iPhone as an Enterprise Platform Event – Dublin

December 2, 2009 3 Comments

Full notes and links below. Key Learning points

  1. User Experience. User Experience. User Experience
  2. iPhone currently the leader, revolutionized Mobile app sales, but market (and devices) evolving very quickly.
  3. Good case for usage in Enterprise (cost reduction, growing use of iPhone platform in Enterprise, New channel to customers) but be flexible, be ready for the evolution.

iphone

The iPhone as an Emerging Enterprise Platform

1.15pm Wednesday 2nd December 2009
Venue – The Alexander Hotel  Dublin .

The iPhone has captured significant mindshare since its launch in 2007, and in particular the application development model and the iTunes App Store, which has had over two billion downloads of over 100,000 applications.
There has been a move from games and other ‘fun’ applications to software companies looking to add mobile channels for their products. Enterprise focussed companies like Intuition are developing iPhone applications in order to add to the value of their core product or service.

As part of the Enterprise Europe Network, Enterprise Ireland are hosting an information and networking event on December 2nd in Dublin.

This is a chance for software companies to explore the opportunities presented by mobile applications and Apple’s iPhone in particular. Topics covered will include:

  • What is so special about the iPhone?
  • How does one develop applications – what are the skills required?
  • What are the costs?
  • How to deploy enterprise applications?

There will also be an opportunity to meet with the iPhone developer community in Ireland.

Enterprise Features iPhone – Dermot Daly, Tapadoo

What is an iPhone?

  • Basics ; phone, location/direction/tilt aware , quality web browser and multimedia,Document and pdf viewer)
  • And apps

Enterprise features

  • Originally consumer (02 contracts reflected this)
  • Latest iPhone 3GS had enterprise (not emphasised) e.g. Compass Video Cameria
  • Enterprise Mail (e.g. ActiveSync from MS, but also POP/IMAP/CALDAV/LDAP)
  • Centralised Config (e.g. App lockdown, can prevent changes)
  • Security Enhancements (e.g. FindmyIPhone, RemoteWipe)
  • VPN out of the box (all internet standards)

All stuff Nokia/ Blackberry do, but iPhone slicker

Apps

  • iPhone enhanced website
  • Website with iPhone specifc css
  • Similar to Mozilla Prism?
  • No deployment / easier to deploy
  • No access to underlying hardware.

Native Apps (code to phone)

  • Underlying hardware access
  • Objective C & SDK Libraries
  • Number of ways to deploy

iPhone SDK (4 layers 20+ frameworks each)

  • iPhone OS / based on MacOS/ derived from BSD Unix
  • Core Services (e.g. Core Data, backed by SQLLite on phone) , contact , addressbox, GPS, StoreKit (for upsell) within app e.g. eBooks)
  • Media (Quartz 2d animation, Open GL 3D in Hardware, iPod Library and Core Audio / Video)
  • Coco Touch – User Interface / controls ; Messaging UI; Map Kit (with Google Maps); Game Kit (P2P Games)

Sample Native Applications

  • iPhone version of existing e.g. RTE Breaking news
  • Own staff to allow

Challenges

  • Deployment to public via App store
  • To own own staff
  • Enterprise Deployment (more than 500 employeees – Limited e.g. University of Ulster)
  • Ad Hoc Deployment (Management Overhead – need to gather specific device ID’s – limit up to 100)

The Market

  • Nobody will release figures on iPhone in Ireland (est 50k – 150k based on app downloads – guess)
  • 02 -> Vodafone Q1 next year (around Feb?)
  • Expects Market to double overnight
  • Expect Vodofone business plan
  • UK – 5% – 1m phones and pushing other platforms
  • Better than any other single handset (as opposed to single manufacturue) – one app works on all iPhone
    - e.g. no problem of testing like Java phones
    - Worldphone – 50m devices (inc iPod touch)

Developer

  • Need to develop on Mac
  • Object C, DSK and App store process (need to learn)
  • xCake Developer community / apps.ie
  • Cost (people expect it to cost less / yet usage pattern very differnt – little and often) similar to Senior Java
  • Base on Spec (like most software projects)

Intuition Keith O’Loughlin (CTO)
“Intuition’s experience with iPhone”
Scaling / eLearnging

