For Impetus’ White Papers archive, visit- http://www.impetus.com/whitepaper This paper talks about the mobile solution development approaches, and examines how the strengths of the Cloud can be leveraged to create a smart hybrid mobility solution development strategy

1. How ISVs Can Utilize Cloud-Based
Services for Enterprise Mobility?
Abstract
In this white paper, Impetus talks about how both mobility and
cloud computing are transforming computing as we know it. It
focuses on the key drivers of mobile cloud computing, and looks
at how the Cloud is shifting the paradigm of enterprise mobility.
The white paper additionally details the mobile solution
development approaches, and examines how the strengths of
the Cloud can be leveraged to create a smart hybrid mobility
solution development strategy for enterprises.
Impetus Technologies Inc.
www.impetus.com
W H I T E P A P E R

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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................3
The key drivers of Mobile Cloud Computing .........................................................3
The power and impact of the Cloud on Enterprise Mobility .................................4
The ideal model for Cloud-based enterprise mobility...........................................5
Using public Clouds................................................................................................6
Approaches to enterprise mobility........................................................................7
The Cloud Powered Smart Hybrid approach .........................................................8
The Impetus solution.............................................................................................9
Summary..............................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Cloud computing is proliferating as is mobility. Today, both these technologies
are marrying, to create an unmatched and powerful platform for users, which
brings a host of benefits to them, cost-effectively, conveniently and on-the-go.
The mobile platforms, as well as the Cloud have revolutionized the way
enterprises work, bringing about tremendous changes in the way data is
created, moved, stored and retrieved. The traditional self-contained, on-site
networks are going away and a new infrastructure, that serves a mix of on-site
and Cloud, will rule in the near future.
A recent report by Forrester predicts that the global cloud computing market is
going to increase from about USD 41 billion in 2011 to USD 241 billion in 2020.
Another study by IDC reveals that a total of 302.6 million smartphone units
were shipped in 2010, compared to 173.5 million in 2009.
The growth is massive, and has been driven by the following factors:
• Easy access to computing, storage and various other resources,
deployed on the Cloud; these resources are available to all enterprises,
irrespective of their size.
• Outsourced management, that allows enterprises to use software
without any problems of installation, maintenance, or managing the
associated databases.
• A huge pool of resources on the Cloud that can be pulled.
• A way of reaching devices, by leveraging services from various mobile
platforms.
• Anytime and anywhere access of services offered by enterprises (that is
facilitated by the Cloud).
The Key Drivers of Mobile Cloud Computing
HTML-5
The first critical driver is the availability of HTML-5. This reduces the
dependence of end-users on plug-in application technologies including Java,
Flash and SilverLight by offering Web application caches in an offline mode, and
enabling users to access the pages even when the Internet connection is lost.
From the mobile Cloud perspective, HTML-5 is a critical breakthrough that can
address the issues of poor connectivity.
The rise of the Cloud
The next key driver is the Cloud itself, which provides greater processing power

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than the handset. The general consensus is that, rather than having users
download ‘thick clients’ to handsets, it is easier to download ‘thin clients,’
where the major share of processing is conducted on the Cloud. Also, the Cloud
enables collaborative applications to be available 24x7, at any location.
The proliferation of high speed networks
According to a study by the Yankee group, there is a ‘year on year’ growth in
high speed networks and in the manner in which the mobile industry is
leveraging the same. With 4G connections worldwide expected to cross the 500
million mark globally by 2015, it is essential for the mobile developers to use the
cloud services, effectively and seamlessly.
Another study by Juniper Research shows that the total market for Cloud-based
mobile applications will rise from USD 400 million in 2009 to nearly USD 9.5
billion by 2014, at an average annual increase of 88 percent.
The Power and Impact of the Cloud on
Enterprise Mobility
It is an established fact that combining the power of cloud computing with the
freedom and functionality of mobile devices can give enterprises access to a
wide range of benefits. The Cloud enables enterprises to access key information
on mobile devices, and reach out to their customers in an efficient way. A user,
for instance, can access important documents related to an on-going project
from his/her iPad. Other advantages include increased reliability, burst-ability,
real-time updates, scalability, employee empowerment, etc.
However, companies utilizing the Cloud for their enterprise mobility initiatives
need to overcome some challenges, such as, deploying numerous
heterogeneous devices on the Cloud, securing limited capability devices as well
as efficient and secure application distribution.
Organizations must deploy best practices to address these concerns, including
the following:
• Proactive security monitoring and intrusion prevention, the key to
maintaining a secure environment.
• Central mobility management, along with role-based policy
management, to ensure better control and reduce end-user
responsibilities.

