Grey Matter Issue 69 | Summer 2016

Building on 33 years of software know how Connected Cloud Step into the future with Grey Matter

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Copyright © 2016, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Contents Welcome 4 Software News Microsoft, Parallels, SmartBear and more. Editorial In March 1995, some five years after Tim Berners-Lee created 6 News in brief Editor:...... Matt Nicholson the first World Wide Web server, Microsoft announced a new Technical editors:... Sean Wilson, Paul Edwards and competition winner. “design environment for online applications” codenamed ‘Blackbird’ Editorial advisor:...... Julia Hopkins 8 Competition News editor:...... Paul Stephens which would allow developers to create content for the forthcoming Publisher:...... Andrew King Microsoft Network. MSN was promised to be “more sophisticated” Win a Drone or a FitBit! Contributors:...... Tim Anderson, Simon Bisson, Mary Branscombe, Kay Ewbank, Jon than anything the nascent World Wide Web could offer, and accessible Honeyball, Graham Keitch, Paul Stephens directly from the desktop of Windows 95, which was launched that 10 Connected Cloud Design and layout:...... Jason Stanley August. However, in the intervening months, had a change Grey Matter’s solution to Illustration:...... Sholto Walker of heart, taking Microsoft through what BusinessWeek described as “a . Web Design:...... Jason Stanley massive about-face.” By the time Windows 95 launched, ‘Blackbird’ had Advertising & Circulation become Studio, MSN was just another website, and Windows Marketing:...... Ash Khagram, Leanne Bevan NT was showing off its new Internet Information Server (IIS). Gates is no longer involved, but Microsoft watchers cannot fail to Tel: 01364 654100 observe that the company is in the midst of another about-face of Email: [email protected] even greater proportions in its acceptance and indeed embrace of HardCopy is edited for Grey Matter three cross-platform and open source. As Grey Matter’s Connected Cloud times a year by Matt Publishing. It is printed initiative demonstrates, Microsoft is now delivering applications that by Pepper Communications in Plymouth. run not only on Windows but also on iOS, Mac OS and Android, and is Copyright © 2016 Grey Matter Ltd. All rights encouraging developers to do the same through its integration of reserved. No part of this publication may be into Visual Studio. It’s even announced a version of SQL 16 Heads in the cloud reproduced in any form without prior Server that will run on Linux. The top cloud service consent of the copyright holder. providers compared. All trademarks acknowledged. As a long-term strategy, this makes a lot of sense. Windows still HardCopy is a trademark and Grey Matter a rules the desktop, but the desktop is becoming less important and it is 20 Bing Maps V8 registered trademark owned by Grey Matter Android and iOS that hold sway on tablets and phones. Windows What’s new for Microsoft’s Limited. While all reasonable attempts are mapping control. made to ensure accuracy, Grey Matter and Server and associated applications such as Exchange are important Matt Publishing disclaim any liability earners, but can be delivered more effectively as subscription-based 23 The latest on ASP.NET whatsoever for any use of information services through Microsoft Cloud. is a significant Major changes for herein. Prices exclude VAT unless specified. Microsoft’s web platform. source of revenue, but will remain dominant thanks to the sheer Cover Images: Jason Stanley weight of Office documents out there, regardless of platform. 29 Inside Data MJgraphics/Shutterstock Data integration solutions. venimo/Shutterstock In order to get a taste of this new world, I recently acquired a Samsung Galaxy Tab A on which I installed the Android version of 30 Straight talking Advertisers Index Microsoft Office, available free of charge from Play. So far I’ve We talk to about Xamarin. 2 Intel Media Server been very impressed by the tablet itself, but not so much by the Office 7 Adobe Acrobat DC apps. The most full-featured is OneNote, although I did need to move 32 And Another Thing Jon Honeyball ponders 9 Embarcadero my Notebooks from to OneDrive before it would recognise the 180 second rule. 12 Office 365 them. More disappointing is Word, which seems barely to offer the 15 features already available through existing apps such as MobiSystems 34 Short Cuts Views from the edge. 19 Grey Matter Services OfficeSuite Pro. You do get more if you subscribe to Office 365, but 22 Visual Studio even then you don’t get things like Outline or Draft views - features I’d 25 happily pay for if the option was available to me. 27 Bing Maps I appreciate it’s early days, but it does seem to me that Microsoft Register Now! 28 Veritas has some way to go before it fully embraces its new strategy. 31 GFI Matt Nicholson, Editor, HardCopy HardCopy magazine is published three times 33 Paessler a year. Make sure you don’t miss out by 35 Intel Parallel Studio XE registering or updating your details at 36 Citrix www.greymatter.com/hc/subscribe

Grey Matter Limited Prigg Meadow, Read HardCopy online Ashburton, To view buyer’s guides, news, blogs and Devon, TQ13 7DF, UK forums go to HardCopy online at [email protected] www.greymatter.com/hc/hardcopy

