employees in the stone age with outdated browsers and OSes. 

 Mobile moves faster than web, though, and organizations that embrace BYOD have far less control over the client devices on which applications may be running. Mobile, therefore, requires iterative, agile development processes that result in incremental releases on a monthly or weekly timeline.

When it comes to anything touching businesses-critical systems of record, however, IT simply can’t support this kind of iterative and aggressive pace. Connections to business systems require methodical, rock-solid development to standardize integrations while securing mobile data and identity. Additionally, these integrations can’t be changed on a whim without first examining the compliance and security implications of an update.
As a result, your organization needs to support these two speeds simultaneously. To do so, you have to decouple the front-end development process from the back-end architecture one. There are a few ways you can do this – and mobile Backend as a Service is one – but the fact of the matter is that an enterprise mobility initiative is going to fail if the two development processes are too tightly coupled.

If this feels like too much to do, just think back to when the web was launching. There was plenty of enterprise IT transformation happening during that transition. Now, just like the transition to the web, organizations are slowly migrating towards a completely mobile-enabled workforce, and infrastructures need to keep up. 

A mobile-first organization not only benefits its employees, but remains competitive or even gains advantage across their industry by streamlining workflows and creating new revenue channels. Starting with these few key steps will get you well on your way.

Sounce Link :: https://appdevelopermagazine.com/2745/2015/5/21/Key-Tips-for-App-Development-in-a-Hybrid-Cloud-Environment/

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Microsoft open-sources vintage Web services technology

23:56 | Posted by | | | Edit Post

Analysts see Windows Communication Foundation as a last-generation technology, which limits its usefulness

Microsoft is offering an open source version of its Windows Communication Foundation technology, which has provided a programming model for service-oriented applications. The move's usefulness remains to be seen, with one analyst noting WCF is linked to "last generation" technology.

Located on GitHub, the new version of the WCF client is intended to work with .Net Core, which is a cross-platform open source stack unveiled by the company last year featuring a framework, runtime, compiler platform, and ASP.Net 5 Web development technology. "Right now, the WCF project builds on Windows, but .Net Core offers the potential for it to run on OS X and Linux," WCF Project Lead Ron Cain said in a blog post this week.

But analysts disagreed on how useful WCF is these days, as its legacy in Web services dates back many years. "WCF was one of the more useful add-on frameworks for .Net 1.x," analyst John Rymer, of Forrester Research, said in an email. "Its purpose was to provide a programming model for creating and running SOAP Web services. And it received high marks from clients, resulting in a lot of adoption." But SOAP Web services are "last generation," he added. "There's still investment by customers, but products and technologies aimed at RESTful services now have higher market value. Open-sourcing WCF makes it something of a commodity product, recognizing reality."

WCF may have precloud roots going back to early last decade, said analyst Rob Sanfilippo, of Directions of Microsoft, also in an email, but it's still a relevant part of the .Net Framework for some organizations today. "Publishing portions of WCF as open source will help developers and ISVs work with the technology, but it also rounds out the open source subset of .Net a bit more."
The WCF repository on GitHub contains a subset of the WCF product available on Windows desktop, supporting library profiles for building WCF apps for Windows Store. "These profiles are primarily client-based, making them suited for mobile devices or on mid-tier servers to communicate with existing WCF services," Cain said.

WCF becomes the latest in a growing line of Microsoft technologies offered via open source, following products ranging from .Net Core to ManifoldJS tooling toCoreCLR, which provides an execution engine for .Net Core, and MSBuild, which serving as a build platform for the Visual Studio tool set.

Source Link :: http://www.infoworld.com/article/2925638/microsoft-net/microsoft-open-sources-vintage-web-services-technology.html

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Mobile Apps Getting More Strategic

22:55 | Posted by | | | Edit Post


Mobile app use cases are becoming more sophisticated, finds an Apperian report.

