Eikos Partners Framework Enables Rapid Delivery of Next Generation Applications

Creating a “One Pane of Glass” vision of the Enterprise Systems Infrastructure

Infront Consulting Group and Eikos Partners have announced a joint agreement to deliver a monitoring tool with a highly configurable visual interface to the Microsoft Systems Center Operations Manager (SCOM) technology branded “Infront InSight”. The product, based on Eikos Partners UX Framework – epCatalyst, interacts with data from the SCOM database, and provides a fast, interactive interface with the monitored services displaying. This fully customizable and extensible dashboard is built using Silverlight and exposes data through a set of selectable and configurable widgets making the presentation and organization of data limitless to the customer. The product has been built to allow for integration with other monitoring and information gathering tools allowing a customer to build a One Pane of Glass view that incorporates data from System Center, third party network monitoring tools and web analytic tools as well as in-house line of business tools. The firms plan the initial launch for June, 2012.

The pre-release version was shown and generated great interest at the Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas in April.

For more information or to schedule a demo of the Infront InSight dashboard solution, contact sales@infrontconsulting.com.

Infront Consulting Group is a global Systems Integration and Management Consulting organization. We assist our large enterprise customers with the technical implementation and operational processes required to successfully deploy Microsoft System Center technologies. Our mission is simple. We strive to provide the brightest minds in the industry to our customers to allow them to effectively and efficiently deploy and operationalize technology that supports and empowers their business.

One of our core organizational values is community. Our roots are deeply integrated into the System Center community. Infront Consulting Group is a founder of http://www.systemcentercentral.com, one of the most popular community sites targeted at System Center. We employ significant number of Microsoft Valued Professionals (MVPs) who are recognized by Microsoft to be thought leaders in the industry and who regularly present at industry conferences like TechEd and the Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) as subject matter experts. (SMEs)

Eikos Partners is a New York based consulting firm built around proven domain expertise serving the financial industry. Partners have real world experience at the C-level and our team each have a track record of delivery to the industry. Eikos is an expert in using “Agile” techniques that rapidly drive the determination of a user’s requirements and deliver from an early stage a continuous stream of capability.

The firm has a deep and varied technology background, with extensive knowledge and use of Silverlight, making them a leader in deploying this for real-world business applications.

Eikos Partners has been involved in delivering front, middle and back office applications for all asset classes, as well as for credit and market risk. Clients include well-known Wall Street names, as well the hedge fund industry and retail brokerage.

Brian Slater
brian.slater@eikospartners.com
203 434 4290

close article

Eikos Launches New WordPress powered Website

Eikos launches its new website now powered by wordpress, making it easier to add content that immediately integrates into the great look and feel that we have applied to our website, we are continuing to work on providing further integration with WordPress so that we can integrate with social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter.

If anyone is interested in the Windows 8 Metro inspired theme we have applied to WordPress for our site, then please feel free to contact us at info@eikospartners.com

close article

Numerix & Eikos Partner to Offer Numerix Powered Solutions for epCatalyst Platform Users

Partnership to provide Eikos clients with interactive access to Numerix CrossAsset pricing analytics and risk management capabilities within Eikos’ epCatalyst platform dashboard

NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 23, 2011 – Numerix (www.numerix.com) the leading provider of cross-asset analytics for derivatives valuations and risk management, along with Eikos Partners (www.eikospartners.com), a specialist in trading and risk applications for the financial industry, today announced their partnership to offer integrated access to “Numerix Powered” interactive pricing, analytics and risk display solutions within the Eikos epCatalyst platform dashboard which is available now.

Users of the Eikos epCatalyst platform dashboard, based on the powerful and flexible Microsoft Silverlight technology, which includes portfolio managers, traders and risk managers, will be able to access the extensive Numerix CrossAsset library of independent pricing models and methods to price and generate risk sensitivities across all asset classes. The flexibility of the Numerix CrossAsset library coupled with the rapid development capabilities of epCatalyst, will allow developers to tie into the Numerix pricing and risk environments to create robust solutions. Eikos epCatalyst enables front and middle office professionals to do deal structuring and trade entry on the fly, as well as calculate pricing-risk analytics and drill down on the aspects of virtually any Numerix defined or structured deal via a high impact GUI dashboard and series of interactive display gadgets.