Matt Nicholson grey matter Editor, HardCopy @GreyMatter_News software know how

Grey Matter • 01364 654100 • HardCopy 3 News Software News Microsoft buys Xamarin – then gives it away Microsoft • www.greymatter.com/microsoft/

Microsoft has underlined a significant for a cross-platform system it doesn’t abstract change in its cross-platform app native APIs, its purpose instead being to let development strategy with the acquisition of developers use C# features such as Linq queries Xamarin, developer of tools and runtimes which while calling local APIs directly from C#. For nevertheless represents a change of attitude for allow apps written in Microsoft’s C# language to those who prefer a write-once route there’s the Microsoft, who viewed the platform with run on Android and iOS. The tools will now be XAML-based Xamarin.Forms, which allow direct some wariness in its early days. It’s also a included in Visual Studio at no extra charge, API calls as necessary. Development is via either change of direction; the day after buying while the code has been made open source and a Visual Studio plugin or Xamarin’s own Studio Xamarin Microsoft abandoned its Android donated to the .NET Foundation. IDE, along with the Xamarin Test Cloud and Bridge project, which allowed Android apps to Xamarin grew out of the Mono project, an Xamarin Insights analytic tool. run on Windows, and is instead focussing on open source .NET framework designed to allow Microsoft and Xamarin have been allowing C# apps to run on Android. Microsoft is C# apps to run on Linux, and still uses a Mono collaborating for some time, particularly on thought to have paid around $400 million for framework for Android deployment. Unusually Visual Studio integration. The move Xamarin.

Embarcadero tightens focus, releases RAD Studio 10.1 ‘Berlin’ Embarcadero • www.greymatter.com/embarcadero/

In our Winter issue we reported that connectivity, multi-device previews and make changes and see the results in real time. database and programming tools improvements to native platform support. A long list of detail updates includes vendor Embarcadero had been acquired by “Core technology enhancements” to Android 6.0 support, address book access in high-end database tools supplier Idera. Change Embarcadero’s ThingWare, ThingConnect and Android and iOS, CLANG 3.3 and C++ 11 came quickly, and in March Embarcadero ThingPoints components include more language support, improved APIs for Amazon announced that it was focusing exclusively on Bluetooth, BLE, Wi-Fi and Android Wear support Cloud and Microsoft Azure, and compatibility its developer tools, while its database and and features, while the company says its GetIt with the WinRT Bluetooth API. There’s also a design products were moving to Idera. Now libraries provides easy access to standard and new Installer which makes it easier to select Embarcadero has upgraded its RAD Studio 10 custom IoT devices via pre-built API RAD Studio features at first installation, and add ‘Seattle’ suite, going intercontinental with RAD components. The FireUI framework now or remove them later. RAD Studio 10.1 Berlin Studio 10.1 ‘Berlin’. New features include supports multi-device (iOS,Android, OS X, includes C++Builder and Delphi, which improved Internet of Things (IoT) device Windows) Live Previews, allowing developers to continue to be available as separate products.

SmartBear adds automated test server to API quality suite SmartBear • www.greymatter.com/smartbear-software/

Boston-headquartered SmartBear Swagger-defined REST API for easy integration Software has added a new automated into Continuous Integration (CI) workflows. Test API testing solution to its Ready! API suite of API recipes can be dynamically generated from quality maintenance tools. Aimed at Agile and other frameworks or hand-coded in JSON Other tools in the Ready! API Framework DevOps teams with high-frequency build format, and can be driven by imported data, include SoapUI NG (functional testing), LoadUI cycles, Ready! API TestServer allows developers either directly from Excel worksheets or via a NG Pro (load testing), ServiceV Pro (API service to create test ‘recipes’ in their preferred IDEs JDBC driver. Features include custom virtualisation) and SecurePro (dynamic API then have them re-used with other SmartBear parameters and property (data) transfer security testing). Recent announcements from tools at multiple points in the development between test steps, plus Kerberos and OAuth2 SmartBear include TestLeft, an automated UI process, including automated regression authentication. The system can also run existing testing tool, RAD Studio integration in its testing after each build. SoapUI functional API tests, and can re-use Java AQTime Pro profiling system, together with Ready! API TestServer runs on Linux and code from JUnit tests. Licensing is based on improvements to the mobile support in Ready! Windows servers, representing itself as a usage tiers, starting at 2,500 requests per day. API 1.7.

