Hybrid application design: balancing cloud-based and edge-based mobile data

1. Summary

We’re now seeing an explosion in the number and types of devices, the number of mobile users, and the number of mobile applications, but the most impactful long-term changes in the mobile space will occur in mobile data as users increasingly interact with larger volumes and varieties of data on their devices. More powerful devices, better data-sync capabilities, and peer-to-peer device communications are dramatically impacting what users expect from their apps and which technologies developers will need to utilize to meet those expectations.

As this report will demonstrate, the rules are changing quickly, but the good news is that, because of more cross-platform tools like Xamarin and database-sync capabilities, the game is getting easier to play. CIOs, CTOs, application developers, architects, and cloud service providers need to understand that:

• Tablets and smartphones are becoming more powerful every year, yet most mobile apps remain server-centric and network-intensive.
• As more power gets pushed to the edge, both users and developers will want to leverage that power. As more device types come into being, cross-platform, data-centric app design will become crucial.
• Peer-to-peer communication and client-side storage will free apps of network latency and connectivity concerns, extending interactions beyond today’s thin client-network dependence. They also will pose significant challenges to security and data integrity.
• The drastic and foundational changes coming in all layers of the mobile space—network, hardware, software, and, most importantly, data storage—require us to revisit many chapters of our app-design playbook.

Thumbnail image courtesy of flickr user Pays de Montfort en Brocéliande