“The tight integration of Numerix analytics within the Eikos epCatalyst platform offers users a powerful and robust pricing and risk solution. The wide variety of display solutions and available models means users can now value virtually any deal type using Numerix’s different methodologies and custom model calibrations. We look forward to a successful partnership with Eikos and to providing our customers with new and exciting ways to access and display our world class analytics,” said Steven R. O’Hanlon, President and COO of Numerix.

“We developed epCatalyst to create a highly flexible environment with a superior user experience, which enables users to be able to visualize and interact with the complexities of the information and services supporting their business, states David Lattimore-Gay,” Partner, Eikos. “The combination of epCatalyst and Numerix’s industry leading analytics services, brings this concept to an entirely new level, and allows our clients to create and view any pricing model and complex risk scenario using an intuitive interface in a few minutes across a diverse set of source systems.”

The epCatalyst framework coupled with Numerix’s pricing and risk management capabilities provides users with a stable platform, with all the display, communication, data, process management and integration tools needed to build sophisticated risk management applications that are essential for the financial industry.

close article

Eikos Partners Announces epCatalyst for the Financial Services Market

Eikos Framework Enables Fast Start, Rapid Delivery of Microsoft Silverlight Applications for the Financial Industry

NEW YORK – JULY 13, 2010 – Eikos Partners (www.eikospartners.com) a specialist in designing and developing Silverlight applications for the financial industry, today announced EPCATALYST, a rapid development platform created to deliver sophisticated Microsoft Silverlight-based applications.

The major EPCATALYST framework component manages the Silverlight display objects, or “widgets.” Within the display framework, the EPCATALYST widgets take on the overall theme, and perform direct business functions. Using the services of the display platform, widgets can interact with services in other parts of EPCATALYST, or with each other to create an intuitive response to user interactions. For customization purposes, Eikos Partners designed the EPCATALYST with many generic widgets.

“Our goal was to reduce the time, costs and risks of building new Silverlight solutions, or adding them to an existing systems infrastructure” said David Lattimore-Gay, Senior Partner, Eikos Partners. “EPCATALYST represents a stable platform, with all the display, communication, data, process management and integration tools needed to build sophisticated Silverlight applications that are essential for the financial industry.”

The framework also contains other key elements that financial services rely upon such as Database, CEP, Business Intelligence (BI) and Reporting & Document Management components. These are all connected by a communication layer that functions as a service bus, and provides connection over the intranet and Internet. EPCATALYST is structured to ensure technology choice remains open, and has wide ranging flexibility to add new functions and interactions. Interaction with data and services that are provided by an existing systems infrastructure or by external services are provided by web service components.

“Our experience of using EPCATALYST with our clients is that it easily saves 4-6 months in analysis and development time, and allows immediate focus on the business problem, with the opportunity to deliver real world capability within a very short period of time. Using EPCATALYST allows the focus to be on effectiveness, efficiency, differentiation and a heightened User Experience,” added Lattimore-Gay.

close article

Eikos Partners Creates new Portal for Cantor Fitzgerald Prime Services Division

NEW YORK – May 6, 2010 - Eikos Partners (www.eikospartners.com), a specialist in designing and developing Silverlight applications for the financial industry, today announced it has delivered a complete business portal for Cantor Fitzgerald’s Prime Services Division.

Cantor provides equity and fixed income Prime Brokerage services to hedge funds, money managers, REIT’s, professional traders, broker dealers and ‘40 Act funds.

“We are delighted with the portal delivered by Eikos,” said Noel Kimmel, Senior Managing Director in charge of Cantor Prime Services. “The portal enables us to integrate all asset classes into a single environment, and is designed to enhance the client experience.”

The portal was designed and developed in order to provide clients access to full-featured reports, trade capture services and various portfolio accounting data across all asset class. It exposes a set of services being provided by Cantor Prime Services, and is built in Microsoft Silverlight 3.0. Eikos was selected because of their experience with Silverlight, and their process, which allowed for early and continuous delivery of capability.

“This is the culmination of 18 months of work in understanding how to build Silverlight applications and deploy them for mission critical business needs” said David Lattimore-Gay, Partner, Eikos. “We have built a reference infrastructure to support our best practices, and most importantly have a team in place that can quickly turn concept into reality.”

The layered structure that Eikos employed allows for marshalling and integration of data and services from the back-end, linked to an extendable front-end that contains visual elements, or “UI widgets”, that perform the business functions. The UI widgets communicate with each other to create an intuitive feedback to the user, and the user has control of how they are organized and displayed. Eikos’s Creative Design Team worked closely with Cantor to design a rich user interface that balanced form and functionality resulting in a superior user experience.