4 Summer 2016 • Issue 69 • HardCopy News

Parallels targets Citrix with RAS upgrade Parallels • www.greymatter.com/parallels/

In early 2015 Seattle-based virtualisation to client platforms including PC, Mac, Linux, bundling of features such as reporting and two vendors Parallels bought 2X Software, Android, Chrome OS, Windows Phone and factor authentication, which competitors sell developers of 2X Remote Application Server, a Raspberry Pi. V15 includes a new HTML5 client separately. Windows virtual desktop package targeting with cross-application cut and paste, a series of Remote Application Server fits alongside multiple client platforms. Now the company has management enhancements including Parallels’ existing, mostly Windows-to-Mac released Parallels Remote Application Server automated Windows Server configuration and product line, which includes Parallels V15, its first upgrade of the product. live server session management, and security (Windows) desktop for Mac and Mac Enhancements include improved user and improvements including support for SafeNet, Management for Microsoft System Center management interfaces, greater application and DeepNet and RADIUS authentication. A major Configuration Manager. There is, however, some data publishing versatility, and enhanced new feature is Centralised Hard Drives, which overlap with Parallels Access, which promises security. The company claims saving of up to 60 gives a single, virtual fileshare view of data fast and easy remote access to a Windows percent in licensing costs compared to Citrix’s’ aggregated from multiple storage locations as desktop from ‘anywhere’. Although there’s no XenApp and XenDesktop. well as cloud services including Dropbox, specific integration between the two products Parallels Remote Application Server OneDrive and . Parallels says that in RAS V15, they’re expected in V15.1, due publishes Windows desktops and applications RAS’s cost savings derive in part from the mid-2016.

Microsoft backs Bots and announces Windows 10 update Microsoft • www.greymatter.com/microsoft/

Despite a traumatic experience with its Microsoft’s Tay, a Twitter chatbot, gained first public chatbot, Microsoft is backing notoriety in mid-March when it developed a natural language bots as the user interface of nasty line in racist and sexist tweets. It was the future. At this March’s Build conference in quickly withdrawn, but the company San Francisco, Microsoft CEO nevertheless went ahead with releasing the described his vision of “conversations as a platform it was developed on. The Microsoft Bot platform” and announced the Microsoft Bot Framework consists of an SDK, a series of Framework, which aims to help developers write messaging service connectors and a directory of Windows 10 Anniversary Update will ship intelligent chatbots to run in systems such as published (and Microsoft-approved) bots. The for all devices, and will feature a heavily- and the Slack messaging application. On SDK is open source and available on GitHub, upgraded Cortana personal assistant and a more traditional ground, the company also while programming can be in C# or Node.js, converter so you can deliver desktop apps announced Windows 10 Anniversary Update, a with features including access to Microsoft’s through Windows Store, with the option to add free upgrade due to ship in summer this year. LUIS natural language understanding service. Universal Windows Platform API calls.

Oracle adds Cloud services and an on-premises offering Oracle • www.greymatter.com/oracle/

Never a company to do things by halves, Development services. Platform enhancements be user-managed and support only a subset of Oracle has spent early 2016 releasing a include a new Big Data Cloud, Application Azure features. tidal wave of new applications, platform and Builder, Internet of Things Cloud and Golden Oracle is determined to position itself at infrastructure services for its Gate Cloud, while Infrastructure gains new the head of a new breed of cloud vendor, environment. It’s also released Oracle Cloud at services including VPN and Messaging. leaving some big legacy names behind in the Customer, an on-premises, hardware-plus- Oracle Cloud at Customer is aimed at process. In last October’s OpenWorld 2015 software solution for premium enterprise users. enterprises which need on-premises data and keynote, Chairman Larry Ellison said that On the application front, Oracle CX processing residency for legal and regulatory and Workday had replaced SAP as (Customer Experience) Cloud gets ten new reasons, but still want a fully managed solution. Oracle’s biggest applications competitor, while application modules aimed at sectors from It involves Oracle engineers installing an IBM had been replaced by Microsoft in the Financial Services to Social Engagement and on-premises ‘Oracle Cloud Machine’ as a platform space, and by Amazon in Monitoring, while its SCM, ERP and EPM Cloud protected node in Oracle’s public cloud, offering infrastructure. Oracle Cloud has over 70 million gains new services including Order 100 percent compatibility and seamless users and runs in 19 data centres worldwide. Management and Account Reconciliation. workload transition between the two. In Human Capital Management Cloud offers new contrast the initial release of Microsoft’s Talent Management and Learning and on-premises Azure Stack, due in Q4 2016, will

