Folks,
This week
I would like to focus on Mobile Ecosystem. In ever changing mobile world
the realm of possibility around technology and business models are on a
continual shift. With increase in sophistication of technology on
devices, wearable and the ability to connect more devices, to more endpoints
than ever before, has not only enabled innovation marketplace and business
models, but also added complexity traditional business model and enterprise
application landscape. It is my view that it is vital for any business and
technology vendors to understand the ecosystem, to not only effectively compete
but also thrive in the new economic age. In other words EVERY business, which
has anything to do with Mobility, needs to adapt. Much like all living
organisms adapt in an ecosystem to survive and thrive. I would like to
build upon a fundamental principle that development
depends on co-development. This principle implies that the
co-developed, which is part of the ecosystem, collectively defines the
progression or development in technology and an ability of a business to adapt
to survive or thrive. The business can be a widget vendor or a technology
vendor – the rules of engagement (i.e. Innovation and implied understanding)
are the same. In this post, it is my attempt to discuss and (hopefully) explain
the enterprise mobility ecosystem map that will not only enable us to compete
better, but exploit the co-developments and thrive
in the marketplace.
So let me start with defining a Mobile
Ecosystem. I think of a Mobile Ecosystem as a collection of diverse interaction
model (Devices, wearable, convergence, etc.), connected to various ‘services’
by a granular, yet diverse fabric of networks that can work seamlessly and share
data (location, state, information etc.). I realize that this simple definition
may not include things like security, analytics, cloud, etc. But I am including
‘services’ as a definition to cover the broad range of eco-system players.
A simple ‘day in the life of a Mobile user’ can very
easily adapt to our broad definition. A user has a device manufactured by
a vendor, which included Mobile OS with customizations and custom services
provided by the network service provider. The same user is able to cross
authenticate between apps, share data, location use Dropbox like service to
store files, invoke API to make payment, inquiries and is possibly monitored
for any security vulnerabilities by an enterprise agent. So the notion of
ecosystem services embedded into applications is not only seamless but also
ubiquitous.
Let
me try to define the players in the rich and evolving Mobile ecosystem:
1.
Application
SDKs :
Application SDK vendors provide platform
and SDKs for mobile application development.
Players:
Android, Apple, Windows, PhoneGap, BlackBerry, Appcelerator etc.
2.
Mobile
OS/Handset OEM :
Handset vendors that subscribe to one or
more SDK vendors , and OEM SDK as a
part of handset/device software stack. Essentially a Mobile OS.
Players:
Nokia, Samsung, LG, Microsoft, Apple, etc.
3. MDM/MAM :
Mobile Device Management/ Mobile
Application Management. Interesting space that not only needs to keep up with
the Application SDK, but security
threats and new emerging IDaaS models to ensure meaningful usage which is
secure and adopted by the end user.
Players:
Mobile iron, Fiberlink, Airwatch, good, XenMobile, Apperian, Knox, Afaria, etc.
4. Mobile Services :
Broad range of services that either provide a point solution to
address a specific problem or provide a ancillary service such as Paypal which may interface with a
retail app, and only provide payment service, and another app may provide
location based marketing, with contextually relevant couponing system.
Players:
Urban Airship, Twitter, Facebook, Paypal, Google Places, Localytics, foursqure,
Linkedin,WhatsApp,Flurry, etc.
5. Databases/data Services:
Important data service that needs to not
only consume traditional enterprise data models , which embedded in legacy
enterprise systems ( RDBMS?ODBMS) but also bring the new data models (No SQL ,
unstructured data) to relevancy. There is an assumption that some ephemeral unstructured
data is needed for analytics, inference
and action but necessarily for enterprise business systems.
Players:
IBM DB2, Mongo, Couch,
Cloudant,SAP HANA, Oracle, MySQL, etc
6. Identity Service
Identity service provide a mechanism to
assure identity of the device owner, while a device may have multiple persona
the assurance of application , data and identity security is of paramount
focus.
Players:
LDAP, IDaaS, Access management, Identity interceptors, CloudEntr, etc.
7. API Management
The ability for an
enterprise to expose an enterprise persona either by offering services to
enhance developer productivity, enable new application design models such as
composable services or to monetize the services - API management provides the
glue to bridge the gap between traditional and new services.
Players:
Apigee, Layer 7, IBM API Management, Mashery, etc.