The capabilities offered by Silverlight to deliver Rich Internet Applications (RIA), with a zero touch install, to a wide array of browsers and OS platforms were proven in a mission critical environment, so that both Mac and Windows users can access the portal.

close article

Eikos Partners Wins Innovator Award From Windows in Financial Services for Silverlight Integration

NEW YORK – June 23 2009 – Eikos Partners (www.eikospartners.com) a leading innovative business consulting and project-based technology services to large investment banks, hedge funds and asset management organizations, was chosen by Windows in Financial Services, “The Source on Microsoft Technologies for Financial Services,” to receive a 2009 WFS Innovator Award. The ceremony will be held at SIFMA’s Technology Management Conference and Exhibit in Microsoft Corp’s suite at the New York Hilton. Eikos Partners was selected for its development of financial applications for trading on Microsoft Silverlight.

Criteria for judging and selecting were based on the end result enabling a concrete resolution to an impending issue, solving practical business problems. Winners were selected for clearly implementing technologies on the Microsoft software platform that will redefine a new tomorrow in technology and demonstrate a clear-cut advantage in their particular sectors of the marketplace.

Eikos Partners was recognized for developing a zero-touch equity trading system running on Microsoft Silverlight with tick-by-tick position, P&L and sophisticated stock charting that allows users to annotate charts with news and even online chat sessions. The charts update in real-time, and the news and annotations made by users appear on the charts immediately. In addition, moving a mouse over a stock instantly brings up a choice of buy and sell actions, allowing users to make trades in a single click. The system culminates a year of work by Eikos Partners in studying different possibilities for Silverlight. The system also uses Enterprise Gateway from Kaazing to push real-time updates to the client, and Microsoft Azure for back-end processing.

“Silverlight is emerging as one of the most scalable and flexible visualization platforms for the financial arena, and Eikos Partners has been one of the pioneers in program development and customizing solutions,” said Craig Saint-Amour, U.S. capital markets industry solutions director, Microsoft Corp. “Its award winning technology reflects the key elements that are important to financial organizations: ease of use, rapid updates, and ability to process and share data in a customized environment.”

“We’re honored to be recognized by Windows in Financial Services,” said David Lattimore-Gay, Senior Partner, Eikos Partners. “Our approach redefines how real-time applications will be built, and raises the bar dramatically on performance, speed, availability and reliability, and most importantly, the user experience. Our goal is to future-proof functionality to parallel the presumed expectations that users demand as the scope and capabilities of financial technology services grows.

“We believe that the next generation of client side applications will have to have real time data, news and transaction services as a means of competing for market presence,” added Lattimore-Gay. “Web delivery means that solutions have to be reliable and have true scalability, as well as be technically agnostic. Kaazing fully meets those needs.” “Eikos has utilized the Kaazing Enterprise Gateway for what it does best—creating an entirely new user experience that’s only possible with low-latency delivery and reliable two-way communications,” said Jonas Jacobi, CEO of Kaazing.

“Innovation at the financial sector is proving to be a challenge accosting all entities in the financial realm, especially due to an economy that has had seismic rumblings,” said Joe Viviani, publisher, Windows in Financial Services. “This year’s 2009 WFS award winners were able to capture, isolate and overcome a business issue with a solid innovation – and extended its capabilities beyond the traditional limits. Whether on a local or global scale, each of these winners has been able to seamlessly integrate their new technologies into the daily workflow DNA and as a result, save time and worry. We salute all the entries and the winners who took the time to utilize their resources through the Microsoft technology platform to find the right business answer for their distinct business needs.”

close article

Eikos Partners Teams With Kaazing to Deliver Cutting Edge Technology for Financial Services Organizations

NEW YORK – June 4, 2009 – Eikos Partners (www.eikospartners.com) a leading innovative business consulting and project-based technology services to large investment banks, hedge funds and asset management organizations and Kaazing Corporation, makers of real-time web acceleration technology, announced a partnership to collaborate on holistic application development, including the Microsoft Silverlight platform for financial technology customers.

The alliance of the two organizations was based on a mutual core expertise in the financial arena as well as business synergies. The collaboration will provide a comprehensive delivery solution for mission-critical, client-facing applications needing the ability to stream market data, news, chat and transaction services.