  • Don’t repeat same mistkaes; think of user experience
  • Intuition provide professional learning applicaiton to corporates globally
  • Mobile started Blackberry, client demand led to iPhone – also on Windows Mobile
  • Mobile allows eLearning in users time / on their terms
  • Not a Laptop as that experience is more akin to desk based (e.g. phone always there, always ready unlike Laptop)
  • iPhone Experience (Emotional attachment)
  • Three modes of use (Bored Now / Repetitive Now e.g. stock or Football news/ Urgent Now ) – from Google
    - 6 Month old can use iPhone (but not Blackberry!)
  • iPhone has created market for mobile applicatoins (Blackberry, Orange, Vodafone all trying to copy idea)
  • Free apps; usage over time ; shelf life tails off sharply over 3 days ; What is user call to embed in their

Lifestyle (use again and again, evangilise) – doesn’t happen for PC’s.  All about the user experience

iPhone and Enterprise

  • Blackberry v Apple
  • 2 millon  Apple iPhones  in Corporate , growing hughely , 35m Blackberry, overtake in 3 years at current rate of growth
  • Beware of Google (space evolving very quickly – like 1980 in PC space)
  • More smartphones sold last year than Laptops
  • Enterprise benefits : rich apps / improve effecienct / workflows / reduce costs / grow revenues
  • Issues: Security (percieved issue) / difficult deployment / Early adoptor days

Developer: good that single screen size and form size (develop once) , only 3 OS v Java experinece

  • First app on apple platform in 6 weeks
  • Some API missing e.g. to turn off phone API not exposed

Apple; focus on qualiy and brand – control!!

  • Won’t allow apps with bugs (and Apple decide what bug is!)
  • Limited develop support
  • App store very easy to use
  • A lot of applications – easy to get lost
  • Low cost of entry / but slow process / very thoroought process

Repeat: Not about the technology, about the user
Average phone replaced every 2 years – very easy for market to change

Opportunites / Pitfalls

  • Scale
  • Devices Big Picture (be flexible; devices will change, Apps will not) – iPhone good place to start.
  • Style v Substance
  • Platform subsistence
  • 2 models
  • consulting / developer
  • existing product , new channel

MyHome.ie Keith Mahon
“Experiences with MyHome.ie on the iPhone”

Head of Technology , Irish Times digital group.

  • Phoneware created local based search engine, fitted with what MyHome where thinking of doing.
  • Involved since Dec 08 (12 months); 4 Months to develop while Irish Times learned
  • Apple is ‘blockage’ in systems – useful to get professional advice!

Lessons Learned

  • Reduce functionality to what users really want
  • Traffic with not reach mobile (yet) for iPhones – set expectations – more strategic move for future.
  • Estimates market at 15,000  users (note – estimate of user based  much less than Dermot Daly)
  • At least one month to get on Appstore, 1 week for each update; but no committment to dates from
  • Need to promote, like any other website

Success

  • Number 1 Irish app store 12 days / top 50 for 2 months- will change up and down over time.
  • Give credibility with other users, even if they don’t use iPhone themselves.
  • Strong commuter audience (morning and evening spikes).
  • Agents started getting calls / emails directly from iPhone – very visible change!
  • Writeup in Sunday Business Post – can lead to spike in Traffic.
  • 449,000  page views within 15 days; Tiny v Main web sites (15million  in same time) – but new and growing audience

App

  • Shows map with homes for sale (will include rental)
  • Virtual overlay (look through camera, see available houses around you)
  • Give app away free , but looking how to get people to subsribe

Strength and Weakness

  • Smaller , restriced audience – shortage of supply of devices, being kept expensive. Maybe wider when Vodafone sell iPhone Q1 2010.
  • Does not work on stardard iPhone – needs 3GS iPhone
  • No SMS integration like normal mobiles (maybe later versions)
  • A lot of strengths (Locaion aware, excellent delivery channel)

iPhone -  a new Frontier for payments
WorldNet TPS

Enterprise Ireland  HPSU ( Startup) – provide secure online payment (Payment Gateway) going 2 years, product 1 year.

See Opportunity as enabling business – promote iPhone as payment terminal
Complements existing business / other virtual access points such as laptop / PC

For business this means  e.g. Tour Operator / Sell items on Tour Buses while promoter is still on road

Competitor to iPhone in payments space is Desktop – very different proposition (good and bad)

PCI Compliance (part of Visa contract) means storing credit card info on PC / or paper means fines up to 25,000 Euro  for each infringement

Moving to (all ideas that have been tried before , with various success, mainly due to societal factors

  • Cardholder present transation
  • Pay by mobile instead of credit card
  • P2P payment applications

A lot of the leading payment players behind these ideas – will market take off?

