cloud computing and mobile rit

How CloudComputing changed Mobile Development

Chris MoyerVP of Technology @ Newstex, LLC

Monday, October 1, 12

Who am I?

✦ Author

✦ Building Applications in the Cloud

✦ Not just about AWS, but cloud computing “patterns” in general

Monday, October 1, 12

Author

✦ Now available in multiple languages

✦ Available through Amazon.com

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Newstex VP

✦ VP of Technology: Newstex, LLC

✦ Took Newstex from a datacenter to AWS

✦ All applications run entirely within AWS

Monday, October 1, 12

Mobile + CloudMonday, October 1, 12

What is a cloud service?

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Do you have a smartphone or

tablet?

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The original Mobile Phone

Radio Common Carrier

1960s by AT&T

Voice only

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Smartphones - Business only

Blackberry introduces a phone with Email

Lets you keep in contact with the office outside the office

Allows you to be mobile

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Smartphones for everyone!

Smartphones for normal people

“Apps” become more useful then the phone

Usage shifts

“Mobile” doesn’t just mean “phone” anymore

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What do you use your mobile for?

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Data usage increasing

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Faster processors use more battery

Small - Not a desktop

Use less power

Produce less heat

Don’t process:

Background Tasks

Expensive Tasks

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Selling a service, not an application

Applications have short lifespan

Services give you paying customers forever

Think “World of Warcraft” vs “Warcraft 3”

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But where do I run these tasks?

Traditional DCs don’t scale

Users may jump from 500 to 5 million overnight

Users may drop, need to be flexible

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Offloading data/processing to a CloudElastic back-end

Scale when you get more users

Network accessible

Allow localized access

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Lets put everything on the backend!

HTML5 Only apps

HTML5 is slow

Not everything is “standard”

Not all devices deserve the same layout

Transmitting data + layout over high-latency networks

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How often are you on-the-go with your

mobile?

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Speed is everythingMonday, October 1, 12

LTE “Speed”Monday, October 1, 12

Mobile networksLatency is much higher

Users pay for data usage

Networks are unreliable

Minimal offline functionality

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Big Data, Big analytics

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Tracking: Device or API?Track on Device:

Interactions

User Workflow

Track in API:

API Calls

Usage statistics

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What about the User?

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Mobile devices are disposable

Phones get lost, destroyed, or stolen

Enterprise:

Prevent unauthorized access on stolen devices

Protect your data

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Sync everywhere

One login, any device

Makes you mobile

Use services, not apps

“My data is in the cloud”

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Newstex System

External ServicesReal Time updates

Push notifications

Email notifications

Social Sharing

Twitter

Facebook

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Newstex’s Solution

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One API to rule them all?

Not all devices have the same “workflow”

Not all devices authenticate the same

API developer and client developer disconnect

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Taking a cue from Netflix

Different APIs for different clients

One underlying API with different adapters

Client Adapter written specifically for each development team

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Newstex API

CloudSearch DynamoDB SimpleDB S3

Web Adapter

Device Adapter

AdaptersPlug in Cloud Services to Centralized API

Build adapters on top of this API for individual use-cases

Web adapter - HTTP/REST + JSON

Mobile devices: Socket + XDR

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REST is not always bestVersion 1:

REST + JSON

Slow

Lots of overhead

Not Bandwidth efficient

No Sessions

Text parsing is expensive on mobile

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Custom APIsVersion 2:

Custom “Socket” API

Simple XDR based output

Compact data representation

Fast - Session based

Cheap to decode

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DNS

us-west

us-east

eu-west

Request RoutingLocation-based DNS

Takes you to the closest servers

Reduce latency

Synchronize databases

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We’re hiring!

newstex.com/about/jobs

Web Developers

Mobile Developers

Python Developers

Monday, October 1, 12