Eikos Partners recently developed a zero-touch equity trading system running on Microsoft Silverlight with tick-by-tick position, P&L and sophisticated stock charting that allows users to annotate charts with news and even online chat sessions. The charts update in real-time, and the news and annotations made by users appear on the charts immediately. In addition, moving a mouse over a stock instantly brings up a choice of buy and sell actions, allowing users to make trades in a single click. The system deploys Enterprise Gateway from Kaazing to push real-time updates to the client and Microsoft Azure for back-end processing.

“We believe that these capabilities in the next generation of client side applications will be important as a competitive benchmark for market presence,” said David Lattimore- Gay, Senior Partner, Eikos Partners. “Web delivery means that solutions have to be reliable and have true scalability, as well as be technically agnostic. Kaazing fully meets those needs and is the logical partner to take us forward. The blending of our expertise will be beneficial for our collective customer base since we both have deep level experience working with Silverlight, the next generation of application efficiency.” Part of Eikos’ solution is the Kaazing Enterprise Gateway, which speeds messages between Message Delivery Networks and real-time web clients. Applications like those built by Eikos must meet exacting performance and reliability requirements regardless of the technologies being used.

“Eikos is a recognized leader in the development of Financial Services applications,” said Jonas Jacobi, CEO of Kaazing. “We’re excited about pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with enterprise web development alongside them; we’re convinced that the applications we create together will set the standard for tomorrow’s financial service clients.”

Kaazing’s solutions, based upon their patent-pending HTML 5 WebSockets Acceleration technology, make it possible to deploy Rich Internet Applications that can handle unprecedented amounts of traffic quickly and reliably. As such, they’re the ideal partner for the high-traffic, low-latency web applications that Eikos develops.

Kaazing Enterprise Gateway, the company’s flagship product, is built to the exacting demands of industries like financial services, telecommunications, social networking and online gaming. There’s no software to deploy on the client, and a wide range of protocols, browsers, and Rich Internet Application clients are supported. “Eikos has utilized the Kaazing Enterprise Gateway for what it does best—creating an entirely new user experience that’s only possible with low-latency delivery and reliable two-way communications,” continued Jacobi. “Kaazing’s patent-pending HTML 5 WebSocket Acceleration technology helps financial services clients redefine how realtime applications will be built, and raises the bar dramatically on delivery speed, message volume and dependability.”

close article

Worldflow and Eikos Partners Form a Strategic Alliance

NEW YORK – May 13, 2009 – WorldFlow, a leading provider of software and consultancy services to the financial services market, and Eikos Partners, a leading innovative business consulting and project-based technology services to large investment banks, hedge funds and asset management organizations, have formed a strategic alliance to better serve their clients with innovative end-to-end solutions on both sides of the Atlantic.

Both firms have an established track record of providing solutions to Investment banks and Hedge Funds using a deep understanding of the businesses needs and innovative approaches to meet them.

Eikos Partners “right shore” model balances the strength of its highly skilled New York staff with the cost efficiency of its team of professionals based in Panama, specializing in Microsoft .Net 3.5 technologies.

Eikos has developed a set of User Experience Frameworks that takes the traditional interactive UI for trading and financial applications to a dynamic new level. EP Trader is Microsoft WPF based, and EP Trader its Silverlight solution set.

close article

How will BYOD strategies impact data governance?

Whenever BYOD naysayers unveil their list of concerns regarding the business mobile strategy, they have always pertained to the same thing—the security of information stored on personal devices.

The idea that workers will bring their gadgets home with them and that they might contain sensitive company information has traditionally been enough to cause some decision makers to disregard BYOD altogether. Today, more people are learning the ways information can be protected on these devices and security fears are being slowly alleviated. However, there is another risk that hasn't received as much attention but could be equally as damaging if not properly handled: information availability.

Suppose a legal proceeding requires a company to hand over certain information. If that organization has implemented a BYOD policy, it must ask itself one very important question. How will the business be able to present the required data if it is stored on a variety of different devices that ultimately aren't controlled by the organization? If pertinent reports are only stored digitally on one employee's iPhone, obtaining that information to fulfill the request to present it could prove to be difficult. In legal situations, businesses cannot afford to limit their cooperation because they can't locate the required material.

Deborah Juhnke, the director of information management consulting for the law firm Husch Blackwell, spoke with the online publication Cite World about this growing concern, which is referred to as data governance. She believes it could prove to be a major problem down the road for a number of organizations.

