Microsoft Architect Council Mobile Applications

Mobile applications for your customers

Case study: Brussels community website
Customer
Brussels hoofdstedelijk gewest
CIBG (central IT department of Brussels)
Goals
Reinforce economy by creating a digital local community
Monetise services / platform (in the long term)
Must-have features
Works offline: permanent presence on the user’s phone
Automatic update of content through web services
Easy distribution (SMS “MyService” to 3236)
Website integration
Works on 80% of mobile phones
www.citylive.be

Functionality: online city community www.citylive.be

Solution architecture: Citylive Community Services Platform
Functionality
Service creation
Service delivery
Service management
Technical
SOA architecture
SQL server 2000 DB
MS .NET 3.0 framework backend / ASP.NET frontend
Web services (JSON, REST, SOAP) through WCF
Session management and telco service integration through Microsoft Connected Services Framework 3.0
www.citylive.be

Solution hardwarde
Hosting:Kangaroot datacenter with Global Crossings, Tiscali and FreeBIX 1GB connections
Servers: HP cluster with SAN as virtual server host
Mobile phones: everything that runs Windows Mobile or Java J2ME
www.citylive.be

Solution software: Hydra
Functionality:
Collection of enabling services out-of-the-box
Central & secure repository for profile and application data
Provides abstraction layer for applications & websites using simple API’s
Controlled environment handling privacy/authentication/authorization
AD based authentication of services (internal or external)
Impersonation for non-authenticated service consumers
Authorisation: own service or CSF
www.citylive.be

Solution software: Application creation www.citylive.be

Solution software: Mobile Widget engines
Reference implementation on .NET Compact Framework
After validation, porting to J2ME, Javascript, Flash
Symbian: tried, but too fragmented / difficult process / weird architecture
www.citylive.be

Operation / system management
Service Operator : Has a web-based management interface
Widget authors : publish their apps and remain responsible (are supported through separate glowe.org website and can come to information sessions)
Community members : can transfer ownership of data entities in the system to each other. Escalation process with manual intervention if no agreement
Users : select their own content & widgets, create their own accounts, distribution by SMS and self-installation
Technical operations : regular process monitoring / server monitoring with MOM, regular DB and software maintenance schedules
www.citylive.be

Development cycle for mobile
Starts on PC
prototyping in .NET on desktop before implementing in .NET CF (is one of the bis advantaged of Windows Mobile)
Methodology: Scrum++
agility linked with the room to breath for some innovation
Tools: Microsoft toolchain
Visual studio, team server with sourcesafe, documentation on Sharepoint

Challenges / lessons learned
Things to do
Make mock-ups FIRST
Mobile apps have no set expectation
You can’t predict what will work
Do extensive user testing
Be prepared to change your concept
Technical POC alone is not enough
Use the internet & its protocols
A mobile does not live in your network
VPN’s are a thing of the past
SOAP is nice when critical, XML is easier
Use the universal firewall bypass port (80)
Think Multi-platform
1 platform only is not realistic
When you can: move up an abstraction layer or two (but web browser might be too thin)
Things to avoid
Stay out-of-control
With mobile, the user is in control
You can’t manage his device. Forget it.
Give users tools so they can DIY.
Avoid the bigger picture
Focus on a concrete function with an immediate value add for the user
Trying to change work processes, integrate with business intelligence, cover a larger scope: it will all fail
Mobile is new: create demand first
When it’s time for the bigger picture, current technology will be obsolete
Translate the web to mobile
In some cases, mobile websites are OK
But: don’t just convert existing web tools
Mobile has a different usage model then fixed (“browsing” is done on a desk)
www.citylive.be

Influence of future evolutions from MS
XAML : would make a great open cross-platform mobile abstraction layer (please)
SQL server compact : gets you there fast, but needs to open up to other platforms to be viable outside of corporate walls. (e.g. use XML schemes in WCF)
Popfly (mashup dev tool): will really take of if given some mobile service delivery blocks
DirectX : user input,video rendering,sound and 3D are big problems in mobile. MS has a nice architecture here
Directpush : Don’t keep the magic for Activesync, open up the API to ISV’s.
www.citylive.be Whishlist of things Microsoft can do for the mobile application industry

Stay in touch www.citylive.be blog.citylive.be www.citylive.be

http://www.slideshare.net	19
http://www.techgig.com	2
http://www.lmodules.com	1

Microsoft Architect Council Mobile Applications

by Koen Delvaux on Sep 26, 2008

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

3 Embeds 22

Statistics

Microsoft Architect Council Mobile Applications — Presentation Transcript