Mobile is lot more than just a Mobile App and Cloud technologies are even more important than ever

Folks

 This post is long overdue, and IBM Impact 2013 was busy, amazing, productive and exhausting all at the same time.  I think many of these Conferences like IBM Impact2013 challenges  us in many ways, our bodies, our mind and ability to deliver a meaningful and tailored message is not an easy task.  I was amazed to meet many brilliant colleagues  and such events makes one humble and fortunate at the same time to be a part of interesting evolution in our lifetime.

Mobile

Yes it was a certainly a hot topic, and it was evident that we have moved our conversation from Why? To How?  Which indicates a certain level of Maturity. IBM MobileFirst message was loud and the relevance of the topic was very well received.

            Another Important thing that I learned is that Mobile is NOT just about Mobile application but more than that. The ‘System of engagement’ and/or ‘Internet of things’ that we talk about is real and here. Here are a few nuggets:

1.     Maturity in M2M or M2X and ‘Connected’ vehicle is seen a trend that will change the way we live. Networks are gearing up to provision the bandwidth and special 4G LTE offering and Auto Manufacturers  are ramping up the  “Connected Vehicle’ offering. 

Google This: M2m Multi-Operator alliance – include NTT Docomo, Etilsalat, Telefonica are promoting a common standard.

Real ‘Smart cars” – Fords AppLink lets driver do interesting things with Glympse app. GM announced 4G LTE technology in their cars, Volvo ‘Connected Vehicle cloud’, Toyota ‘Friend’ – trends indicating that Cars may be ultimate Mobile devices and possibilities for commerce, retail, automobile and others are immense

2.     Internet of Things is also Mobile: This is real, where now the system of Interaction is the system of engagement i.e. my utility appliances can be instruments, intelligent and interconnected.

Google This: Qualcomm – Alljoyn – Open source software that enables this technology for these appliances to not only communicate but be controlled. – Intelligent.

3.     mHealth, mEducation. And so on… so I am now convinced that this is big 

 Thought:

Think Optimized Mobile Middleware: We need to think about  ‘Security’ and ‘Scalability’ – and from a ‘Systems’ perspective, I think we should look at all ‘touch points’ of my enterprise that includes the device as it is now an extension of my enterprise. Because: my application/app, an agent or a process that is ‘engaging’ with my enterprise is running on that ‘Device’. –something to think about!!

API Management:

 API Management is relevant. I think  this is not an accident but a trend that we should not only be aware of but also understand. API management I think like Cloud is an important part of the mobile story. Here is why:

1.     API management is – Well, let’s us say a ‘Public persona’ and provides Middleware services tool to manage and operate the services that are hit by Mobile devices and other applications.

2.     It is a contract between an API provider and consumer. This contract dictates the data packaging and/or business logic. With the volume and diversity of type of requests from different types of applications ( Mobile/web/cars etc) API management has become relevant and create a ‘Marketplace’ where producers and consumers thrive.

3.     This is vital to understand, I discuss the ‘unintended consequences’ of going mobile, which is known to increase the traffic and response time burden  by almost 10X. Think of increase in status checks, content download and like ‘Mobile Transactions’. So an unplanned  App or a mobile app without backing of a mobile strategy and planning  can swamp network, and connections to middleware services. API management  and ‘Marketplace’ also gives Mobile application developers  a rich choice of APIs to use for consistent and accessible interface that can be governed and managed. Forrester (think tank) suggests thinking of API management as Cloud Connect Technology that lets the data in the Cloud/data center get out and back to the Mobile app that needs it.. securely.

A typical API management solution will include :

a.     Developer Portal – signup and understand the use and consumption of APIs.

b.     API Gateway – tom mediate and govern the traffic between consumer and provider.

c.     API Lifecycle management – simple Governance enforcement.

Let us take time to understand how this can speed up development and deployment of Mobile and adaptive web applications.

Cloud – Increasingly important for Mobile presence.

So, I have always believed that  we can always do a better job in Cloud delivery than we have in the past. Cloud we define is a ‘Service Delivery and Consumption” model, and regardless of the medium, virtualization technologies involved  it  is about network and access to “Stuff” on demand.

We are seeing that clients expect a certain level of  Cloud integration  for things like Storage, profile access, application data, application provisioning, application  and runtime hosting and on and on… idea being that  we want the ‘enterprise’ to  consume data, APIs and quickly ‘compose’ application that can then be deployed quickly, forming of a web of services. While this seems enticing and natural extension to Mobile way of doing things, such initiatives require planning around security, governance, management and availability of network. But IMHO for us to success in marketplace a ‘cloud integration’ is a  must.

