Philippe is the managing director of the Enterprise Mobility Foundation.
I’m a member and you can check it out at http://theemf.org/.
-Rob
In my Consumerization of IT Collides with MEAP article last week, I described how to connect a Windows 7 device to Microsoft’s On-Premises servers. Whether you’re talking about a Windows 7 tablet or laptop, I showed that you can follow the Garter MEAP Critical Capabilities to integrate with our stack in a consistent manner. Remember, the ability to support multiple mobile apps across multiple mobile platforms, using the same software stack is a key tenant to MEAP. It’s all about avoiding point solutions.
If you need a refresher on the Gartner MEAP Critical Capabilities, check out: http://robtiffany.com/meap/consumerization-of-it-collides-with-meap-windows-on-premises
In this week’s scenario, I’ll use the picture below to illustrate how Mobile versions of Windows 7 in the form of slates, laptops, and tablets utilize some or all of Gartner’s Critical Capabilities to connect to Microsoft’s Cloud infrastructure:
As you can see from the picture above:
As you can see from this and last week’s article, Windows 7 meets all of Gartner’s Critical Capabilities whether it’s connecting to Microsoft’s On-Premises or Cloud servers and infrastructure. They great takeaway from the picture above, is Windows 7 only needs to know how to integrate its apps with WCF in the exact same way as is does in the On-Premises scenario. Windows developers can focus on Windows without having to concern themselves with the various options provided by Windows Azure. Cloud developers just need to provide a WCF interface to the mobile clients.
When an employee walks in the door with a wireless Windows 7 Slate device, you can rest assured that you can make them productive via Windows Azure without sacrificing any of the Gartner Critical Capabilities.
Next week, I’ll cover how Windows Phone connects to an On-Premises Microsoft infrastructure.
Best Regards,
Rob
The Consumerization of IT is an unstoppable force where employees are bringing every kind of mobile device imaginable into the office expecting to be productive. Over the course of the next 20 articles, I’ll describe how IT professionals can use the principles of Gartner MEAP to connect any type of mobile device to Microsoft’s On-Premises and Cloud servers.
Gartner specifies the following Critical Capabilities that must be addressed in order for a given product or stack of products to be considered a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP):
A dedicated environment or plug-in for composing backend server and client side logic, including UI and UX
The client runtime logic for the application, either in native format or packaged within a container.
Tools for integration of mobile server with back end systems, both bespoke and purchased apps or application suites.
Self standing mobile applications or components.
Tools that allow for “write once, run anywhere” thick or rich mobile clients, cross compilers or environments or platforms that allow business logic to be supported across thin, thick, and rich mobile architectures.
Tools for provisioning, supporting, debugging, updating or decommissioning mobile applications.
Tools for ensuring the security and privacy of enterprise data on board the device, while transiting through wired or wireless networks, through peripherals, and with backend systems and integration packages.
The ability to host all development, provisioning, management functions, and optionally corporate data.
As you can see from the picture above, Windows 7:
It should come as no surprise that Windows 7 has a compelling and complete MEAP story to address the issues surrounding the Consumerization of IT (CoIT) when an employee walks in the door with a wireless Windows 7 Slate device.
Next week, I’ll cover how Windows 7 connects to the Cloud.
Best Regards,
Rob