‘Gen Y’ Assault on the EnterpriseWhat Is the Role of the Cloud?

Contributors:

Nigel Page

Enterprise Architect

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» ‘Gen Y’ Assault on the Enterprise – What Is the Role of the Cloud?» January 2012» AGL Energy Ltd

The Enterprise Desktop

• Plan A: -

› Standardise on a single platform

› Define an SOE

› Lock it down so the user can’t change it

› Keep it for as long as possible

› Deploy apps to the desktop

› Outcome: -

» Very complex desktop to manage

• Plan B: -

› Keep Plan A but stop deploying apps to the desktop

› Deliver apps via web UI or through app virtualisation

› Outcome: -

» Evolution still underway

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» ‘Gen Y’ Assault on the Enterprise – What Is the Role of the Cloud?» January 2012» AGL Energy Ltd

The ‘Gen Y’ Assault

UI → UX

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» ‘Gen Y’ Assault on the Enterprise – What Is the Role of the Cloud?» January 2012» AGL Energy Ltd

What Does This Mean?

• Enterprise application accessibility: -

› On any device

» No longer dictated by the organisation (BYOD)

› From any location

» Office, home, restaurant, overseas, etc…

› At any time

» Employee is always available (at their discretion!)

• Enterprise application characteristics: -

› Pleasant to use

» UI designer, not developer - PLEASE!

› Personalised

» Favourites – you don’t have to go overboard here!

› Intelligent

» Remember what I use most, bandwidth sensitive, etc…

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» ‘Gen Y’ Assault on the Enterprise – What Is the Role of the Cloud?» January 2012» AGL Energy Ltd

What Choices Do We Have?

• N.B. This only involves the UI component of the app

• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

› Quick win

› High up-front cost – licences and server hardware

» Heavy internal server footprint

› Does not leverage local device

› Cannot address required application characteristics

• Web based UI

› Longer path to success

› Lower cost spread over time – development and new solutions

» Very light internal server footprint

› Leverages local device

› Opportunity to leverage the cloud…

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» ‘Gen Y’ Assault on the Enterprise – What Is the Role of the Cloud?» January 2012» AGL Energy Ltd

High Level Architecture

CloudFi

rew

all

Fire

wall

DM

Z

Application

SAP

Web site #2

Active Directory

Organisation Internet

Authentication

Data

Data

Web site #1

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» ‘Gen Y’ Assault on the Enterprise – What Is the Role of the Cloud?» January 2012» AGL Energy Ltd

Key Things To Consider

• Identity

› If you don’t get this right your user experience is toast!

› Federation is much better than single sign on

» Leverage Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)

• Internal/external bridging

› To drill holes in your firewall or not?

› Not!

» Leverage Azure AppFabric Service Bus over SSL (HTTPS)

» Keep you DMZ clear of debris!

• Think ‘mobile devices’ when you expose services

› Consider oData

» Consumable by all mobile platforms

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» ‘Gen Y’ Assault on the Enterprise – What Is the Role of the Cloud?» January 2012» AGL Energy Ltd

Key Things To Consider cont’d…

• The UI should be HTML5

› Massive investment by all vendors

› But support is variable (http://haz.io/), so…

» Test for feature availability (not browser brand and version!)

• Development tips: -

› Keep JavaScript as simple as possible

» More, simple JavaScript is better than less, complex JavaScript▪ Load resources based on feature availability

› Leverage JavaScript frameworks

» jQuery/jQuery mobile, Modernizr, Knockout, RGraph

› Push processing onto the client

» Render graphics locally where possible

› Performance, performance, performance

› Minimise page loads

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» ‘Gen Y’ Assault on the Enterprise – What Is the Role of the Cloud?» January 2012» AGL Energy Ltd

Key Things To Consider cont’d…

• No plug-ins!

• Don’t forget users with a disability

› Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0

• Always build a mobile web view

› ASP.NET MVC 4 to the rescue!

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» ‘Gen Y’ Assault on the Enterprise – What Is the Role of the Cloud?» January 2012» AGL Energy Ltd

Web Site Architecture

Windows Azure

Fire

wall

Fire

wall

DM

Z

Application

SAP

Web site #2

AD

FS

Pro

xy

ADFSActive Directory

Organisation Internet

Authentication

Data

Data

Façade

Façade

Service Bus

Service Bus

NetW

eaver

Gate

way

Web site #1

ACS

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» ‘Gen Y’ Assault on the Enterprise – What Is the Role of the Cloud?» January 2012» AGL Energy Ltd

One Last Thing….

• In order to retain the benefits of mobile devices and make it easy for users of mobile devices to locate apps: -

› Consider building a single generic mobile app for each major mobile platform that supports: -

» Notifications – user alerting

» App directory – find an app

› N.B. This app would be leveraged by all web sites, without requiring any further mobile app development

Notifications Engine

(Apple, Google, Microsoft)

Notification(title, description, URL)

Notifications app

Mobile Browser Web site

Application

Firewall

OrganisationInternet

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» ‘Gen Y’ Assault on the Enterprise – What Is the Role of the Cloud?» January 2012» AGL Energy Ltd

Summary

• We have to learn to live with ‘Gen Y’

› They’re a demanding lot, but they’re pushing us in a good direction

• Mobility and the cloud are best friends!

• Not all clouds are created equal

› A bunch of commercially available products stuffed into a hosted environment is not a cloud!

• Windows Azure has several key features to help you

› Service Bus

» The jewel in the cloud!

› Access Control Service

• It is possible to support mobile devices without building mobile apps

› HTML5 to the rescue…

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» ‘Gen Y’ Assault on the Enterprise – What Is the Role of the Cloud?» January 2012» AGL Energy Ltd

Thank You