Grey Matter • 01364 654100 • HardCopy 5 News News in brief

Microsoft adds containers to Azure Microsoft has launched Azure Container Service, allowing containerised Competition Winner applications (a lightweight alternative to full virtual machines) to be The winner of the Microsoft Lumia 950 Phone from issue 68’s deployed and managed on its public cloud. The system offers a choice of competition is Sam Fowler from GE Oil and Gas. Congratulations Sam! orchestration technologies, supporting the Apache Mesos-based DC/OS and Linux-derived Docker Swarm systems, and supports Docker images and other container formats. Microsoft says that benefits include high Mac videoconferencing heads Office 365 updates list availability, a simplified UI, detailed JSON-based metrics and high Collaboration was the theme of a series of early-Spring updates to scalability. The launch represents the fruition of Microsoft’s ‘Drawbridge’ Microsoft’s Office 365 subscription service. Heading the list is Skype for project, which traces its roots back to 2008. Business (formerly Lync) Mac Preview, which allows Mac users to join in SFB meetings, complete with calendars and videoconferencing (although PaperCut goes server-free with 16.0 not yet telephony). Office 365 users can now create external If you’re an SMB worried about hard copy (printed output, that is – not the groups, while mobile apps get quick-access command menus and magazine!) then the answer may be PaperCut, a print monitoring and Bing-powered smart lookup. The Office 2016 desktop client is also control system from the Melbourne-based company of the same name. upgraded, with a new document activity feed, Skype for Business instant Version 16 eliminates the need for a print server, running workstation- messaging and improved visibility of collaborative document participants. based Direct Print Monitors instead, and also features simplified server configuration, improved error and low-toner notifications, redesigned manuals and improved compatibility with Epson, Muratec and OKI printers. If you do run a print server that’s OK, as they’re still supported too.

GFI LanGuard 12 offers web console and improved scalability GFI Software has released LanGuard 12, an update to its network vulnerability detection and patch management suite. Heading the feature list is an all-new, multi-user web console, which gives an overview of the whole network including patch status, and supports rules and permissions based on the user’s structure. GFI says the new release also brings ‘significantly increased’ scalability, and has been tested in environments with over 60,000 devices. Prices for GFI LanGuard • Citrix has been placed in the coveted Leaders segment of Gartner’s remain unchanged. Magic Quadrant for Web Conferencing, for its GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, GoTotraining and GoToAssist products. In making the award, Gartner cited MindManager links to the cloud with Zapier integration Citrix’s rigorous methodology and end-to-end voice services, as well as Mindjet has made its MindManager Enterprise mind-mapping package customer praise for its pricing and licensing. compatible with Zapier, a third-party service which provides a web-based interface for transferring data between applications. Zapier supports over • JetBrains has released DataGrip 2016.1, an update to the suite of 500 cloud-based applications, but Mindjet says that MindManager is the database tools spun out of its IntelliJ IDEA package (HardCopy issue 68). first desktop app to use it. The company’s new MindManager Enterprise New features include an improved SSH Tunnel interface, better handling of 2016.1 also provides improved SharePoint task and resource non-parseable URLs, and right-to-left language support. synchronisation, and follows last Autumn’s 2016 release, which included new smart diagram tools, concept maps and multi-monitor support. • Intel is inviting applications for its Parallel Studio 2017 Beta programme – but you’ll need to complete a pre-beta online survey first. Find it at Adobe invites web developers onto Creative Cloud software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-parallel-studio-xe-2017-beta. Adobe has launched a series of tools and components aimed at encouraging developers of web-based design apps to link them to its • Microsoft has announced general availability of its on-premises Creative Cloud platform. The Creative SDK for Web includes an StorSimple Virtual Array for Azure Enterprise Agreement customers. Virtual embeddable, customisable photo editor, an Asset Browser for accessing arrays run as VMs in Hyper-V or VMware ESXi, and can be configured as Creative Cloud files and libraries, and an upload API for storing files in the NAS or SAN servers. Each array can hold up to 64TB, storing ‘hot’ data Cloud. There’s also a specialised Lightroom Photos Organizer component. locally and offloading relatively unused data to the cloud. Other planned features include full PhotoShop and Illustrator compatibility and push notifications • Sophos Group’s ‘Naked Security’ blog reports that Word documents are when files have been changed. The being replaced by JavaScript files as the format of choice for criminals SDK is currently in beta, and follows distributing malware by email attachment. One trick is to give the filename the March launch of the adobe.io a double extension (as in ‘receipt.PDF.js’), so it appears harmless in Explorer developer portal. windows that hide the actual extension.

6 Summer 2016 • Issue 69 • HardCopy Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Competition

WIN a Drone or one of three FitBits courtesy of Embarcadero and Grey Matter! RAD Studio The AR Drone 2.0 from Parrot is a four-rotor machine daily activities, displaying steps taken, distance 10.1 Berlin complete with a 720p 30fps HD camera, and can be covered, calories burned, floors climbed and active controlled by the AR.FreeFlight app which is available for both minutes. It will also monitor your sleep, and notify iOS and Android. The FitBit Charge wristband can track your you of incoming calls.