Mobile app adoption in the enterprise is growing strongly, as recent surveys show. For instance, Good Technology found mobile app activation in the enterprise grew 160 percent from Q1 2014 to Q1 2015.

A new report from Apperian, a provider of mobile application management software, yielded similar results, finding that 52 percent of surveyed companies are rolling out mobile apps to more than 2,000 users, while 33 percent are rolling apps out to 1,000 users or fewer.

Enterprise Mobility 3.0

Some statistics from the report also suggest that enterprises are "moving from mobile 2.0, which was focused on email, calendar and contacts, and progressing into mobile 3.0 which is focused on using mobile apps and data to create a competitive advantage and real business value," said Alan Murray, SVP of Products at Apperian.

Nearly half of all companies are creating apps to drive core business processes and a quarter of them deliver apps to what Murray calls the "extended enterprise," dealers, partners, suppliers and contracted workers. "As they equip key workers with mobile apps and data, companies are changing the way people and industries work," he said.

Respondents expect these practices to result in top-line benefits, with 39 percent of them saying they expect to gain new revenue or service delivery opportunities, up from 30 percent the prior year.
Improved business processes, cited by 64 percent of participants, were seen as the top benefit of mobile apps. This was followed by increased user satisfaction and competitive advantage, both of which were mentioned by 60 percent of respondents.

Custom Mobile Apps

Like other surveys, the Apperian report showed a preference for custom mobile apps created in-house. Sixty percent of respondents had created custom mobile apps, while 35 percent had contracted with a third party to create customs apps. In addition, 63 percent said they purchase mobile apps from vendors and 52 percent download enterprise mobile apps from public app stores like Google Play and Apple's App Store.
Apperian found that companies most satisfied with their mobile apps were more likely than others to have developed their own apps internally. This is because investing in internal app development "helps to create a culture focused on mobile excellence," said Alan Murray, SVP of Products at Apperian.
"With custom-built apps, organizations tend to invest more in the app’s success and engage in strategies to increase user adoption, like internal marketing and private app stores," he said. "Companies that develop apps internally, using their intimate knowledge of customers and business processes, are more likely to gain a substantial competitive advantage with their mobility programs."

Mobile App ROI

Respondents tapped productivity apps such as note taking and office doc apps as yielding the greatest ROI, followed by mobile field service apps, including maintenance and parts inventory apps. Yet 32 percent of companies mentioned inability to determine ROI as a barrier to enterprise mobility.
Difficulty in determining ROI is due, in part, to companies' tendency to focus on the cost side of the mobile ROI equation, rather benefits such as increased worker productivity, Murray said.
Legacy tools used by many companies don’t provide the type of analytics and management capabilities required to determine the return on mobile app investments, he added.
"Companies should invest in app analytics to not only better understand the return on their investments, but to also help improve the quality of their apps, identify ways to increase adoption and understand where to invest in the future," he said.
Just more than half of respondents track which mobile apps are being used, the survey found. Forty-eight percent of them can see who is using their mobile apps, and 42 percent can see how frequently apps are used.

Mobile App Metrics

Apperian believes every organization should monitor three key metrics, Murray advised. They are:
  • App adoption – How many people download the mobile app out of the targeted population?
  • App usage and retention – How often do employees use a mobile app? How long do employees use the app? How do different populations use the app differently?
  • User experience – How do users interact with different screens within the mobile app? Which areas of the app do users interact with most?
  • App quality – How often does the app crash? How long does the app take to load?
Source Link :: http://www.enterpriseappstoday.com/management-software/mobile-apps-getting-more-strategic.html


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Build An Arduino-Powered DIY Tracking System To Track A Stolen Bike