OS3 – Damian O’Suilleabháin
“Approaches to iPhone development & the Irish iPhone Developer community”

OS3 develop iPhone apps (3 public , more on way)

Can’t activate iPhone without giving Credit Card details – very low friction sell through AppStore – like DoCoMo model.

Why iPhone?

  • Trip to future; demographics – about 25% Western world only know internet on mobile / social network natives . Don’t like ads,  but friends think it’s cool.
  • Growing rapidly.
  • 2 Billon n apps downloaded in last 18 months – last month 500m
  • Major brands have apps available
  • Opportunity; Extra revenue / new customers through new channel / association with coolness

Web Apps v Native Apps

  • Web development use existing web technologies (Simple) Apple Browser the best mobile browser – compares well to many desktop browsers. Doesn’t do flash.
  • Web App +: Write in (web) langugae teha you’re familar with) Easier upload – no dealings with Apple. Dynamic. Reused web application for other mobiles / from Desktop.
  • Native Apps gives (almost)  full power of API.  Mac Based Operating System – very powerful. e.g. Gesture Capture, Compass.
  • Native App can be used offline. Easier to Monetize app (sell through appstore).

InHouse v Outsourced Development

  • Same as traditional software development pro’s and con’s.

iPhone Developer Community in Ireland

  • xCake - loose developer community / act as group when talking to Enterprise Ireland , O2
  • Apps.ie – evolved from XCake – showcase for Irish iPhone apps, evangilize mobile applications in Ireland.
  • Members; available on site include 21 developers from companies to individuals

Filed under Business, Dublin, enterprise web 2.0, EnterpriseWeb2.0, iPhone, Ireland, IT, jobs Tagged with

Security in your Software-as-a-Service (SAAS) Application

October 12, 2008 5 Comments

‘Credit Crunch’ might be the favourite buzzword of the moment, but ‘Security’ and ‘Software as a Service’ are not very far behind. Ok, they’re a long way behind ‘will I lose my house’ or ‘will I have a job tomorrow’, but you get the idea. So I’m proud to associated by this article by Max and Chicco, even in a very minor way (as a reviewer).

IBM Developer works logo

Here’s the 2 minute overview of Securing a multi-tenant SAAS Appliction, just published on IBM Developerworks.

  1. Software as a Service (SAAS) has a great pitch – let us host your software for you, cheaper and less hassle than managing it yourself.
  2. Most SAAS companies host multiple clients on one server = New security concerns.
  3. LDAP (Similar to Windows Directory) is a standard already in wide use for Authentication (making sure people who they say they are).
  4. Spring Security (aka Acegi) is a well used Authorisation toolkit – i.e. make sure those people only do things they are allowed to do.
  5. The article shows you how to bring SAAS , LDAP and Spring Security together to get secure, scalable , hosted applications using the very best in widely understood technologies.

Of course, I’m not going to spill the beans on how exactly they do it; for that you’re going to have to hotfoot it over to the IBM Developerworks website.

Filed under article, Articles, Development, enterprise web 2.0, IBM, Security

Collective Intelligence in Action

June 30, 2008 4 Comments

Don’t you hate it when you spend months (or years) working on a pet project / book / mad take over the world idea, then somebody comes out with something even better?

Yep, it’s just happened to me. Years working on the idea of the ‘Wisdom of Crowds’ (even prior to web 2.0 in the shape of Red-Piranha). Month’s working on a Masters Dissertation on applying Web 2 techniques to the Finance industry (pdf link). And somebody comes out and does it even better.

Not just better. But much much better.  The sort of better as in ‘If I had this earlier, I’d have just copied it and changed the words around a bit’. The book is available from Manning as ‘Collective Intelligence in Action‘. A free, first chapter (Understanding Collective Intelligence) is available here (pdf).

Collective Intelligence in Action

So what’s it about? We’ve all heard about the Wisdom of Crowds idea. But what if you need to actually implement it on your website? This book shows you how to (using both concepts and practical code, as well as the theory behind all of it that I was missing). It includes

  • Intelligent, learning search, using Lucene.
  • Extracting data from blogs using web-crawling.
  • Executing Real time feedback on facebook-like sites.
  • Scalable data-mining techniques to manage the torrent of information
  • Making personalised recommendations based on all of the information.