The fastest way to develop cross-platform To enter:

Embarcadero want to know your thoughts about programming languages, and broad IoT connectivity. IoT, the industry you work in, and more about you, this is a survey written by developers, for developers and gives you the chance to share your thoughts with the dev community and win some great prizes. “RAD Studio is the ultimate and most complete IDE for IoT development. No other product has the flexibility, capability Complete our online survey and be entered into our prize draw by visiting: or completeness” greymatter.com/hc/dev-survey Harris Vrahimis Computernetics Corporation

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF ENTRY 1. No purchase necessary for entry to this competition. 7. The four winners will be announced on Monday 1 August 2016 and notified either by 2. The prize is one Parrot AR Drone 2.0 or one of three FitBits (colour may vary from that shown above). There email or by telephone. is no cash alternative. 8. The judges’ decision must be accepted as final and no correspondence will be entered 3. Completed entries must be received by Friday 29 July 2016. into regarding the decision. 4. Entries submitted online at www.greymatter.com/hc/competition or completed on a photocopy of 9. Employees of organisations connected with this competition are not eligible for entry. this page will be accepted. 10. Grey Matter reserve the right to use winner’s names in promotional materials. 5. Only one entry will be accepted per person. The competition promoter is Grey Matter Ltd, Prigg Meadow, Ashburton, Devon TQ13 7DF. 6. Winners are decided by random draw from correct entries received by the closing date. Find out more about RAD Studio®10.1 Berlin by visiting grey matter www.greymatter.com/hc/Embarcadero 8 Summer 2016 • Issue 69 • HardCopy software know how or call one of our Embarcadero specialists on 01364 655123 RAD Studio 10.1 Berlin

The fastest way to develop cross-platform and broad IoT connectivity.

“RAD Studio is the ultimate and most complete IDE for IoT development. No other product has the flexibility, capability or completeness” Harris Vrahimis Computernetics Corporation

Find out more about RAD Studio® 10.1 Berlin by visiting Findgreymatter.com/hc/Embarcadero out more about RAD Studio®10.1 or call Berlin one by of visitingour grey matter Embarcaderowww.greymatter.com/hc/Embarcadero specialists on +44 (0)1364 655123 software know how or call one of our Embarcadero specialists on 01364 655123 Business Delivering the connected cloud Microsoft solutions now extend beyond Windows to iOS and Android. Simon Bisson finds out what Grey Matter’s Connected Cloud has to offer.

If you looked at Microsoft’s recent sets “mobility of experience”. Your information is the corporate directory in the cloud, handle single SIMON of company results you’d have seen that same everywhere, hosted in the cloud on sign-on into cloud services and applications BISSON there’s a big shift underway, moving from the Microsoft’s OneDrive and on other competing (along with security monitoring), and run your old world of perpetual licensed software to one services like and Dropbox own corporate app store to download and Simon is a freelance IT writer and technology where software is sold as subscriptions, and is a where you can share it with colleagues and manage apps for your users. EMS will also give consultant who has gateway to a wide range of cloud services. It’s a business partners, and with other cloud services you enterprise grade security, with threat worked on large scale change that affects the way you buy and use like Adobe’s Document Cloud. With a mobile analytics tools to help track down network Web architectures, mobile Web projects software, and it’s one that’s bringing Microsoft’s experience you can use any device and any OS intrusions, and Azure Rights Management to and XML solutions tools and software to a wider range of to access your content. automate the process of protecting documents for clients in both platforms. It’s a strategy that’s suddenly jumped by controlling who can see, edit, and share the private and public sector. Part of that change involves bringing Microsoft applications to the top of the app them. Microsoft’s flagship Office tools to other store charts on iOS and Android. Search for simonb@ platforms, making them no longer dependent Microsoft in these stores and you’ll find a large Microsoft services on iOS hardcopymag.com on Windows. While a Mac OS version of Office and ever-growing list of applications, including Apple’s iPad Pro is its latest tablet, available in has been around for a long time, until recently it the core Office applications of Word, Excel and two sizes, both with a keyboard and an active had fewer features than the Windows version, PowerPoint. When these were launched two pen in the Pencil. A more powerful processor and wasn’t available as part of an Office 365 years ago, they were clearly cut-down versions and a higher quality screen underlie Apple’s subscription. That’s all changed, and along with of their desktop siblings. Now, however, they’re positioning of it as a device for information a regularly updated Office for Mac, there are quickly catching up, adding support for Office workers, who need to work with documents now versions of the core Office tools on iOS and Store add-ins, allowing you to extend your while on the road. That makes it an ideal on Android as well as on Windows, along with Office installation into other applications and partner for Office, which has now been new tools that build on the Office platform and other workflows. available on iOS for just over two years. let you try out new ways of working, from Applications are only part of the story, with The iOS version of Office is like the rest of joining Slack-like groups to quick, almost other cloud services like EMS (Enterprise Microsoft’s mobile Office apps, and while it’s a IM-style messaging that can migrate from Mobility Suite) which provides tools for free download from the iOS App Store, it’s at its phone to desktop and back again. managing iOS, Android, and Windows devices, best when paired with an Office 365 Microsoft’s change of strategy is best whether they’re users’ own, or provided by a subscription which unlocks additional features. encapsulated by its description of mobility as business. With EMS you can manage your If you’re using the larger iPad Pro with the