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Unlike cars, bikes are difficult to track if they are stolen. If you don’t mind putting in the work, Instructables user stbennet shows you how to build your own tracking system with an Arduino.
The system here costs about $US225, so it’s really only worth it if you have a nicer bike. That said, it’s pretty easy to build using an Arduino, a GSM shield, a GPS system and a handful of other components. The whole system is strapped and locked to the bottom of the saddle. Of course, if the thief has any brains, they could remove it pretty easily to disable the tracking, but chances are it will take a little while before they figure that out, because it looks like a boring toolkit. And make sure your bike is locked up properly. Head over to Instructables for the full guide.
Source Link :: http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2015/06/build-an-arduino-powered-diy-tracking-system-to-track-a-stolen-bike/
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GPS to Track Biowaste Vehicles

00:36 | Posted by | | | Edit Post

Asserting that the government would not tolerate any negligence in transporting bio waste generated by hospitals, forest and environment minister Jogu Ramanna has said the government would bring in GPS tracking system to monitor the bio waste transportation.
The minister held a review meeting with senior officials of forest department and pollution control board here on Saturday. He ordered them to slap cases against hospitals which do not adhere to the norms in transporting bio waste.
Instructing them to intensify inspections on hospitals to check for non-compliance, he said special teams would be constituted with officials belonging to environment, health and medical departments.  He said the hospitals would be categorised into geographical locations, which would be linked up with the treatment plant for easy transportation of bio waste.
Source Link :: http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/telangana/GPS-to-Track-Biowaste-Vehicles/2015/05/31/article2841736.ece

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Web Design and Development In 2015

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It’s now a quarter of a century, ever since the emergence of the internet what obtains today is a powerful tool that is being leveraged by business, organizations and individuals for various ends. Whatever the entity behind every website, the primary goal remains the attainment of visibility and a distinct ability to connect with your target audience. This wonderful story starts with web design and development to establish a presence in this global arena. The technology, tools, and considerations that go into the design and development of every website have changed immensely since the days of websites which resembled magical lands of casinos and unicorns.

What Do These Changes Mean?
The most significant implication that these changes have is that you can no longer go with just any design and development service provider. You also have to take into account the fact that it’s no longer just a case of being there online. Almost every business is taking to the web and the most important thing now is being able to stand out and outsmart your competition in a lot of dimensions.
There are a lot of tips that can help you in making the right choice of design agency and ensuring that your website is a potent weapon in pursuing your objectives. The first thing that you need to do is ensure that you present your value proposition your visitors in 5 seconds. This is known as the 5 second rule and is designed to address the problem of visitors quickly exiting your website d lowering your conversions. Give the visitor reason to stay and this goes to content and appealing design. Another factor which must never never be forgotten is the time it takes for your websites to load and open pages.
The home page is the gateway to your website and need not be saturated with information. Your content should also make proper use of calls to action as and when required. You must make use of social share buttons to allow users to share your content and ensure that the content is always fresh. It is also vital to build the trust of your target market through initiatives such as guaranteed return policy, availability of certifications, free and timely shipping, and communication channels that enable consumers to speak to a human being when needed.

Source Site :: https://bdaily.co.uk/technology/26-05-2015/web-design-and-development-in-2015/

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Installing GPS trackers in Pawtucket vehicles presents a challenge

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Signing off on buying new GPS trackers for all city vehicles was the easy part. Now Pawtucket officials begin the difficult task of ironing out the details of their move to create greater accountability for public employees.

City Council President David Moran said that Mayor Donald Grebien and his administration will be responsible for implementing the tracking systems, but council members plan to be involved each step of the way.
There are a number of questions and challenges to be resolved, said Moran, including deciding what kind of GPS trackers to install, how the trackers will be monitored, who monitors the system, when the system is monitored, what happens to those who are caught using their vehicle in an inappropriate way, and how to make the system immune to tampering.

Moran said he expects "open communication" between the mayor and council.
Grebien said this week that his administration will work together with the council to implement the GPS system. Public Works Director Lance Hill will lead the effort, he said.