Disclaimer:Manning provided me with a free review copy of the book – but no strings attached. And , maybe if I’m nice enough to the Author (Satnam), I can persuade him to talk about making millions using JBoss Drools and Complex Event processing in the book.

Filed under architecture, blogs, book, drools, enterprise web 2.0, EnterpriseWeb2.0, Finance, Knowledge Management, RedPiranha, Technorati, web2, whitepaper

How to combine Workflow and Business Rules – in 5 easy steps

June 15, 2008 6 Comments

Tom has a good post on the jBPM (JBoss workflow) community day held at the Guinness brewery in Dublin. Warning – slides may contain pictures of people drinking beer.

Drools jPBM Business rules presentation

How to combine (jBPM) Workflow and (Drools) Business Rules – here’s the summary. Slideset is available on this blogpost.

  • Workflow (e.g. JBoss jBPM) is great – it allows you to take spaghetti code and draw it as a workflow diagram (flowchart) so that it can be reviewed by the business (the nice people who pay our wages). You then attach standard (Java) actions to these steps.
  • Only problem is when you come to a decision node (the one circled in red below): How do you decide to go left or right (in the workflow)? Normally this is coded in Java – good for us, but hidden from those nice business people (which means that this is more room for errors-in-translation).
  • Business Rules allow you to keep those decision making rules in Plain English: When something is true , then do this. That’s it. The rule engine does most of the hard work.
  • Integrating Workflow and Rules is easy. Use JBoss Seam (link) or do it by hand (link). And it works on non-JBoss web / app servers such as Websphere, Oracle Application Server, Tomcat and Weblogic.
  • Repeat x6 : Use workflow and rules. Use workflow and rules …

Simple Workflow

In a maybe related development, Tom Baeyens is now using strangely Rules-y like examples over on his workflow blog ….

Filed under BPEL, BPM, drools, Dublin, enterprise, enterprise java, enterprise web 2.0, Events, java enterprise, Java Enterprise Edition, Knowledge Management, People, presentation, Process, Rule Engine, Workflow

JBoss workflow invading Dublin (Free Community Conference)

May 14, 2008 Leave a comment

I’m not going to explain what workflow is as I’ve probably blogged enough about it already. But the JBoss Workflow (jBPM) guys are coming to Dublin on June 6th. If you’re into workflow (and if you’re doing any sort of software for large business you should be) then this is a do not miss event and we’re privileged to have it in Ireland.

The JBoss workflow guys are dream guests. They just asked for a couple of venue suggestions and they finally went for the Guinness Hopstore where Barcamp ran last year. Next thing we got was an email saying that the JBoss Workflow event was go. So for the benefit of people flying into Dublin, here’s the information we gave on where to stay and things to do if you’re making a weekend of it.

(More information on the event on Tom Baeyens Blog)

Workflow

How to get there

Dublin is pretty well served by direct flights from Europe and the US. Aer Lingus and Ryanair are the two biggest airlines flying into Dublin – but there are plenty more (list at FlightMapping.com).

Things to do

  • Tour of Guinness brewery and visit the Gravity bar (one of the highest in Dublin)
  • Dublin Pub Tour and general social scene (it’s a coincidence that the first 2 items are drink related!)
  • Tour of Scenic Wicklow Mountains and Glendalough
  • Liffey River tour by boat
  • Dublin Bus tour – including it’s Georgian buildings and coastline
  • Newgrange – 2000 years older than the pyramids, in the stunning Boyne valley
  • Windsurfing , Kayaking or Rock climbing in Viking Carlingford Fjord.
  • Trinity College Dublin, 400 years old university , right in the city centre including the 1000 year old ‘Book of Kells’
  • For the more curious , Belfast is 2hrs away by express train in Northern Ireland.
  • Get lost in Phoneix Park, the worlds largest city centre park.

