ibrussels for stedenlink
DESCRIPTION
presentation given to the Dutch Stedenlink organisation on the i-Brussels projectTRANSCRIPT
Mobile applications for your customers
Case study: Brussels community website
• Customer
– Brussels hoofdstedelijk gewest
– CIBG (central IT department of Brussels)
• Goals
– Reinforce economy by creating a digital local community
– Monetise services / platform (in the long term)
• Must-have features
– Works offline: permanent presence on the user’s phone
– Automatic update of content through web services
– Easy distribution (SMS “MyService” to 3236)
– Website integration
– Works on 80% of mobile phones
2www.citylive.be
Functionality: online city community
3www.citylive.be
CitizensLocal shops
Governe-ment
IT companies
Visitors
Solution architecture:
Citylive Community Services Platform
• Functionality
– Service creation
– Service delivery
– Service management
• Technical
– SOA architecture
– SQL server 2000 DB
– MS .NET 3.0 framework backend / ASP.NET frontend
– Web services (JSON, REST, SOAP) through WCF
– Session management and telco service integration through
Microsoft Connected Services Framework 3.0
18www.citylive.be
Solution hardwarde
• Hosting:Kangaroot datacenter with Global Crossings, Tiscali and FreeBIX 1GB connections
• Servers: HP cluster with SAN as virtual server host
• Mobile phones: everything that runs Windows Mobile or Java J2ME
19www.citylive.be
Solution software: Hydra
• Functionality:– Collection of enabling services out-
of-the-box– Central & secure repository for
profile and application data– Provides abstraction layer for
applications & websites using simple API’s
– Controlled environment handling privacy/authentication/authorization
• AD based authentication of services (internal or external)
• Impersonation for non-authenticated service consumers
• Authorisation: own service or CSF
20www.citylive.be
Solution software: Application creation
21www.citylive.be
Solution software: Glowe explained
22www.citylive.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XlHH0SJjv8
Solution software: Mobile Widget engines
• Reference implementation on .NET Compact Framework
• After validation, porting to J2ME, Javascript, Flash
• Symbian: tried, but too fragmented / difficult process / weird architecture
23www.citylive.be
Challenges / lessons learned
Things to do
• Make mock-ups FIRST– Mobile apps have no set expectation
– You can’t predict what will work
– Do extensive user testing
– Be prepared to change your concept
– Technical POC alone is not enough
• Use the internet & its protocols– A mobile does not live in your network
– VPN’s are a thing of the past
– SOAP is nice when critical, XML is easier
– Use the universal firewall bypass port (80)
• Think Multi-platform– 1 platform only is not realistic
– When you can: move up an abstraction layer or two (but web browser might be too thin)
Things to avoid
• Stay out-of-control– With mobile, the user is in control– You can’t manage his device. Forget it.– Give users tools so they can DIY.
• Avoid the bigger picture– Focus on a concrete function with an
immediate value add for the user– Trying to change work processes,
integrate with business intelligence, cover a larger scope: it will all fail
– Mobile is new: create demand first– When it’s time for the bigger picture,
current technology will be obsolete
• Translate the web to mobile– In some cases, mobile websites are OK– But: don’t just convert existing web tools– Mobile has a different usage model then
fixed (“browsing” is done on a desk)
24www.citylive.be
?
?
?
?
?
?