I would like to chronicle some of the emerging technologies as I read about them at various blogs/analyst reports etc. To begin with let's look at one of the basic theme proactively required by the users -- Anywhere Aplications.
One of the revolutions which is defining and enabling the 21st century business evolutions is the ability of the internet to chase the user, rather than the user chasing the internet. For this to happen, the applications developed must be devise-aware (it doesn't matter which device users use - laptops/PCs/Ultra Mobile Devices), network-aware (broadband/WiFi/WiMAx), and user-aware (Context-driven based on role, connectivity, process), which is how the Yankee group defines an Anywhere application.
Demand for these Anywhere applications is strong today as the Yankee Group analyst Laura DiDio summarizes in the exhibit below. (click here to read the full report)
Email applications such as Microsoft Exchange server is closest to being Anywhere application as it is aware of different devices, networks, and users. The Salesforce.com comes closer to meeting the Anywhere applications definition as well -- it is devise and user aware, but the application is not network aware. With the advent of Mobile internet devices such as iPhone which uses different networks, Wifi/Wap/Edge, the applications can benefit by being network aware and making intelligent use of sessions and different connection methods.
One of the major concerns of Anywhere applications is security and lack of single apps view -- new applications and innovations (SOA) would certainly try to bridge the gaps between current client/server architecture and Anywhere computing to provide better IT experiences to customers. Moreover, new location based intelligence technologies such as RFID, GPS, MApping tools, application developers can integrate these innovations to become more netwrok and user aware, thus providing even better user experience and accelerated ROI.