Places to Stay

I don’t tend to say in Dublin hotels too much (!) but the following I know are reasonably good value (and quiet / clean)

  • 3 of the Jury’s Inn (Christchurch is just down the road from the event location, but the IFSC and Parnell Street are also good)
  • Academy hotel is ok, if slightly more expensive , if you’re stuck.
  • If you want an airport location (about 20 mins / 20 Euro Taxi from the city centre) the Premier Inn chain are pretty good.
  • Hotel Isaacs is budget but decent , central and near the main bus / train stations.
  • Morgan hotel is where the presenters were put up for the Dublin Java conference. Central but Slightly more pricey.

For people from the community, there’s also plenty of ‘budget’ backpacker type accommodation.

Filed under BPM, enterprise, enterprise web 2.0, IT, JBoss, jbpm, Knowledge Management, Workflow

Web2 with Java:Struts2, Spring MVC, Flex, JavaFX and Google Web Toolkit

March 13, 2008 2 Comments

Originally posted on the O’Reilly Books OnJava blog. 

My fellow Java Developers. Two years ago I wrote an article on ‘Web 2.0 and Enterprise Java – move over Struts‘ looking at what was likely to replace Struts 1 (then and now a de facto web standard). How did our predictions fare?

Remember that article (and this one) isn’t looking for technical best, but which is going to be a best investment of your time to learn (in a mercenary commercial sense). And if you’re deciding which to use in a project , which framework is going to be easiest to support in 5 or 10 years time?

Broadly speaking, the frameworks we talk about break into two types: those that treat the web as a set of pages, and those that treat the web as a set of components (think Visual Basic, Delphi or Oracle Forms act-a-likes).

So , what has changed in the last 2 years:

  1. The rise of Spring. Not only has it gone mainstream, but the Spring MVC, Spring Webflow and Spring-JavaServerFaces are very powerful and widely used web frameworks. A sign of how things have changed is that for Sruts 1 the Spring guys wrote the integration for the (then) bigger Struts framework. For Struts 2 , the integration was provided by the Struts community. With the forthcoming Spring 3 release the framework is increasing momentum; More annotations and less XML in Spring MVC; Rest Web Services out of the box, support for Dynamic languages like Groovy and Spring Webflow becoming a more ‘just use it where you need it’ solution.
  2. Adobe Flex and OpenLaszlo – Flash graphical interfaces on the Web, built using Java. I don’t think these will be *the* mainstream choice but I do think the will be more than a just a niche. And for design led companies, nothing else (not even Microsoft Silverlight) can come close in terms of a user ‘wow’ factor.
  3. JavaFX and Applets done right (Jim Weaver has a good article on this). More of a competitor to Adobe Flash as both are rich content in the browser using an easily obtainable plugin. JavaFX will appeal to developers because of it’s Java like syntax. I hope I’m wrong, but for rich web content, would you put your money on Sun (an Engineering led company) or Adobe (an almost apple-like design led one)?
  4. Frustration with JSF (Java Server Faces). For the last 3 years I’ve thought that ‘*this* is the year of JSF. I’m still waiting not because of lack of demand (as web apps become more complicated and use more Ajax they become more like the JSF component based model). It’s now uphill for JSF as I (and a lot of other Developers) have given up. I’m still waiting for the ‘EJB 3′ moment when JSF becomes more simple and more usable. Remember , we ‘re not talking about technically best, but which is going to be in widespread use.
  5. Google Web Toolkit (GWT). Looking at it one way , GWT is JSF done right – a component based web framework , but one that is fast and has a lot of community support. Even then it took me a long while to warm to GWT – I’ve bad memories of web-components that hide their internals (remember Microsoft Interdev 10 years ago?) . What got me over the hump was thinking of GWT as a compiler not to Assembly or bytecode , but to Javascript and HTML.

How has Struts 2 got on in the meantime? I’m not sure. Remember , Struts 2 is very different from Struts 1. Conceptually it’s very similar to Spring MVC (Simple Java Beans based with configuration); Slightly easier to learn and maybe slightly less powerful than Spring (although both are more than capable for most Enterprise web applications.

The ‘I’m not sure’ bit comes from two (non technical) factors:

  1. Struts 2 hasn’t achieved the massive Enterprise developer mind share that Struts 1 did. It’s a better framework, but it’s got more competition.
  2. If you’re using Spring in the middle tier, why not have one less framework and use Spring MVC (instead of Struts 2) in the presentation layer as well?

Back to the previous predictions , how did we get on?