"We're certainly making good strides on controlling risk, but so much focus has been on security. We're not doing such a good job yet on controlling the risk of the data itself—the fact that it's even out there," Juhnke said. "I cant find anything in the literature that says anybody's really focused on the governance aspect of data. Where is it, what is it, how long does it need to be kept, should we be keeping it at all, how do we comply, and how do we get rid of it when we're supposed to?"

The best solution is to develop a system that can store information in a way that can be easily found and managed, even if the data is generated from a collection of personal mobile devices. Implementing a Microsoft Excel plugin will allow companies to create a solution designed to successfully store all pertinent information so it can be accessed when it is needed. If an unforeseen event results in the need for a business to access old data, it needs to be prepared.

One way to streamline the process of obtaining this information is by building applications in HTML5. Organizations that initiate a BYOD strategy will likely have employees who use a multitude of different devices in the office. If the data can be pulled up on any machine—whether it's a desktop computer, smartphone or a tablet—in a web-based application, this will help ensure that the proper information is collected in a timely manner. 

close article

Tech professional debunks HTML5 performance issue myth

Advocates for the performance of HTML5 applications are emerging in droves and, as analysts continue to show their support, the long-term prospects of native application development look increasingly bleak.

The latest individual to step up and defend the performance of HTML5 is Paul Bakaus, a W3C AC representative for online gaming company Zynga and creator of jQuery UI. Bakaus took to his blog to defend HTML5, but more importantly he wanted to put some of the more damaging accusations about the programming method to bed.

"This has been bugging me for a while now," Bakaus wrote. "You know, the clueless managers that ask you questions like "HTML5 seems to have a performance issue, it doesn't run well on my Internet Explorer 6!". This has to stop."

Essentially, the source of the "performance issue" criticism is that it won't work well on aging browsers. His point is that HTML5 is built to run against a wide array of new and innovative browsers, which means that forward-thinking organizations can benefit from developing apps in HTML5 to run on their machines. Most technology you see today falls under the category of solutions that will work with HTML5. Mobile browsers do. The latest versions of Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox do as well. 

Businesses stuck using old operating systems that run ancient browser versions may not have as much success with HTML5, but if it is truly the future of application development, the trend could be an incentive for them to make necessary upgrades within the organization. As HTML5 and web technologies continue to evolve, the two sides will only increase their cohesiveness, making the performance issue even less valid.

close article

Apple products will soon be allowed in Pentagon

For the first time since their respective launches in 2007 and 2010, the iPhone and iPad may soon be given clearance to enter the Pentagon. 

A spokeswoman for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), which evaluates military mobile security guidelines, spoke with the online publication Nextgov, indicating that Apple's increased security measures have allowed her agency to reconsider its position on the popular mobile devices.

"The decision is now internal to DISA for approval," she said.

For years, technology innovation and the government didn't exactly mesh. The extent of advanced mobile technology in most areas of the Department of Defense has traditionally been BlackBerry phones – which many believe to be facing obsoletion. Most employees in the Pentagon have only used that device for work since the advent of smartphones, but this news shows that the DoD is ready to take a major step and use newer devices.

This comes on the heels of announcements made earlier this month stating new BlackBerry 10 smartphones, BlackBerry PlayBook tablets and the Samsung Knox, which runs Google's Android operating system, are also allowed on the DoD's network. This trend points to one thing: a BYOD policy at the Pentagon.

While the strategy may not exactly resemble one found at a private sector organization, it does show that government officials are understanding the benefit of incorporating a melting pot of devices into their operations. This, combined with developers' increased efforts to enhance the security of their systems, indicates that all parties are serious about BYOD and are willing to do what it takes to make this strategy work. 

While thorough development will be required to ensure the safety of information held on these devices, the front-end can be benefited with HTML5 development, as it will allow devices to connect together and access the same applications.

close article

HTML5 helps capitalize on m-commerce trend

The importance of optimizing the mobile web goes far beyond the ability to let employees access business applications from their personal devices. Companies that rely on interacting with consumers – those in retail, for example – must ensure their mobile sites and applications are able to offer their customers the best possible user experience.

Roughly 10 years ago, as the dot-com bubble continued to grow, a specific sentiment grew among business owners: online shopping was the wave of the future. This proved to be correct, as more consumers began to ditch the hassle of traveling to brick-and-mortar retailers in favor of staying home and buying from their personal computer. In many areas, e-commerce became the preferred way to sell. However, what may not have been foreseen was the growth in popularity of smartphones and tablets, and the shift from e-commerce to m-commerce.

