SCCM

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Consumerization of IT Collides with MEAP: Windows > Cloud

Posted by Rob Tiffany on August 9, 2011

Posted in: MEAP. Tagged: ACS, ADFS, ADO.NET, AppFabric, Auth, Azure, Azure AppFabric, CIO, Cloud, CoIT, Consumerization, Consumerization of IT, Critical Capabilities, CTO, Device Management, EAI, ERP, Gartner, HTML, HTML5, HTTP, IDE, IE9, IIS, Integrated Development Environment, IT, IT Director, Management, MDM, MEAP, Microsoft, Mobile Enterprise Application Platform, OData, On-Premises, REST, SCCM, SOAP, SQL Azure, SQL Azure Data Sync, Sync, Sync Framework, Web Role, Web Services, Web Storage, WIF, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Intune, Worker Role. 1 comment

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:

For the Management Tools Critical Capability, Windows 7 uses Windows Intune for Cloud-based device management and software distribution.
For both the Client and Server Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and Multichannel Tool Critical Capability, Windows 7 uses Visual Studio. The Windows Azure SDK plugs into Visual Studio and provides developers with everything they need to build Cloud applications. It even includes a Cloud emulator to simulate all aspects of Windows Azure on their development computer.
For the cross-platform Application Client Runtime Critical Capability, Windows 7 uses .NET (Silverlight/WPF/WinForms) for thick clients. For thin clients, it uses Internet Explorer 9 to provide HTML5 + CSS3 + ECMAScript5 capabilities. Offline storage is important to keep potentially disconnected mobile clients working and this is facilitated by SQL Server Compact + Isolated Storage for thick clients and Web Storage for thin clients.
For the Security Critical Capability, Windows 7 provides security for data at rest via Bitlocker, data in transit via SSL, & Authorization/Authentication via the Windows Azure AppFabric Access Control Serivce (ACS).
For the Enterprise Application Integration Tools Critical Capability, Windows 7 can reach out to servers directly via Web Services or indirectly through the Cloud via the Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus to connect to other enterprise packages.
The Multichannel Server Critical Capability to support any open protocol is handled automatically by Windows Azure. Crosss-Platform wire protocols riding on top of HTTP are exposed by Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and include SOAP, REST and Atompub. Cross-Platform data serialization is also provided by WCF including XML, JSON, and OData. Cross-Platform data synchronization if provided by the Sync Framework. These Multichannel capabilities support thick clients making web service calls as well as thin web clients making Ajax calls. Distributed caching to dramatically boost the performance of any client is provided by Windows Azure AppFabric Caching.
As you might imagine, the Hosting Critical Capability is knocked out of the park with Windows Azure. Beyond providing the most complete solution of any Cloud provider, Windows Azure Connect provides an IPSec-protected connection with your On-Premises network and SQL Azure Data Sync can be used to move data between SQL Server and SQL Azure. This gives you the Hybrid Cloud solution you might be looking for.
For the Packaged Mobile Apps or Components Critical Capability, Windows 7 runs cross-platform mobile apps include Office/Lync/IE/Outlook/Bing.

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

Consumerization of IT Collides with MEAP: Windows > On-Premises

Posted by Rob Tiffany on August 3, 2011

Posted in: MEAP. Tagged: CIO, Cloud, CoIT, Consumerization, Consumerization of IT, Critical Capabilities, CTO, EAI, ERP, Gartner, IDE, IIS, Integrated Development Environment, IT, IT Director, Management, MEAP, Microsoft, Mobile Enterprise Application Platform, On-Premises, SCCM, Windows, Windows 7. 2 comments

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):

Integrated Development Environment

A dedicated environment or plug-in for composing backend server and client side logic, including UI and UX
Application Client Runtime

The client runtime logic for the application, either in native format or packaged within a container.
Enterprise Application Integration Tools

Tools for integration of mobile server with back end systems, both bespoke and purchased apps or application suites.
Packaged Mobile Apps or Components

Self standing mobile applications or components.
Multichannel Tools or Servers

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.
Management Tools

Tools for provisioning, supporting, debugging, updating or decommissioning mobile applications.
Security

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.
Hosting

The ability to host all development, provisioning, management functions, and optionally corporate data.