Scenario 1: Adding Ajax to existing Struts Applications. Use AjaxAnywhere – closest to the approach taken in the article Sprinkle Some Ajax Magic into your Struts Web Application. Despite writing this article , I see the frameworks evolving rapidly to the point where you would only take such an approach for adding Ajax to ‘Legacy’ applications.

How did we do? I’d maybe widen the choice of Ajax Libraries (to include DWR , Dojo, Prototype and others) but the basic idea of evolving rather than replacing your Struts 1 app still holds true.

Scenario 2: Need Ajax Now for a new Java Application. Use Appfuse as it gives Struts, Ajax (with DWR) and the possiblity of JSF integration now, all ‘out of the box’.

How did we do? I still recommend AppFuse, as it combines (name-your-web-framework) with Spring Hibernate(and other ORM) and Maven. However I’d now tend towards choosing Spring MVC (unless you’ve a reason to use Spring 2), given that you’re probably already using Spring in the mid tier.

Scenario 3: Medium Term. Use an implementation of JSF (either MyFaces or whatever Appfuse promotes – probably Struts Shale). Struts Shale (JSF) has so far released only ‘overnight’ builds. Apache MyFaces (JSF) tool support and Ajax capabilities are likely to improve over time. Both Struts-Shale and MyFaces are likely to play well with AppFuse , making it a safe bet for investing your time checking it out.

How did we do? Struts2 and Spring both still give you migration route to JSF. But do you want it?

So out of the creative ajax-induced chaos of 2 years ago, I see 4 or 5 clear choices in Enterprise web frameworks: Struts 2 (as a follow on from Struts 1). Spring MVC, due to the huge mindshare Spring has on the mid-tier. Google Web Toolkit , both as a natural home of frustrated JSF developers , and because who’s going to argue with the people who gave us maps and mail? Flex, because Flash apps done well just look so good. And JavaFX, because Applets-haven’t-gone-away-you-know.

In my view, we would have been delighted to have any of these framworks 5 years ago. And each (for different reasons) is likely still to be popular in 5 years time. Your missions now is to pick the one that suits your project needs.

Filed under apollo, applet, architecture, enterprise web 2.0, EnterpriseWeb2.0, flex, Forms, Java Server Faces (JSF), JSF, mvc, silverlight, struts2, web2

Spring Belfast and Spring Dublin – two of the biggest Java events of the year

March 3, 2008 Leave a comment

No apologies for over simplifying this :

  1. If you’re in business you need computer systems to support your team. Systems to find previous dealings with a customer, systems to allow your team to work together, systems to stop people finding out things that they shouldn’t.
  2. Once your business passes the 100 employee mark and is heading for ‘Enterprise’ scale, chances are you need custom software written just for you, in addition to he ‘shrink wrap’ stuff you’ve been able to get away with until now.
  3. Most custom Enterprise software is written in (or uses a large element of) Enterprise Java.
  4. Enterprise Java is hard to get started with – it’s a big and complex framework because it solves big and complex problems. The Spring framework makes it easy.

spring logo

OK, so we’re Spring nuts. But nuts only because it’s solved problems for FirstPartners over the last 4 years. What we like:

  • Spring allows you to use just enough Enterprise Java to solve your problem
  • Spring complements Enterprise Java, not replaces it.
  • Spring gives you a gentle slope to using Enterprise technologies.
  • Spring works well with Java, Oracle, .Net , (J)Ruby and pretty much any mainstream technology – including most of the widespread Java Frameworks like Struts and Hibernate.

So you wait ages for one Spring Event in Ireland, then two come along at once. We’ve written about Rod Johnson speaking in Dublin on Tue March 11th. Now there is a full day Spring Event in Belfast the day before (March 10th). And it’s sponsored by Momentum NI, so it’s free. And the Hilton Hotel is right beside Belfast Central train station, so it’s easy to get to from Dublin.

The full agenda is here (more details below), but given the importance of Spring to the Enterprise world, and the fact that the top four Spring guys are speaking, we reckon that it the Enterprise event of the year. The booking form is here.

Spring Ireland 2008

10th March 08:30 10th March 17:30
Hilton Belfast, 4 Lanyon Place, Belfast (Beside Central Train station) SpringSource is proud to announce Spring Ireland 2008. Join us for a free one-day conference with presentations from the SpringSource team including a keynote from Rod Johnson.