He and his team will be looking to make this GPS system more than just an accountability tool, but a useful resource on such things as tracking which streets have already been plowed, said Grebien.
Hill will be looking at everyone's "needs and wants" on GPS, seeking proposals from companies based on different scenarios, said Grebien.

Grebien said he agrees with the council's stated desire to create greater accountability for city workers, even though he didn't see it as a big enough priority this year to spend the $118,000 that the council added to his budget. He said he understands there was some "political pressure" from the outside to get GPS devices in place.

Grebien said some of the biggest questions officials will need to figure out is who monitors the GPS systems and how. He said he imagines that someone within each of the public safety departments and public works will be able to monitor, and a member of his administration will probably have access to all departments.

The mayor said he doesn't expect a huge amount of savings from adding GPS, as he believes most city employees are using their vehicles only for work, but he said he agrees with the council that this is a "moral issue" that should be resolved for taxpayers.

Moran said he too believes that there are "many honest workers who are doing it by the book," but "certainly there are some people who may be abusing the system." Some people might be caught using their city cars inappropriately, said Moran, but the hope on the council's part is that adding GPS trackers will be more of a deterrent. If that happens, the initiative will prove a success, he said.

No one would be exempt from having a GPS tracking device on their vehicle unless there isn't enough money allotted to get all vehicles done, said Moran. The city will have to put the GPS system out to competitive bid, he said, and if the bids come back higher than $118,000, then they'll have to prioritize who gets the trackers. The $118,000 figure was just the number council members were initially told, said Moran, but the task could prove to be more expensive.

He said if the bids come in higher than expected, he'll want the council to hear a clear rationale from Grebien on who should be excluded from having a GPS tracker in the first year of the new system.

Officials estimate that there are about 300 city vehicles.

The Breeze reported last week that the City Council voted to add GPS to all city vehicles, including those taken home at night and the ones that stay in city lots. The key impetus behind finally adding GPS was the case of Maj. Bruce Moreau, who was caught by reporter Jim Hummel using his city vehicle for personal business, including numerous rounds of golf.

For the new GPS systems to be a success, said Moran, city residents will need to be sure that there are "safeguards" in place to make sure no city employee is able to tamper with the new system or find a loophole to continue acting inappropriately.

"We need to make sure it's not abused to protect the integrity of the system," he said. "Otherwise it will be a complete waste."

Source Site :: http://www.valleybreeze.com/2015-05-26/pawtucket/installing-gps-trackers-city-vehicles-presents-challenge#.VWmeEc8irIU

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Understanding the hybrid technology of mobile application development

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If you are confused between hybrid and native applications, this post may help you reach to a conclusion.
We all are aware of the term hybrid.  It’s mixture two or more. In mobile application development, hybrid means the same.
An application based on hybrid technology is the blend two technologies known as web development and native mobile application development. Major technologies used are HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3 for the web part and a platform specific language for the native part. An Android based hybrid app is created using Java, for native part, and HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3, for the web part.
Objective C is used for iPhone based hybrid app and the rest web technologies are as same as mentioned above.
Let us understand the hybrid mobile app development approach in a deep manner. The front-end part of such app, or what we download from the app store, is a native application.
It is a tiny application or you can say a container which developers build using platform specific app development language. They need to create different versions of this container for different platforms.
For the Android platform, developers will need an app with the extension called apk. iOS supports applications with extension called ipa.
Windows Phone powered phones support apps with xap file extension. So developers need to make different front-ends of the same app for multiple platform support.
Then there is the back-end part. This part is purely a web application developed with various web technologies as mentioned. 
To support multiple platforms, the web part is supposed to be compatible with all the mobile browser engines in use. Hybrid applications are created to use web view control to render the files of HTML5 and JavaScript in full screen.
They use the web engine of devices. Most of the popular operating systems such as Android, iOS and Blackberry do use the same web engine called Webkit.
The reason of preferring hybrid apps over mobile web apps is that they can use most of features of device. These apps can use offline storage, camera, geo-location, notification, calendar, etc.
A hybrid app can also be made to support the display features like pinch, spread and swipe that are generally supported by native apps. When designed by expert mobile application developers, hybrid apps can also replicate most of features of native apps.
Hybrid app technology has just solved a common problem of mobile web app. It is distribution. There is no easy way to distribute a pure mobile web app.
But hybrid app can be distributed on stores like Google Play and the App Store. As mentioned above, developers can make platform specific native containers of the app and publish them on different stores.