As always I would like to hear your thoughts,

Have  a great week!

:)

Nitin

Facebook Home, Firefox OS add to Device diversity, Netty, Playframework, NodeJS surface as true competitive thread to Mobile Middleware. AND What ? - FDA needs to approve my app?

Team,

A very powerful, intense  week. I got to meet many many clients, and be  a part of  their discussions around their mobile ambitions. I got to learn a lot from their dilemma and challenges and that leads me to believe that these nuggets of information can be used to learn the landscape and include in our platform the value that our clients seek.  There were also various exciting announcements from Facebook, Firefox and others, which makes this evolution  interesting and confusing. Let us look at this closely.

Facebook Home --  Facebook will launch with TC a mobile device called First( for $99) and this HTC First device will be a Facebook Optimized device, targeted for 500 million + facebook users and growing. The idea is to close the gap with Social + Mobile, and while this was already been addressed with Social apps on mobile devices, this is an  attempt to integrate the Facebook experience on a device. The industry has been speculating the growth and business value of this, but to us I think this imposes a new discussion with our clients on the impact to their Mobile Eco system.

Firefox OS – New Mobile OS and a device in future. Firefox OS is just one of many alternative OS' hoping to shake up the mobile scene, which is already crowded. Firefox will also work with ZTE for a Firefox OS device with  features as a newly integrated payments system and other features.

The Point: Facebook and Firefox  are after the larger global market with low costs device and open systems. Their entry to the Mobile OS is one in a glut. With a rich and rather confusing device diversity ( I’d like to call it mess)  enterprise now has these to consider in their application development. While Facebook is after  Mobile advertizing market ( 7.3 Billion and 13% is already Facebook’s share and led by Google) and Firefox OS is after the adoption, I must say this adds interesting conversation  with our clients.

MobileFirst Value: Fortunately, I see this as an immense opportunity  for our Mobile Middleware and overall value proposition of MobileFirst. I have always said to our clients that the value of mobile middleware is to provide security, integration and control and allows clients to reduce the burden of keeping up with all the changes in the Mobile OS’ world. After all Mobile Middleware – or IBM Worklight as a platform enables the ‘write once and run anywhere’ model AND the platform provides the device specific optimization and if  Facebook and firefox were to take off our platform would just have to include these device specific optimization in the mix. – One thing our clients do not have to worry about. – This is powerful and Value.

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Lastly, while we are on this Mobile Topic, I head an interesting bit a confirmed this with some healthcare information providers.

Apparently any application that is involved with any level of diagnosis  such as Blood pressure monitor, Breathalyzer or temperature or even glucose monitor, would need FDA approval. YES. Here are the guidelines:

http://www.fda.gov/medicaldevices/deviceregulationandguidance/guidancedocuments/ucm263280.htm

Here is an idea – a business idea – Why not create a wizard that encompasses these guidelines  to create a app that matches all criteria and that way our clients do not have to worry about it. Yes I agree there is a certain sense of liability, but we can include some feature in IDE plug-in that provides that prescriptive (no pun intended) approach.

We do with other standards such as  HIPPA and SWIFT etc.

Just a thought.

Have  a great week! As always I’d be interested in your thoughts!

:)

Nitin

Why Mobile Middleware or 'Mobile Platform"

We are all over the map with Mobile:We engage in discussion with regard to differentiating with frameworks like appcelerator, open frameworks - HTML5, Jquery, Sencha and then discuss the Apple ecosystem and how Sencha and other mobile application development frameworks such as a Xamarin Mono and Unity etc have found a way to by pass xcode requirements. We discuss the merits of native vs. hybrid vs. Mobile Web, moving the discussion to security and scalability, cross platform tooling, cross compilation, democratization of mobile application development and device diversity. --- It is a mess and we tend to lose time and effectiveness of understanding our client's enterprise requirements.

 

The market of cross-platform tools is booming in 2012.  There are over 100 vendors selling tools that range from JavaScript frameworks and app factories to runtimes. All of these seeking to capture developer mindshare, experience and expectations, we notable one's are  Adobe (Flex), Appcelerator (Titanium), AppMobi, Bedrock (Metismo), Ansca (Corona), DragonRad, Kony, Marmalade, MoSync, Netbiscuits, Alcatel Lucent (OpenPlug), PhoneGap, RhoMobile, RunRev (LiveCode), Sencha Touch / jQTouch, Strobe/Sproutcore, Unity, Unreal, Worklight and Xamarin (MonoTouch/Droid).