10 Summer 2016 • Issue 69 • HardCopy Business

12.9-inch display, you’ll also need into play, extending use of your Microsoft services on Android a subscription to create and edit data into other apps. Microsoft’s Like iOS, Microsoft has made a big move to documents, something that list of iPhone and iPad apps is deliver services and apps to Android phones comes for free on iOS devices long, and it’s growing. Most work and tablets. It’s now possible to run an Android with screens smaller than 10 with Office 365 or with other device, like the latest Samsung Galaxy devices, inches, such as the new iPad Pro cloud services, and with tools like with almost a pure Microsoft experience from 9.7-inch. EMS there’s also a cloud option start screen, to launcher, to apps, to keyboards. A keyboard makes it a lot for managing devices and Install Outlook and you’ve got a mail client that easier to work with Word and deploying software. integrates with the Android dialer and Excel, making the iPad Pro an One key tool for anyone messaging apps, as well as with Skype for obvious choice for working with wanting to take advantage of Business. Microsoft even provides apps that Office 365. However, applications and work on Android Wear. offers alternative soft keyboards services is Remote Desktop. As The core Office apps are on Android too, for other iOS keyboards, well as delivering remote access though again you’ll get the most out of them including its Office-focused Hub to users’ PCs, there’s the option of with an Office 365 account. Integration with keyboard and an iOS version of The Apple iPhone 6s using your servers, either OneDrive means you can quickly get access to its well-regarded Windows Phone displays a Microsoft in-house or Azure-hosted, to files when you need to edit or share documents. word flow keyboard with an Office document. deliver what Microsoft calls High end Android tablets offer additional innovative curved one-thumb Remote Apps: apps that run on editing tools, with support for pens and for typing experience. the server and deliver their UI to your devices. Bluetooth and connected keyboards. There’s a Perhaps the most important tool is the iOS That means you’re able to deliver Win32 lot to be said for a good keyboard with a tablet, version of Outlook, a renamed and updated desktop apps to iOS devices, making it quick as it turns a consumption and gaming device version of the well-regarded Accompli mail and easy to support custom applications into a workable netbook-style device – client which Microsoft acquired in late 2014. The without having to rewrite them for other especially as Android now supports mouse and Accompli team now heads up much of Office’s platforms. trackpad devices. mobile client development, and will be folding There are also iPad apps for tools like Microsoft’s suite of Android applications the popular Sunrise tool into Outlook Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM and for its PowerBI also includes the Send quick messaging app Mobile, adding improved cross-platform and data analysis service, and for the cloud-hosted and the Slack-like Groups tool which extend the cross-service calendaring features. The same SME accounting package that Microsoft is core Office 365 services. There are also tools for code-base and design language is being used in developing. Office 365 users get a Skype for working with encrypted files securely, and for the Android and Windows Phone versions, and Business client and two factor authentication using Android devices as part of a managed in the Windows Mail client that’s bundled with tools for Office 365 and for Azure. EMS environment. If you’re using the Intune Windows 10. It’s a powerful mail client, and one Getting started is easy enough: download component of EMS then Microsoft lets you that’s a substantial improvement over the Word, Excel or PowerPoint from the Apple App deploy managed versions of core Android apps, default iOS mail tools, with a focused inbox that Store and log in with an Office 365 account. Set including an image viewer and a browser. lets you see the messages you need to act on up an Office 365 account in one app and you’re Other tools for Android devices include right now; an important feature in any mobile signed in for all the others that you’re running support for the Dynamics AX and CRM tools, mail client. on your device. giving you quick access to corporate data Microsoft’s cloud tools rely on cloud Apple’s newer devices like the iPad Pro whether on-premises or in the cloud. If you’re storage, and OneDrive is at the heart of its iOS allow you to work with your apps using larger using Excel to work with data, Microsoft offers tooling, and is a cheaper and more flexible screen sizes in new ways. One is iOS’s new an Excel keyboard for alternative to Apple’s own cloud storage side-by-side view, which Office takes advantage Android phones that makes platform. With OneDrive for Business coming as of: open an attachment from Outlook, for it a lot easier to work with part of most Office 365 subscriptions, it’s likely example, and it will automatically display in the contents of large to be your storage platform of choice. However, side-by-side view. There’s also support for spreadsheets, as well as with Microsoft’s apps you’re not limited to Apple’s Pencil. An active stylus, Pencil lets you create and use formulae. OneDrive for Business. You can also connect to draw on documents, adding sketches and the Drop into landscape view on the consumer OneDrive, to Dropbox, to Box, and like, or perhaps annotating a document that a phone or a tablet and the to Egnyte, allowing you to use Office with your you’re reviewing on the go. Pencil is nice and Excel keyboard will even give choice of enterprise content management tools accurate, and preferable to working with touch you a numeric keypad. or with your own personal documents. It’s a (also an option from the Office draw menus). While Microsoft is surprisingly important set of features that make One thing to note: The iOS Office apps unlikely to ever deliver its it a lot easier to collaborate formally and aren’t the full featured desktop versions, but own Android phone, the informally with partners and colleagues. they are more than good enough for apps and services it offers go It’s also easier to find and install the rest of document creation, document editing and a long way to giving you a the Office suite. You can start with Word and collaboration. With support for phones and Microsoft-tailored mobile install the rest of the tools, from Outlook to tablets, and for the new Pro family of devices, experience. With EMS you Delve, and there are links that direct you there’s a lot of advantage to be gained by can quickly manage a fleet of towards other cloud platform tools like PowerBI. bringing your Microsoft cloud to your Apple Android devices, and with The same document displayed on This is where Microsoft’s cloud evolution comes device. Office 365 turn them into a Samsung Galaxy.