In this first 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 an On-Premise Microsoft infrastructure:

As you can see from the picture above, Windows 7:

For the Management Tools Critical Capability, Windows 7 uses System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007 for on-premises device management and software distribution.
For both the Client and Server Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and Multichannel Tool Critical Capability, Windows 7 uses Visual Studio.
For the cross-platform Application Client Runtime Critical Capability, Windows 7 uses .NET (Silverlight/WPF/WinForms) for thick clients. For thin clients, it uses Internet Explorer 9 to provide HTML5 + CSS3 + ECMAScript5 capabilities. Offline storage is important to keep potentially disconnected mobile clients working and this is facilitated by SQL Server Compact + Isolated Storage for thick clients and Web Storage for thin clients.
For the Security Critical Capability, Windows 7 provides security for data at rest via Bitlocker, data in transit via SSL+VPN, data in the database via RSA/AES, & Authorization/Authentication via Active Directory.
For the Enterprise Application Integration Tools Critical Capability, Windows 7 can reach out to servers directly via Web Services or indirectly via SQL Server or BizTalk using SSIS/Adapters/Sync to connect to other enterprise packages.
The Multichannel Server Critical Capability to support any open protocol directly, via Reverse Proxy, or VPN is facilitated by ISA/TMG/UAG/IIS. Crosss-Platform wire protocols riding on top of HTTP are exposed by Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and include SOAP, REST and Atompub. Cross-Platform data serialization is also provided by WCF including XML, JSON, and OData. Cross-Platform data synchronization if provided by the Sync Framework. These Multichannel capabilities support thick clients making web service calls as well as thin web clients making Ajax calls. Distributed caching to dramatically boost the performance of any client is provided by Windows Server AppFabric Caching.
While the Hosting Critical Capability may not be as relevant in an on-premises scenario, Windows Azure Connect provide an IPSec-protected connection to the Cloud and SQL Azure Data Sync can be used to move data between SQL Server and SQL Azure.
For the Packaged Mobile Apps or Components Critical Capability, Windows 7 runs cross-platform mobile apps include Office/Lync/IE/Outlook/Bing.

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

Gartner says that the Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP) market will top $1 Billion by the end of 2010 and that more than 95% of organizations will choose MEAP instead of point solutions through 2012. The big takeaway here is that companies have been building tactical mobile application silos that support only one application and now they want to save money by going with a reusable platform capable of supporting multiple applications. Oh and along the way it needs to support multiple device and OS platforms while providing security, device management, and a single IDE to build apps and logic to integrate with back end systems.

Gartner has a “rule of three” that states that a MEAP offers significant advantages in three situations:

When there are 3 or more mobile applications
When there are 3 or more targeted operating systems or platforms
When they involve the integration of 3 or more back-end systems

Leaders in this space have included Sybase iAnywhere, Antenna, Dexterra, Syclo and Spring Wireless. Microsoft goes from a large Mobile General Store with myriad solutions to a player in this space with a MEAP solution of our own: Microsoft Mobile Enterprise Application Platform Visual Studio is used to build the mobile logic and UI. Merge Replication provides occasionally-connected data synchronization between SQL Server Compact on the mobile device and SQL Server in the data center. SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio is used to visually create connections to back-end systems like SAP or databases like Oracle. Data in transit is secured via SSL or VPN, data at rest is encrypted via device encryption, SQL Server Compact, BitLocker or programmatically through the Crypto API. Integration packages that communicate with back-end systems are encrypted and digitally signed.

We already have the best mobile email, calendaring, and contacts product in the business where Exchange Active Sync keeps Outlook and Outlook Mobile always up to date with Exchange Server. Server-to-device as well as peer-to-peer device notifications are facilitated through WCF Store and Forward on Exchange. Software and patch distribution along with device settings and policy management is accompished via System Center Configuration Manager. ISA Server provides both VPN and Reverse Proxy access to roaming applications on the Internet on any platform.

When you put this stack in place and resuse it for multiple mobile applications instead of going with point solutions, ROI savings increase as the need for POCs, Pilots and training are reduced and the need for extra client access licenses is eliminated. That’s Gartner’s first requirement. We hit Gartner’s second requirement by uniformly supporting 3 mobile operating systems in the form of Windows, Windows CE, and Windows Mobile. Last but not least, our SQL Server Integration Services technology combined with dozens of connectors mean we can connect your mobile devices with almost any back-end package or database.

Yes, Microsoft does have a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform that’s already proven to scale to tens of thousands of devices and it will definitely save you time and money.

- Rob