Source Site :: http://www.whatech.com/mobile-apps/press-release/62289-understanding-the-hybrid-technology-of-mobile-application-development

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Android app support could be about to give Firefox OS a boost

06:00 | Posted by | | | Edit Post

CNET has seen an email from Mozilla Chief Executive Chris Beard that sets out some of the non-profit's new targets for Firefox OS. In particular, it sounds like the organisation's $25 smartphones could be abandoned.
These super-budget smartphones are aimed primarily at developing nations but Beard says they haven't seen "sufficient traction" so far. "We will not pursue all parts of the [$25 phone] program," he writes in the email.
Under a new initiative called Ignite, Mozilla wants to focus on compelling features rather than rock-bottom prices. "We will build phones and connected devices that people want to buy because of the experience, not simply the price," says Beard.

If the app fits

Android app support is an option that Mozilla is going to "explore" according to Beard. It could help increase adoption of Firefox OS as it looks to offer a genuine alternative to Android and iOS.
The organisation's focus will remain firmly on web apps and open software development, however. The leaked email mentions improved offline support for these online apps as well as Firefox OS for other devices besides smartphones.
It's already on a number of smart television sets and the more exposure Mozilla can get the better. Whether or not you actually end up using Firefox OS, competition and innovation are vitally important for the mobile landscape as a whole.
Ref :: http://www.in.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/Android-app-support-could-be-about-to-give-Firefox-OS-a-boost/articleshow/47396867.cms

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How to make your website a mobile-friendly one

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These days, eCommerce is at its peak. Most of the companies are boarding online. Many companies also have mobile phone applications so that they are at reach on a customer’s finger tip. Let’s find out how can one make a website mobile phone friendly one.

 Website fits in the size of a mobile phone

 Sandeep Koujalgi cofounder for Kyash a start-up that works as a platform for offline payments anywhere in India says, ”Whenever somebody creates a website he or she must ensure that it should be a “Responsive website”. Here, the word “Responsive” means the website should be mobile phone friendly. If the customer is accessing the website, in that case, the website should be able to fit in the size of the mobile phone. The display should be responsive whether on laptop computer or a smart phone. ”
Loads & displays well on mobile

To make it mobile friendly, one can seek help of experts or can approach platforms like Kart rocket. Vishesh Khurana cofounder of Kartrocket says, “As you’re creating your website on a desktop computer, keep in mind that many of your visitors will be visiting your site from their mobile phones. Make sure your site is mobile-friendly—one that loads and displays correctly on a mobile device so visitors can have the best user experience.

Take the Mobile-Friendly Test

Use these resources to ensure your site is mobile-friendly: Take the Mobile-Friendly Test to see if pages on your site are already mobile-friendly. If you’re using a content management system (CMS) such as Word Press or a platform offered by your hosting provider to build your site with themes, designs and templates, see if the software or platform is listed in our Customize Your Software tutorials. Each tutorial has step-by-step instructions on making your website themes and templates mobile-friendly.” He has further added that all of this is mostly done while creating a website itself and people can go to various platforms.

Ensure applications are light weight

Mangesh Stavyah the Director of Stavyah technologies says “There are two things. It is very easy to make mobile-friendly websites. One is, during the making of the website itself, you make a responsive website. The second is, the light weight applications we build for mobile apps. They are light weight applications.”

Ref:http://www.indianretailer.com/article/technology/ecommerce/How-to-make-your-website-a-mobile-friendly-one-3363/

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