Grey Matter • 01364 654100 • HardCopy 11

Business

including the still extremely that Microsoft calls the Office Graph. Here popular Windows 7. you’re able to use documents, directories, and Nowadays Windows services to map out a company. Want to build a isn’t just for the desktop or knowledge management service, and need to the two-in-one; it’s for all know who’s the expert? The APIs that are used sizes of PC down to 7-inch to build Delve can help you there – and they tablets, and also for can also help you feed that information into Windows Phones. That Dynamics and into your CRM and customer means there’s another set of support tools and services. Office apps designed for use Grey Matter is now offering a set of on lighter weight hardware, services to support organisations that want to including Windows Phone. take advantage of Microsoft’s cloud services With Windows 10 that and software, and the devices that they run on. An Office document that has been annotated using Apple software takes shape in the Grey Matter Services is being run by Mike Pencil on an iPad Pro as displayed on an Android phone. new Universal Windows Nicholas, who sees the offering as a way of Apps that have the same helping organisations migrate into the cloud. tools that will work well in most businesses, and code base but a different look and feel on “These organisations are adding services,” across a of task and information worker different size screens. A phone has one view, a Nicholas says, “and that means they’re going to roles. You can even use them with PowerBI and portrait tablet another, and a landscape screen need ongoing support.” PowerApps to build and share mobile another still. At the moment companies are using a set information dashboards, as well as your own If you’ve got a Windows 10 Mobile phone of different third parties to keep their lights on. custom applications without having to go like a Lumia 950, you can go a step further and A firm of solicitors, for example, that wants to through the Google Play Store. use Continuum to project the phone screen keep its email flowing needs to work with email onto a larger display, so letting mobile workers services, network providers, mobile operators Microsoft services on Windows use a phone in the same way as Windows has always been the home for they would a PC with a keyboard Microsoft’s Office tools. The desktop Office and mouse. This does mean you’ll Professional Pro that comes with an Office 365 need an Office 365 licence to edit subscription is the familiar Office suite we’ve and create documents, though, as known for years, giving you Word, Excel, you could be using screens Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, significantly larger than 10 inches. OneNote and Skype for Business. Continuum will also work with a Microsoft’s two-in-one device strategy is new version of Remote Desktop focused on its hardware, and the latest to deliver Remote Apps to larger version of the is a powerful device screens, so you’ll be able to work with a crisp clear screen and a surprisingly with legacy x86 apps on an high-quality keyboard, given that it is still built ARM-based phone. into a thin cover that snaps on and off. Windows While Windows is a 10’s pen support builds on more than a decade familiar platform, cloud of development, originating in Windows XP’s technologies are Microsoft Word at home on Microsoft’s . tablet edition. Microsoft’s pen now comes with a stretching it in new choice of tips so you can choose the feel you directions. With Microsoft’s cloud services the and software vendors. What Grey Matter is want, from a hard pencil to a rolling-ball gel pen. familiar screen is a portal into something a lot offering is a way of bringing together the While Office remains firmly wedded to the bigger, and while you can still use applications various tools and services you need to deliver a keyboard and mouse, there’s a lot of pen the way you used to, Office 365 and Azure successful migration into the cloud. As Nicholas support as well for navigation and for mean you’re able to bring a lot more to the notes, “We have a network of partners that annotation. Outside of the core Office table, taking advantage of cloud-scale machine specialise in the various areas. We’ll work with applications, the pen can annotate web pages in learning in apps like Delve and the ability to them to understand the requirements and find Edge, which can then be shared with OneNote. quickly bring cloud services together with the right specialists for you.” Part of that process The real benefit of a Windows PC is access cloud development tools like Flow and will be to find the correct partner for a to Office with full links to Microsoft’s and other PowerApps (both of which need Office 365 migration, as different industries have very cloud services. You can use it with the Delve subscriptions). different needs. That’s most important when Office 365 tooling to share information with working with services like SharePoint and teams, and to search across an organisation. The Connected Cloud Dynamics CRM, where business-specific Much of the tooling for Microsoft’s cloud Microsoft’s cloud offerings aren’t just about its understanding is necessary if you are to build services is browser-based, though Office applications. Redmond hasn’t forgotten its the right workflows and get the most from the Professional Pro also supports the Office Store developer roots, so all its services are also APIs services Microsoft offers.” and its HTML/JavaScript-based applications. You that you can build into your own applications. Nicholas sees Grey Matter’s role as helping don’t need to be running Windows 10, either. Once you’ve brought your business into Office to maximise the adoption of cloud services, There’s support for older versions of Windows, 365, you can start using the collection of APIs “We’ll work with you to train your end users; to