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• Distribution of approved applications via enterprise application stores
to create a single and secure delivery platform in the Cloud
environment.
The Ideal Model for Cloud-Based Enterprise
Mobility
This model provides a high level structure of cost-effective and highly
maintainable Cloud-based enterprise mobility. It indicates an ecosystem based
on collaboration, where every enterprise accesses its core services through the
Cloud. The enterprises have an option to create their own Cloud, or host their
services on public Clouds. Hosting services on a public Cloud works on a pay-
per-use model.
This strategy encourages device agnostic solution design, where all the high
level applications used for PCs and other mobile devices within an enterprise
will leverage the Cloud for business logic and the majority of their storage
needs.

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Here, the User Interface (UI) plays an important role in helping people efficiently
access the application features from various devices that exhibit different form
factors and capabilities. In this model, the application UI for a specific platform
can then be organized efficiently, by leveraging the repository selection
manager component.
The UI will be designed as web pages, and will be organized in a repository that
supports the resources and content for a wide variety of devices. While writing
the UI web pages, the use of proprietary or third party cross-platform
compatible visual frameworks such as Sencha Touch, are advised. They will
assist in the native rendering of the UI, and will help in providing a rich user
experience as well as cross-platform compatibility.
This solution simplifies the application development for all target platforms and
devices, as the target application will just need to use the existing pieces hosted
on the Cloud. No UI management, business specific and UI logic will be
incorporated in the application, which is being designed for the target platforms
and devices.
Apart from the enterprise Cloud component for core proprietary services,
organizations can pick and choose the desired services from a range of other
Cloud service providers. They may specialize in various domain proprietary
services like Business Intelligence, CRM, Mobile device management, etc. The
enterprises benefit by leveraging expert services from various specialized
vendors in the desired areas.
In case of SMBs, the enterprise Cloud may not exist at all. In fact, the services
can be availed from the specialized Cloud service providers to achieve Cloud-
based enterprise mobility.
Using Public Clouds
Currently several public Clouds are available with innovative offerings in
mobility. These can be leveraged by enterprises, both large and small.
Windows Azure: Windows Azure is an Internet-scale Cloud services platform
hosted through Microsoft data centers that can be used to build compelling
mobile applications. It provides highly scalable processing and storage
capabilities, relational database services, access control services and premium
data subscriptions. The platform also offers toolkit support for all major mobile
platforms including the Windows Phone, iOS and Android, that can be used by
developers for accelerated application development.
Apple’s iCloud: This is another platform that offers an effortless way to access
just about everything on all the Apple devices of a user. It stores music, photos,
applications, calendars, and documents, and automatically pushes them all to

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the user device. The iCloud Storage APIs can be used to store documents and
add data in the iCloud.
An upcoming Cloud shift in mobile phone hardware is also on the cards. Apple is
planning to combine its latest OS, the iOS 5 and the iCloud with the iCloud
iPhone. This upcoming handset will rely heavily on Apple’s new Cloud based
offerings, and less on internal storage.
Approaches to Enterprise Mobility
Today, when it comes to mobility solutions, developers have the option of going
for a thin client, thick client or a hybrid approach.
Picking the right approach can be tricky and critical, as it can have a direct
implication on the budget, timeline and mobility offerings on the corporate
roadmap.
The thin client is entirely written using web technologies, such as HTML, CSS and
JavaScript. The application gets executed on top of the browser layer and is
therefore, not as fast as the native application.
A thick client, on the other hand, resides on the mobile device file system as a
binary executable file. It provides better performance and an enhanced user-
experience, but is expensive to develop and maintain.
The Hybrid Application Development Approach, which is much talked about,
claims to leverage the best of the thick and thin client approaches. It is a native
application consisting of embedded HTML. The web content may be packaged in
the application or downloaded from the web. With its reasonable cost and
cross-platform portability of web content, this approach brings to developers
the power of the native application as well.
Unlike the thin client approach, the hybrid approach leverages the specific
features of the OS in the applications. Like the thick client approach, it is
distributed through popular app stores or via the enterprise distribution
mechanisms. In the Hybrid approach, developers have an option of using HTML5
and JavaScript, to develop touch optimized applications that support client side
rendering and offline data caching.
As this approach allows developers to utilize web technologies, it enables easy
portability across all mobile platforms and is cost effective. However, unlike the
thin client approach, it can be customized for web resource versioning and
bundling.