Today, while individuals still prefer to stay away from malls and department stores, many are now more likely to buy from their mobile device rather than their home PC. People like buying on the go, which means companies have to adjust their mobile offerings to accommodate this demand. 

In most cases, simply having a mobile website will not be enough to accommodate m-commerce. The functionality of standard mobile sites isn't always as high as what you would find on a PC browser, which means HTML5 development may be in order. Creating web-based applications designed to optimize the mobile shopping experience can benefit organizations looking to capitalize on the expanding mobile market.

close article

ABI Research: HTML5-ready mobile devices to surpass 1.4 billion by year’s end

The proliferation of smartphones and tablets is not slowing down, and as innovation in the mobile development space increasingly shifts toward improving browser capabilities, the number of devices ready to run HTML5 applications is increasing at an accelerated rate. 

According to projections from ABI Research, roughly 1.4 billion devices will be equipped with the browser capabilities to run HTML5 apps by the end of 2013. This follows an annual increase of 87 percent and shows that developers may be focusing their efforts on making devices compatible for HTML5, and putting less of an emphasis on native applications.

However, ABI Research senior analyst Aapo Markkanen told the online publication Broadcast Engineering that native application development will not completely go away and that many users prefer a mix of the two formats. 

"While some two years ago it still looked like 2013 could be the Year of Web App, it's now looking like that this will prove more like the year of hybrid," Markkanen said. "HTML5 is making strides, but mainly through developers that take advantage of increasingly capable cross-platform development tools."

Ultimately, businesses will still have to keep an eye on the news regarding both development methods. However, as long as HTML5-capable phones continue to grow in numbers, companies can feel confident in knowing their employees will be able to run HTML5 apps on their personal devices. This will go a long way toward improving business application development and promoting innovative strategies like BYOD. 

close article

Google I/O and Apple’s WWDC highlight tech conference season

Call it techie Christmas or the Super Bowl of mobile development. Regardless of the name, one thing's clear: the next month will be a big one in the tech industry. It's that time of year when developers, journalists and fanboys converge on large presentation halls to learn the latest news from their favorite hardware and software dealers. It's tech conference season.

Unsurprisingly, Google and Apple are the major players this year and will essentially serve as the bookends for the season. Google I/O kicks off this week on Wednesday and Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) takes place from June 10 through June 14. While the contents of the various presentations and keynotes given during their respective conferences are unknown, it's expected that mobile will once again serve as the primary focus.

A new Android operating system could be unveiled as soon as this week and Apple's iOS 7 – the latest version of its mobile operating system – is expected to be announced next month, and could be accompanied by the introduction of a new iPhone or iPad. All of this means that developers are in for a busy, yet exciting, summer and businesses considering deploying a mobile strategy will have a bevy of new options at their disposal. 

But while the two tech giants continue their battle for mobile market supremacy, choosing one over the other could be a mistake. Both sides bring a variety of unique advantages to the table, so selecting one would result in the failure to obtain the benefits of the other. By developing applications in HTML5, companies can implement a BYOD policy, which allows their employees to choose whatever device they want, use it for work and still access all pertinent bits of business data.

close article

Oracle going mobile with HTML5

A number of business technology providers are going mobile, and they are doing so with the help of HTML5. Oracle, one of the world's largest providers of business database management systems, is using the programming language to create mobile solutions for its customers.

According to an article in the online publication Doctor Dobbs, rather than building native mobile applications with limited data sharing capabilities, Oracle is allowing its users to access information stored in their Oracle database via Web-based applications that can be connected with via a mobile browser on any platform.

Wim Coekaerts, senior vice president of Linux and Virtualization Engineering at Oracle, explained the company's decision, pointing to the increasing functionality of today's mobile devices.

"Enterprise users expect increasingly more mobile access to applications which are often designed to run on desktop PCs," Coekaerts said. "Oracle Secure Global Desktop provides IT with a highly secure remote access solution for such applications, and even full desktop environments, from tablets."