Keynote: Spring into the Future – Rod Johnson

The Spring Framework began in 2002 with Rod’s best-selling Expert One-on-One J2EE Design and Development; one of the most influential books ever published on J2EE, Rod is recognised as one of the world’s leading authorities on Java and J2EE development.With the rapid expansion of SpringSource and move to new corporate HQ in Silicon Valley, this is a rare UK opportunity to hear Rod provide his views and explore the future of J2EE application development.

What’s New in Spring 2.5 – Sam Brannen

Sam is a lead architect at SpringSource and one of the most experienced developers within the organisation.This session provides delegates with an overview of the new features available in Spring 2.5. Specifically, highlighting the simplified and extensible configuration support provided via configuration annotations and new XML configuration namespaces, new Java 6 support, updates to Spring AOP, improved JDBC and JPA support, annotation-driven web MVC controllers, the new annotation-based TestContext framework for unit and integration tests and more!

SpringSource Professional Services – Greg Southey

Greg has built SpringSource’s UK Professional Services organisation into the leading Spring consultancy business in the world.

This is a brief resume of some of the 97 major projects completed by the UK Professional Services team in 2007. Delegates will hear about the business drivers behind some major development projects, the business issues faced and how they were resolved in partnership with the client.

Spring as a Full Stack Web Framework – David Syer

As Principal Consultant at SpringSource, Dave leads the way in the understanding of satisfying business requirements using the Spring Portfolio. His easy manner cloaks a prodigious knowledge of application development.

This session explores the “full stack” web framework trend and answers the question: how does Spring stack up? This session defines what a full-stack web framework is, then provides a fair technical comparison between a Spring-centric web development stack and the alternatives. Delegates will head about the feature-set of modern “full stack” web frameworks, and what Spring has that differentiates itself from the pack.

Spring in Ireland – Ian Graham

Ian Graham, Momentum, will explore the use of Spring in Ireland and introduce case studies from companies who are using the Spring family of products.

Round Table Discussion – Rod Johnson, Rob Harrop, Dave Syer, Sam Brannen & Greg Southey

Your chance to ask Rod and his team anything that’s on your mind regarding Spring!

Filed under Belfast, Dublin, EJB, enterprise, enterprise java, enterprise web 2.0, Events, Finance, Ireland, Irish, j2ee, Java, java enterprise, Java Enterprise Edition, network, Spring

Mr Spring, Rod Johnson, Speaking in Dublin March 11th

February 12, 2008 3 Comments

I’ve been lucky enough to have been using Spring for just over 4 years. If you don’t know what Spring is, it solves a lot of problems in complex Enterprise Java Systems. And it makes those systems more configurable; Spring makes your code like Lego blocks. Blocks that you can take apart and use again and again (no matter what the underlying technology is). And because you can take it apart, it makes your code easier to test. And testing is a good thing – the earlier you find bugs , the cheaper they are to fix.

spring.PNG

Get the feeling that I’m a bit of a Spring fanatic? Wasn’t always that way. It took me two projects where other people had choosen Spring to convince me. And did I mention that it’s one of the most in demand skills in the Java world?

Rod Johnson (aka ‘Mr Spring’) is speaking in Dublin at the Westin hotel Dublin on the 11st March. It’s fairly central, and it’s a breakfast briefing, so you don’t even to have to arrange the day off work. More details on the event are on the Kainos Website.

Update: The registration form to sign up for the event is here.

Filed under Agile, design pattern, Dublin, EJB, Ejb3, enterprise, enterprise java, enterprise web 2.0, event, j2ee, Java, Java Enterprise Edition, Open Source, Spring

Top 10 Speakers at the Irish Java Technologies Conference (IJTC Dublin)

October 25, 2007 1 Comment

Not (too blatant) a plug for the Irish Java Technologies Conference (IJTC). Although if you’re around Dublin on the 7th / 8th / 9th November I’m told you’re more than welcome to drop in. This post is more a quick review of the people who are speaking. It’s also an invitation to check out their websites and see if any of the technologies they are promoting could be of use to your project.

Dublin Jug Logo

Here are the top 10 projects that I’m looking forward to checking out.

10) Java and Microsoft SQL Server : It’s still a brave Microsoft person that comes to a Java conference. Shows MS recognition a substantial amount of Java deployments persist their Data to a SQL- Server database.