 

             

Why Mobile Middleware or 'Mobile Platform" : Building upon earlier posts, I think since we are in enterprise space and will eventually have to address the enterprise integration challenges for mobile applications, I think it is vital we center this as a part of our discussion. Some Arguments I have used are as follows:

1. 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, adapters, and integration layer we provide better than anyone else. - Integration
2. Mobile Middleware provides a layer of indirection, which allows for the back end services to be shifted without affecting the end point. - Flexibility
3. Ability to surgically enable and disable  Application specific to a platform, administratively provide platform specific messages  - Control.
4. Mobile Middleware also arms the enterprise to adapt and fit into to current Enterprise Security platform ( authentication, authorization and security policy enforcement etc) - Security
5. Mobile Middleware 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. - Flexibility, control and reuse and Optimization of existing enterprise services.
6. Mobile Specific Services - Unified push notification, SMS and devices specific notifications etc, provide an avenue to address these via platform.

and more….

World around us – be it commerce, banking, workplace is rapidly changing and we need to adapt – fast!

Folks,
Team,

 This post is long overdue, but better late than never.  I do have a lot to share, and having spend a week at IBM connect I am all charged up about the futures and trends ‘connected’ to Social and Mobile. While these conferences are exhausting, they do provide a concentrated opportunity to learn, share and make new connections. While the excitement around social and mobile is evident and nothing new, I was in awe to see some amazing innovative solution build around our products at Solution Center and sessions presented by some business partners and clients.

Some examples include:

Bunchball – They have built their platform around IBM connections to gamify the social networks. Imagine an incentive to make meaningful posts and engaging and sharing at workplace.

Panagenda – an IBM advanced business partner, who have a whole set of analytical and management tools around our Notes and Connections ecosystem.

BB10 – Blackberry 10 was launched  during IBM connect. I think this was splash. I think BB has  a very interesting and compelling proposition from an Enterprise point of view.
They have a workspace – which separates personal and work related applications, and due to BES integration they don't need things like traveler/Juno's and 50 other things, anything work related is secure due to BES, so from a total solution it takes some headaches of MDM away. It also can run android apps...but that is 2.3.3 ginger bread...so not much value there...they only have 70,000 apps....and growing…and Angry bird is one of them! AND WL  supports BB10.

And more…

It is safe to say that Social AND Mobile was underlying theme of the IBM connect conference. Every keynote speaker and every executive focused on importance of Social network, importance of Mobile channels and access to new markets.  While I presented on dry and insipid topic of scaling Portal environment with WXS and XC10 (this is Dynacache –WXS plug-in use case for portal), I was largely influenced by focus and efforts from our clients attending the conference to embark on social and mobile Journey. While I personally think some of the rhetoric is hype and only a fraction of it can be actionable and usable by many enterprises, I do think that the world around us – be it commerce, banking, workplace is rapidly changing and we need to adapt – fast!

After I got back, I wanted to spend some time looking into industries that are transforming and here are some examples of what I found that indicate that change:

Music and entertainment – Spotify is expected to pay rights holders (music labels, predominantly) $500 million this year. That's huge for comparison's sake, fellow streaming service Pandora paid a total of $230 million to right in 2012. Netflix gambles with $200 million on it’s own content -> indicating the change in the way we listen and access entertainment. Which is predominantly Mobile device.

Hitrecord (http://www.hitrecord.org/) -- Social media to connect various artists and compose movies, art and documentaries-- they are working on a model to attract best and talented people and trying to figure out how to pay them if their work is used in art. - Indicating how talent and work and channeled via new social market place.

Axs.com – this week launched it’s own ticket vending site, divorcing itself from dominant player – Ticketmaster.com. It turns out that 20% of all Ticketmaster sales were from AEG group that owns major entertainment venues.  Now AEG provide better value and lower cost to its clients. – Indicating the shift in business models and value of client specific knowledge and data.
And I can go on…

Point I want to make: Let us, as professionals understand our clients, their industry and shift in ‘their world of business and operation’. We ought to relate that to the operating side of the business i.e. applications, mobility and new demands on their infrastructure.


have  a great week!
:)
Nitin

Let us talk Mobile

Let us talk Mobile..

http://www.slideshare.net/ngaur/worklight-nitin-nm

To be a spectator ( we do have front seats) or lead the change!! - Welcome 2013!!

 Wishing you a very Happy New Year - 2013. Leaving a busy 2012 behind, I personally am excited to welcome 2013, partly because it is "new" and party because we can learn from 2012 and focus on  the 'collective'  outlook of 2013.

    Personally 2012 was a great year for me, my travels took me places,  which enabled me to learn how technology around us is changing lives and witness the impact first hand. Which makes me to believe that we are certainly in interesting times and have an opportunity to not only be a part of this revolution but also lead with our collective input. I think...the choice is ours to either be a spectator or tighten the belt and lead the Change.