This is an interesting development for HTML5.The ability to access business apps via an online browser – whether it's on a desktop or mobile platform – has traditionally been restricted to assisting with simple functions. Oracle allows users to complete complex tasks by accessing and analyzing their data, so HTML5 will have to increase its functionality in order to accommodate this need. It does show, however, that the big dogs in the business technology game have faith in HTML5 and are willing to work with the language to provide users with powerful applications. 

close article

Why BYOD must be managed, not neglected, in the healthcare industry

The bring-your-own-device (BYOD) movement is taking off in healthcare and, despite numerous security concerns, more organizations are allowing employees to bring smartphones and tablets into doctors' offices and hospitals. 

The numbers pertaining to BYOD security in the medical sector are certainly disconcerting. According to a recent Cisco Partner Network study, only 36 percent of respondents from the healthcare industry said their employer is prepared for security issues related to BYOD. As a result, some have suggested the trend needs to slow down and that bringing personal devices into a healthcare environment simply isn't a practical strategy, but that's not necessarily the case. 

Organizations in all industries should embrace BYOD due to the level of efficiency it adds to daily operations. The key is finding solutions to control it. For instance, rather than giving users free rein to download native applications to run on their individual devices, creating apps in HTML5 will allow them to access the same information regardless of what gadget they are using.

This will give administrators a greater sense of control over the devices employees are using. Everyone will be on the same page, and the risk of sensitive data being contained in an unmanaged application is mitigated. 

Bill Kleyman, a contributor with the online publication Health IT Security, addressed this point in a recent article that implores healthcare admins to embrace BYOD and manage it, rather than restricting it from their organizations. 

"The original challenge in moving towards a BYOD control platform was the additional management it created," Kleyman wrote. "Now administrators are able to control everything from email flow to file sharing access from one console. Furthermore, these management platforms can be integrated with other network security components."

As more healthcare organizations adopt HTML5, they will be able to enjoy the benefits of a BYOD policy. 

close article

Convenience store innovators converge to discuss big data and HTML5

The retail, gas station and grocery industries are going mobile, and they are using HTML5 to assist with their efforts. At this week's THE Tech Event, leaders in industry innovation shared their thoughts on the subject, and updated mobile developers and users on the latest news in HTML5, big data and mobile use as a whole.

THE Tech Event is a gathering of the nation's top innovators in the aforementioned industries and is hosted by the National Association of Convenience Stores. Kicking off this past Monday, the primary focus of this week's forum is to share the latest developments and ideas pertaining to mobile use at convenience stores, gas stations and supermarkets. Taking center stage was the incorporation of big data to help better manage customer relations via mobile devices and the use of HTML5 to improve the effectiveness of this strategy.

"There is a real opportunity here," said big data specialist Jim Manzi, when discussing the impact it could have in these types of businesses. 

Mobility is leading the charge because of the convenience offered by working on handheld portable devices that integrate with established systems and networks. One attendee said he can change his gas station's price signs digitally with his iPad rather than having to go outside, get on a ladder and make manual adjustments.

Because many businesses in these industries aren't going to deploy devices to their employees, HTML5 is an ideal solution. Workers can use their own smartphones and tablets to analyze information and make business decisions, rather than stationing themselves at a computer inside the store. 

No industry is impervious to the benefits of mobile innovation, as evidenced by this week's function. THE Tech Event shows that more businesses are interested in data management, mobile usage and the impact of developing with HTML5. 

close article

Mobile innovation could create future problems for BYOD policies

Executives at companies with a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) strategy in place already have enough to worry about. Throw in consumer device innovation, and those problems increase tenfold. 

The factors pertaining to a mobile strategy aren't going to stay the same forever. The industry is changing at a rapid rate, which means business executives will have to change the way they manage going forward. For example, a BYOD policy implemented in 2009 accounted for the iPhone, BlackBerry and the growing number of Android smartphones, but it didn't account for the iPad, which introduced America to the tablet in 2010 and changed the mobile game.

So much has happened with mobile in such a short amount of time that it's impossible to predict what the immediate future holds, never mind the long-term. Implementing a set of stagnant rules and procedures with no plan for change is incredibly short-sighted and could result in serious problems down the road. The next iPhone or Android could come with a set of features that no one saw coming and, therefore, didn't plan for. A new challenger to the mobile throne could emerge at any time. The point is, we don't know what will happen, so those that possess a BYOD strategy must ensure it is equipped to adjust for new technologies.

The best way to do this is through HTML5 development. Businesses that create web-based applications will be able to stay in front of mobile hardware innovation because their apps will be built to run on myriad machines, regardless of their size, shape or software platform. 

close article

Michael DeSanti

close article

Brian Slater

close article

David Lattimore-Gay

close article