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At the same time, just like the thin client approach, the hybrid does not provide
a native look and feel, which may adversely affect the user experience.
Market research indicates that developers consider the thick client approach as
appropriate when the solution is device specific only, or is tightly coupled with
the device native capabilities. For the majority of mobile extensions to existing
enterprise IT solutions, the hybrid approach is preferred, as it leverages the
existing web presence and business logic. At the same time, it integrates well
with native or custom features on various mobile platforms.
While the Hybrid approach is considered the most optimal approach to mobility,
the addition of the Cloud to this approach makes it even smarter and better.
The Cloud Powered Smart Hybrid Approach
Impetus recommends the Cloud Powered Smart Hybrid Approach for cost-
effective and highly maintainable enterprise mobility. In this approach, there is
no need to download ‘thick clients’ to the handsets. Rather, it is better to go for
‘thin clients’ or ‘hybrid clients,’ where the major share of processing happens on
the Cloud. However, using the thin or hybrid client approach depends on the
cost, timeline and benefits/trade-offs for a given enterprise.

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The Cloud powered Smart Hybrid approach combines the best of the Cloud and
hybrid mobility development approaches, along with other important factors
that improve time-to-market, cost effectiveness, cross-platform compatibility
and maintainability of the complete enterprise ecosystem.
This solution has two parts:
The ‘Smart App Server’ which is hosted on the Cloud, is an intermediate
component that is responsible for facilitating all the business logic services and
their interaction with other third party services. It also includes a Visual
Infrastructure manager, which keeps an assortment of HTML pages for the
targeted handheld devices. It identifies the devices at the run time and delivers
appropriate pages to them.
On the device side, there is a native container application, with a range of rich
plug-and-play components to pick from. It facilitates the rendering of pages
received from the Visual Infrastructure manager on web-view.
The Smart App Container is a native application that embeds the browser field
to render the web pages pulled from the Cloud. The UI of these web pages is
designed by leveraging the existing web presence.
The smart app container has unique options that allows it to integrate
seamlessly with the native applications and facilitates communication between
native and HTML. It also leverages the Cloud-based enterprise services to
procure the desired features. The web pages can be bundled along with the
application package or can be downloaded dynamically.
The Impetus Solution
Impetus has implemented the Smart Hybrid App Approach and called it ‘the
Instant Mobilizer.’ It is a unique, cost-effective and easily maintainable solution
that provides the following benefits:
• Offers developers a range of strategic components to choose from, to
create customized solutions.

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• Its wizard for instance, helps generate cross-platform, compatible
hybrid applications for all major mobile platforms such as the iPhone,
Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone. The wizard can also be used
for leveraging an existing web presence and sharing with it the location
of existing web resources. It then extracts information (such as color
themes, font styles, images, content, frames, interactive components,
etc.) from the web pages and uses it for generating a UI for other target
devices.
• It offers a smart visuals repository organizer that helps to optimally
organize the UI for all platforms and devices. The mobilizer renders
suitable web pages in accordance with the capabilities of the device.
• The mobilizer’s communications layer on the device side facilitates
interaction among the native and HTML portions.
• It helps in improving native and custom applications’ feature usage from
the Smart Hybrid app.
• It facilitates the use of Cloud-based services from within the Smart
Hybrid Applications.
• Some advanced features can be integrated on a plug-and-play basis, in
accordance with the requirements of the application.
Summary
The Smart Hybrid App approach, which leverages the immense power of the
Cloud and is an extension of the traditional hybrid approach, is a balanced and
cost-effective way to leverage native capabilities in conjunction with HTML
based UI screens. This approach leads to an overall rich user experience, and is a
highly maintainable solution.
Clearly, cloud computing and enterprise mobility are emerging as key industry
trends. According to Impetus, enterprise mobile apps and app stores, together
with Cloud-based enterprise mobility, will drive the future.

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Enterprise app stores play an important role in addressing the data privacy and
security concerns of Cloud-based enterprise mobility, thereby offering a robust
and trustworthy solution, which is also flexible and dynamic.
Overall, they will assist in reducing the backlogs by leveraging specialized
domain services hosted on various Clouds. This leads to better enterprise
mobility solutions, where every feature is picked up from the best service
provider, resulting in enhanced quality. Utility billing will help in lowering costs,
while keeping the service experience level high.
In summary it can be said that the Cloud will bring immense value to the
mobility initiatives of organizations, and must be made an integral part of
organizational strategy.

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About Impetus
Impetus is a Software Solutions and Services Company with deep
technical maturity that brings you thought leadership, proactive
innovation, and a track record of success. Our Services and Solutions
portfolio includes Carrier grade large systems, Big Data, Cloud,
Enterprise Mobility, and Test and Performance Engineering.
Website: www.impetus.com | Email: mobility@impetus.com
© 2013 Impetus Technologies, Inc.
All rights reserved. Product and
company names mentioned herein
may be trademarks of their
respective companies. May 2013