    Below are a  few high points of 2012, which in my humble opinion will set the stage for growth momentum in 2013…Application Infrastructure outlook of sorts!

1.    Black Friday seems to be building up frenzy and tops the sales from previous year, not just the US but the rest of the world too. This Black Friday weekend in 2012 businesses raked in more than $59 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. --- Want to guess how much was Mobile generated business?

2.    Retailers looking to cash in should make the most of Black Friday weekends --- in many case this one weekend accounts for 20% of overall annual sales. Online sales on Cyber Monday jumped 30% from the same day in 2011, according to data from IBM's Digital Analytics Benchmark. So what can our client's learn from this? consumer orientated businesses that overlook mobile may be quickly falling behind the competition. Nearly one in four shoppers used a mobile device to visit a retailer's website on Black Friday, according to IBM  Study - Answer 20% of all sales were on a mobile device!

3.    A huge differentiator in this year's shopping season is the level of intelligence many retailers have about their customers. With loyalty programs and deep analytics, many retailers know precisely the types of customers who will be drawn in by certain offers, and what other products those consumers are likely to buy. - To be this sounds like a value proposition that the industry will build upon in 2013!

4.    Mobility… Mobility… Mobility… that seems to be the Buzz. But with new  systems of engagements emerging how do we engage in a meaningful manner, is having a mobile app adequate? I think the answer to that is a resounding "NO". We should be engaging in Mobile application design discussion, and engage in an activity that allows us to paint a story where we have an  enterprise design imperatives that maps to application design imperatives.

5.    We ought to also consider the challenges of this emerging and viral engagement paradigm with social and mobile, that the reputation is ephemeral and security is paramount. Shoplifting is all time low because of declining 'brick 'n' mortar' business models, so where do these shoplifters go?  --- U guessed it, they all are lurking on-line, and embarking on new avenues  enables by the emerging trends. Inference : Mobility…Mobility…Mobility implies focus on security…security..security!

6.    I started with Retail, but the trend  is rampant in all trades that are engaged in buying, selling and transacting in this ecosystem. There are ancillary services emerging from new shipping, returns to even new payment networks ( such as NCX) that is bound to change we do business in 2013 and beyond.

7.    Banking Industry, be it consumer banking or investment banking the innate need for anytime anywhere transaction processing by consumers will drive the need for secure, resilient and real time processing of the back-end systems that were never designed to handle this level of engagement frequency.

I can go on…but you get the picture.  My point is we ought to think 'Real Value' -

    I have been discussing this with my peers, my mentors and a many clients, and as we begin 2013 I think we have to focus on "value" in our rhetoric. It should not longer be about cheap labor costs, or free software, but about the total cost of solution. I think we should seek consultative engagement model (where we take these industry and technology insights) in helping with the enterprise design points which lends itself to a sustainable and cost effective solution.  I have always believed a good design pays for itself.

So  to reiterate, my opening point, we  have  a choice to either be a spectator ( we do have  front seats) or lead the change….The Choice is the leadership and ours to make is ours to lose!

As always I curious to hear your thoughts and Observations!!

Have  a great new year!!


:)
Nitin Gaur

Chief Executive Customer – the ONLY set of C-Suite that matters!

I spend 2.5 days at IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit 2012 in Orlando.  I was representing WXS/XC10/Worklight and was primarily there to discuss WCS (WebSphere Commerce) and WXS use case that is geared towards scalability and performance AND to discuss IBM Worklight and IBM Mobility Foundation. While I am not a huge fan of conferences as it takes a toll on your body and schedule, but I must say I did learn a lot and I think a 2.5 day conference is ideal.

    The most common resonating theme was the new set of C-Suite that matters – Chief Executive Customer. The entire conference was buzzing with retailers, business partners and IBM business units show casing and sharing their approach to “understanding “ and creating “ efficient value chain” in process of buying, selling, marketing and servicing the Chief Executive Customer.  I was amazed to see how much of what we do in Application Infrastructure is critical foundation to the ‘efficient Value chain’ that every attendee was focused on (but NOT directly). Here is how:

1.    New Features in Commerce Offerings – This included WebSphere Commerce and Sterling commerce. The roadmap presented a natural convergence of the best of breed solutions – WebSphere Commerce from a front-end engagement and Sterling commerce for back end engines such as B2B interaction, Order Management Systems, Inventory Management systems etc. Both conveniently integrated using WebSphere Message Broker as foundation.
Application Infrastructure Linkage – While there was little talk on understanding and discussing foundation, we ought to remind ourselves that WebSphere Application Server is still the foundation behind the engine, and use of ‘elastic caching’ (WXS/XC10) is more relevant that ever both for WCS platform and WebSphere Message Broker – the integration platform.