8. Enterprise BaaS
Enterprise back-end as a service which
encompass any back end service and can employ API management to expose these services
to be metered and utilized. This mechanism gives a sense of decoupled model for
service consumption and composition.
Players:
IBM Bluemix, Kinvey, Feedhenry, parse, stackmob, etc.
9. Middleware
Traditional middleware
services that house the enterprise business logic, rules and processes, usually
connect to a back end database or EIS systems. I choose to include this as a
ecosystem component as most services today are not created in a vacuum and many
reside in Middleware systems.
Players:
WebSphere, Tomcat, Weblogic, Jboss etc.
10.Mobile Middleware:
MEAP – Mobile
enterprise Application platform can be classified as a Mobile middleware
service which provide flexibility, control, and enterprise awareness to Mobile
applications and Mobile specific services to legacy enterprise applications
Players:
Worklight, Antenna (Pega), Kony, Verivo, engine yard, SUP-Syclo (SAP), etc.
11.
Enterprise Stuff: CRM/EMP/ERP /BPM/ECM
These are the services that enterprise
have been building over decade to manage enterprise resources, human resources,
customer relationships, business process etc. I am including this also in the ecosystem for the same
reasons I included middleware services.
Players:
IBM BPM, SAP ERP, Peoplesoft, Siebel, Salesforce,
Dropbox, Box, sharepoint, Pegasystems, etc.
12. Cloud Services
This broad category probably represent a
lot of services available today –
includes both public and private. While this is evolving and widely
accepted, it is to be noted that
cloud service spans a broad range of services
Players:
IBM Bluemix, SalesForce, Facebook, Ebay, Dropbox, CloudEntr, LinkedIn, Google+,
APNS, GCM, AppStore etc.
13.
Connectivity Service Providers
The telecommunication providers, which
are the carriers of our voice and data packets, are an important part of Mobile ecosystem, and they continue to
play a broader and important role, ranging from network provisioning to
application services provisioning.
Players:
Verizon, ATT, Sprint, T-Mobile, NTT, Vodaphone, CenturityLink, Comcast, TWC,
regional telecom provider
As you all can see that there are a number of
key building blocks necessary for enabling a robust mobile application ecosystem. While, like any other
ecosystem, even Mobile ecosystem will evolve and change the operating landscape, interoperability
with the ecosystem should be an embedded thought in the design process. Be it
designing an Enterprise Mobile Strategy, Mobile platform, MEAP or a cloud
service, the true value to an enterprise and
client is the ability to adapt to the ecosystem and exploit the choices in a
diverse set of available services.
Ideally a design of an enterprise Mobile Platform should be open,
and have the ability to absorb and adapt to changing ecosystem, at the same
time provide integration to not so dynamic enterprise application systems. Such
a design imperative would be a strategic extension to an enterprise mobility
strategy. In addition, any Mobile Platform should provide the following
characteristic to be widely accepted ( besides being open or
build on open standards)
1. Integration
- We want a completely agnostic message to our clients that you can do
"native" , hybrid, or mobile web because the real value is in the
platform, administration, up-keep, security, and integration layer we provide
better than anyone else.
2.
Flexibility - Mobile Middleware should provides a layer of
indirection, which allows for the back end services to be shifted without
affecting the end point
3. Control
- Ability to surgically enable and disable Application
specific to a platform, administratively provide platform specific messages.
4. Security
- Mobile Middleware also arms the enterprise to adapt
and fit into to current Enterprise Security platform ( authentication,
authorization and security policy enforcement etc).
5. Reuse
and Optimization of
existing enterprise services - also provides an
avenue to exploit existing services ( SOA Model) and since these services were
design for Web Application, Mobile middleware allows for filtering and altering
the content, prior to sending the response back to end use.
6.Mobile
Specific Services and Eco system consumption - Unified push
notification, SMS, cloud services and devices specific notifications etc,
provide an avenue to address these via platform. and
more….
Conclusion:
When we talk about self-sustaining growth, we ought to
realize that self-sustaining growth is not really self-sustaining (in Mobile world),
and it needs infusion of energy from outside – the ecosystem. This
principle is true for any ecosystem, including our own planet. The growth and
expansion of business development, MobileFirst portfolio therefore relies on
implied understanding on the co-development that provides transient energy ( in the
form of innovation and value), and cumulative development effect will enable
the beneficiary of our technology – “our clients”, to derive value from our
products and solutions.
Good
Read and References:
