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The best IT shops know how to apply design thinking to the mobile app development process, keeping the mobile user experience at the forefront.
Delivering a strong mobile user experience is critical… Continue reading
Cloud-based applications are the future. Soon, cloud apps that are accessed using any device with a Web browser and Internet access will replace traditional legacy apps. But with so many applications… Continue reading
Digital Transformation requires Bimodal IT operations. A long time ago, in a business environment less volatile and complex, Agile IT Operations cared only for stability.… Continue reading
To properly prepare cloud-based applications for containers, be sure to emphasize a service-based architecture and understand your management options upfront.
Container technology is an increasingly popular choice for application hosting in the enterprise. But,… Continue reading
The Internet of Things (IoT) industry is booming, and Gartner predicts that by 2020, more than 20.8 billion IoT devices will be in use. As connected homes, cars, and offices become… Continue reading
To choose between native and third-party low-code tools, cloud application development teams need to weigh the benefits of consolidation against the risk of lock-in.
s the adoption of no-code and low-code platforms grow, some… Continue reading
Cloud-native apps built on Kubernetes can run anywhere. Now, with Open Service Broker, they can also use services hosted in public clouds such as Azure. – Cloud Software Development 
Back in the early 2000s, while working as an architect in an IT consulting company, I became fascinated by the promise of service-oriented architectures. Taking an API-first approach to application development made a lot of sense to me, as did the idea of using a message- and event-driven approach to application integration.
But that dream was lost in a maze of ever-more complex standards. The relatively simple SOAP’s take on remote procedure calls vanished as a growing family of WS- protocols added more and more features.
It’s not surprising, then, that I find much of what’s happening in the world of cloud-native platforms familiar. Today, we’re using many of the same concepts as part of building microservice architectures, on top of platforms like Kubernetes.
Like SOAP, the underlying concept is an open set of tools that can connect applications and services, working in one public cloud, from on-premises systems to a public cloud, and from cloud to cloud. It’s that cross-cloud option that’s most interesting: Each of the three big public cloud providers does different things well, so why not build your applications around the best of Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud Platform? Continue reading
Windows Server 19 will be available in the second half of the year, and you can preview it via the Insiders 
program. Microsoft is set to make Windows Server 2019 generally available in the second half of the year, opening up access to its preview build through its Insiders program now and targeting data centers with new features to handle hybrid cloud setups and hyperconverged infrastructure.
The next version of Windows Server also adds new security features and enhances support for containers and Linux.
In a Monday announcement, Microsoft noted that general availability of Windows Server 19 will mark the next release in its Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC), which essentially rolls up semi-annual Windows Server releases and related tweaks for enterprises that do not want to continuously update their server software.
A semi-annual channel server update will also go out at about the same time as the Windows Server 19/LTSC release, but Microsoft urges data centers that have workloads involving SQL Server, SharePoint, and Windows-Server-defined workloads to adopt the LTSC release.
This is the first major release of Windows Server since 2016, and Microsoft is doubling down on features for hybrid cloud deployments. Cloud computing promises operational efficiency and cost optimization, but most big companies are operating hybrid computing environments for a variety of reasons, including compliance issues. Continue reading
Progressive web apps offer many benefits, leading organization
s to take advantage of this trend in mobile app dev. A lack of Apple support stands in the way for some. As performance and user experience become essential to the success of an enterprise mobile app, progressive web apps gain interest — and may eventually become the future standard for mobile development.
Progressive web apps (PWAs) blend the functionalities of traditional web apps with native apps while providing increased speed and performance. Several aspects of the mobile app development landscape today make it primed for this trend to take hold.
“If you’re building a web app today, it should be a PWA,” said Michael Facemire, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass. “There’s really no reason not to.”
PWAs run on the web but can take advantage of native mobile device features, such as appearing on the home screen and sending push notifications. Google supports PWAs for use on Android device browsers, but Apple does not yet support them for its proprietary browser, Safari, on iPhones or iPads. PWAs differ from hybrid web apps in that they are typically not available for download through native app stores and are built using only web technologies.
For PWAs on Android, a service worker API caches data as the user browses to enable offline support. Most PWAs also include an application shell architecture that allows for fast loading times, transport layer security, and a web app manifest file that allows the app to be installed on the home screen, according to Google’s checklist of features.
There may be no difference between a PWA and a native app from the end user’s perspective. That’s beneficial for IT departments that already have an app interface their users or customers are comfortable with.
That was a big benefit for Nexercise, a health and wellness platform that is currently building a PWA for Sworkit, a fitness application. The Sworkit app was first developed for Apple iOS and Android, then the web and Apple TV. Since its web and native apps already shared some JavaScript code, it made sense to develop a PWA, said David Frahm, director of growth at Nexercise in Silver Spring, Md., who oversaw Sworkit’s development.
“Visually, might look pretty much the same as our web app,” Frahm said. “That would be great, because we have a great app, and we don’t want to change all of that. We get to deliver to users wherever they want us to be, as opposed to being limited to the app store.” Continue reading
Rapid mobile application development vendors offer a variety of options, from low-code and no-code platforms to micro apps, workflow apps and more.
Rapid application development tools can help organizations more easily mobilize business processes and workflows.
The demand for enterprise mobile apps has never been greater, but it remains complex and expensive to build and deploy them. Rapid mobile application development tools aim to break down these barriers.
Some of these tools enable employees with little to no coding skills to build apps using a graphical user interface. Others create simple apps that perform only a few tasks — or even just one.
Several vendors on the market take these and other approaches. Let’s take a look at them and their rapid application development tools.
Alpha Anywhere, Alpha Software Corp.’s platform, provides both no- and low-code rapid application development tools. Developers and others can use these tools to create web apps, hybrid mobile apps — through integration with Adobe’s PhoneGap Build service — and mobile forms.
With Alpha Anywhere’s offline capabilities, users of apps built on the platform can save data on their devices if they don’t have internet connectivity. Also, IT can control how that data synchronizes with back-end applications and databases when a connection is restored.