2.    The Analytics Fever: Business Analytics was central to all and every conversation, every retailer is looking to not only understand the client behavior but use informatics to track every aspect of ‘engagement’ with “the Enterprise’. The Capabilities of Coremetrics, Unica and TeaLeaf all present a unique set of capability to not only provide the insights but also the ‘customer experience Metric’ which was non-existent until late.

Application Infrastructure Linkage - Analytics is an interesting area, and while we are not directly related to the ‘technical’ aspect of the discussion, we certainly are in middle of the technology discussion. The Analytics not only expose deeper insights but clients do so for growth and increase in ‘business’ which has a direct impact on a sustainable and scalable commerce Platform.

3.    The Mobility Buzz:  I am convinced that there is little understanding and much hype about the ‘technical aspect of Mobility’. Let me explain:

While everyone gets the fact that Mobility is vital and an important emerging channel to engage with an enterprise, many clients are often confused with where all the parts fit in, below was my attempt to clarify and paint a picture of that landscape.

1.    Mobility is NOT the same as Web Centric Interaction – So argument that Tablets such as iPad/Samsung GalaxyS present more real estate so browser based apps a.k.a mobile web is sufficient is not only weak but incorrect. Mobile applications are all about customer experience so making that assumption is robbing the Chief Executive Customer from that rich personalized experience.

2.    Device Diversity – some call this a Device “Mess” – One can no longer ignore this paradigm and should plan to support up to 4 dominant mobile device OS' such as ( but not limited to)  iOS, Android, BlackBerry OS and Windows. Because choosing not to focus on one or more of these implies you are shutting the door on that ‘device demographic’.

*Important Technical Note*: It is vital to understand the IBM Worklight capability for support for multiple devices using standardized technologies ( Mobile Trio – JS, HTML5 and CSS3). It is also vital to understand that key differences between  how the  application are compiled and tested ( and later disseminated) on iOS vs. other platforms. While IBM Worklight does offer “write once run anywhere’ capability the Worklight Studio DOES NOT CROSS COMPILE – i.e. ONE NEEDS ‘xcode’ which is a  iOS development IDE for mobile applications on iPhone/iPad. Worklight makes it easier to port the common parts of the code but  one absolutely needs ‘xcode’ to compile and create ‘IPA’ or iOS deployable application unit.

3.    Application Dissemination  - i.e the mechanism to move the Mobile Application to end user device.  To this there are solutions  where MDM plays a part and provides an “App Store” which is primarily for B2E ( Business to Employee) and one can subscribe to Google Play or Apple App store for B2C ( Business to Consumer). There are some considerations for  iOS applications where  there is a  defined process from Apple to enable the ‘App Dissemination’  through a secure web server that authenticated users can access. It is important we discuss these with our clients.  Again this is a  restriction imposed by Apple.

4.    No Mobile application is created in  vacuum – with exception of eBooks and Games no Mobile application is created in vacuum. In many cases These ‘new’ mobile application are exploiting existing services so we have to factor in the ‘unintended consequences’ of scalability and performance as  going Mobile adds additional stress to current services environment.

5.    Analytics – From what I have seen and heard that Web/Mobile Analytics related to Business aspects and technical aspects  will be an integral part of Mobile application and infrastructure design, the growing field of analytics will provide insights into not only the play by play of client experience on their device but involve a agile and rapid change in the development process of the current applications. The Application  will go through a monthly of not weekly change to adapt  to the insights we gain.  This alone will demand that clients maintain a robust mobile middleware platform to ensure that they are ready to embrace that change. This will be a business and cultural challenge.

6.    What does ‘Boutique’ Mobile application vendors offer – This came up with every client I spoke to, and IMHO Boutique vendor are a serious threat due to low price point  and perception of complete solution. But all Boutique shops provide a single application, which may include a Mobile application and a low thin back end server.  I fear that over time such projects will create ’spaghetti’ of mobile application mess.  So a  coherent mobile strategy that focused on a common design principles is not only required but will save our clients a lot of hassle as they navigate their ‘Mobile Journey’.

Lastly, I did get to learn  what clients seek in a product and expect from vendors. I have also learned from clients such as Expedia.com that  a maniacal focus on clients and service is not only  a good business practice but also a must to survive. And while this may seem like a obvious statement, the leadership of any enterprise should have the same maniacal focus on  ‘Chief Executive Customer’ that we profess that includes from products, licensing, support and above all in all ‘client touch points’  we have.

As always I will be interested in your critique and thoughts!

Have a great week ahead!