9) Eclipse STP (and SOA) – Service Orientated Architecture is the buzzword of the year. If anybody can put substance behind the hype , it’s the guys From Iona.

8) Eclipse JPA and Dali. Hibernate pushed Object Relational Mapping (ORM) to be the standard approach to database access. The manager of the ‘other’ ORM Project (Oracle Toplink) should give a interesting coverage of the tooling developments.

7) Apache Geronimo – by Jeff Genender from Apache Foundation. So long the ‘other’ Open source application server, this is now becoming credible in commercial deployments.
6) Java Update – Simon has been working as a lead Java consultant for Sun Microsystems. He’ll be talking about Java Standard Edition 6 and Java Mobile Edition. But what I’m really interested in is Java Enterprise Edition 5, Scripting, Java Realtime and Java FX.

5) If scripting is your thing fellow Onjava Blogger Dejan Bosanac is also speaking on this subject. He’s talking about Scripting within the JVM, which will be one of the hot topics for 2008.

4) iPhone v JMME – I don’t get the buzz around Mobile (give it another 18 months , we’ll all be running Java Application Servers on the mobile). But many people are interested in it – this talk is how to make you Mobile Java apps as slick as those in the iPhone.

3) JBoss Drools Engine (Drools) – I’ve blogged (a little bit) about Drools before. I’ve also been fortunate enough to hear Mark Proctor speak and you will come out an convinced that the natural home for Business Logic is in the Rule engine.

2) JPA and Hibernate - There is a very strong possibility that Emmanuel Bernard will be returning to Dublin to talk about the Hibernate project that he leads. Having seen his recent talk, and given the level of interest in Hibernate, I expect a strong turnout for this one.

1) Spring 2.5 - Spring has been around for more than 5 years and is making serious inroads in the the Enterprise Java community. Sam Brannen (from Interface21) will give details on the latest on the major update to Spring (2.5) as well as what is planned for the future.

Disclaimer: I’ll be talking about Java Workflow (based on on JBoss jBPM). But compared to these guys, I’m way down on the Z-List of presenters.

Other People Blogging about this:

Filed under apple, BPM, Dublin, eclipse, Ejb3, enterprise java, enterprise web 2.0, Events, Geronimo, Ireland, j2me, Java Enterprise Edition, java5, jvm, presentation

OpenLaszlo – Cool Flash for Clunky Java people

August 23, 2007 7 Comments

Flash is created by cool people who wear black and use Apple Macs. If you’re not sure as to what flash is, the chances are that if you’ve seen something on the web recently that made you go ‘wow’ for it’s coolness, then it was built using Adobe Flash.

To add substance to this froth Java people can use Flash (instead of normal web pages) to create cool pages that do useful stuff. For example Google Analytics uses Java and Flash to create a stunning User Interface. Even though Ajax and DHTML give you a lot of interactivity on your web pages, Flash goes one better at the small cost of not being as good for SEO and requiring a plugin (that most people already have installed).

So, what are you to do if you want to combine the coolness of Flash with the heavy lifting of Enterprise Java on the Server? The two main options are:

  1. Flex from Adobe is one way for Java people to create flash. The core toolkit is free, but the editor costs about $500 and that’s before you pay for using it on your servers. More details in the previous blogposts on Adobe Apollo and Adobe Flex.
  2. Open Laszlo Project is open source all the way, but does’t have a drag and drop editor (i.e. it’s more technical than graphical). Still , it allows you to create some cool effects , such as this Flash Clock.

Which framework will win out? I don’t know , and that’s before you even consider the Standard Java Web Frameworks such as Struts 2.

More (In progess) notes on Open Java and Flash are on the wiki. In an impulse buy , I bought the OpenLaszlo in Action yesterday. As an EBook , with rebate (coupon LZ35607 before the end of August) it costs about 10 Euro. Initial impressions are good (both for the book and Open Laszlo) , but I’m still working my way through it (so don’t quote me on it).

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Disclaimer: I get a rebate if you buy the book from Amazon, but not if you buy the (Cheaper) E-Book direct from Manning. I bought the E-Book this time, but have got free books from Manning in the past for having reviewed (as yet unpublished) JBoss items.

Filed under ADF, adobe, Ajax, apollo, enterprise web 2.0, EnterpriseWeb2.0, flash, Java, Java Enterprise Edition, Java Server Faces (JSF), JSF, Web 2.0, web2

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