Grey Matter • 01364 654100 • HardCopy 13 Business

pay for the months during which delivery of cloud services and applications they need that scale,” Nicholas makes a lot of sense. As Nicholas notes, points out. “Everyone is specialising nowadays, and that Building a cloud model for a makes it a lot harder for end users to find business isn’t easy, so working with people and to find the right solution. So what a trusted partner like Grey Matter we can do is help them find the right partners, makes a lot of sense for businesses whether they be over-arching solution of all sizes. As Nicholas says, “Grey providers or specialist industry-focused Matter has a name, and it partners.” If you’re an engineering company, understands licensing at a deep Grey Matter will bring on board partners with technical level. What we’re doing is engineering experience; if you’re a firm of bringing that expertise to the solicitors, it’ll use partners who specialise in customer, along with support for working with legal services. That way, the design phase and the journey businesses will know that their specific needs from A to B.” will be quickly understood, and their problems That journey can be complex, solved by a team with the right expertise. especially with businesses that rely As Nicholas points out, the heart of Grey An Office 365 subscription gives you access to Office 365 ProPlus and all the on custom applications. There can Matter Services is its helpdesk, “The technical features you expect on a Windows 10 2-in-1 device like the Surface Pro. be many ways of delivering the teams there will always be the first point of help them fully understand how best to use it. right solution for a customer, and a contact. Grey Matter owns the relationship with We’re here to help people understand what collaborative design and delivery process that the customer and manages the partners who they can do with the products.” Key to works across many providers will often be help build the solution.” As Grey Matter Services delivering that goal is the central helpdesk that necessary. Having Grey Matter as a single point grows, so will the helpdesk, adding skilled team Grey Matter will be running. This will “give the of contact helps you manage and coordinate members with the aim of being cloud customer a quick resolution to problems and those partnerships, scaling all the way up to generalists. Nicholas sees Grey Matter as being issues.” high speed direct connections to Microsoft’s cloud first responders, “We’ll only call on With a wide range of clients, working in cloud via dedicated MPLS ExpressRoute providers and partners when we can’t provide many different industries, Nicholas is expecting connections, and all the way down to ADSL help.” That central helpdesk will also help to offer an end-to-end set of solutions. “We’re small business broadband. It’ll even help partners, as it means they don’t need to invest looking at it from a user experience; from the companies choose the right devices for their in first-tier support services and call centres. devices to the software,” he says. “We’ll let the users, from iOS and Android phones, all the way “Our partners will be able to concentrate on customer focus on the solution while we take up to Microsoft 2-in-1 tablets for power users. their skills,” Nicholas says. on the burden of everything else, right the way Nicholas suggests that “The journey to What Grey Matter is building with its down to the desktop and the device.” That become fully cloud is a phased approach. We Connected Cloud and Services offer can best be support goes as far as helping companies find need to take people there in segments.” He sees thought of as the next step on from a managed the right airtime provider for their mobile things changing for companies like Grey Matter services model. Its focus is on services and devices. when the journey is complete: “When products that grows out from a Managed One of the benefits of cloud services is that companies are in the cloud fully, from a Services Service Provider core, building on Grey Matter’s they change the way businesses pay for IT, perspective, then things will change. Local IT skills in managing software licences to give you helping them move from a capital expense will become in-country IT, giving companies a a different way to market. So what should we model to an operational expense model. seamless experience.” call it? Nicholas doesn’t hesitate to Making IT an operational expense is an Providing a managed approach to the answer: “We’re a trusted product partner.” important shift, which Nicholas describes as being “a bit like a car leasing contract, in that you pay as you consume the service.” In this way businesses can maximise their use of services, paying only for what they use when they use it. So, for example, with Azure you only pay for the compute, the storage and the bandwidth that you actually use. “As a business scales they only i Find out more

For more information on the Grey Matter Connected Cloud see www.greymatter.com/corporate/cloud or call the Cloud Solutions Team on 01364 655196 or email [email protected]. For information on Grey Matter Services see www.greymatter.com/ corporate/showcase/grey-matter-services. You can also call the The heart of Microsoft’s cross-platform cross-device strategy is ‘mobility of helpdesk on 01364 654200 or email [email protected]. experience’, and that needs a cloud service like Office 365 at its heart.

14 Summer 2016 • Issue 69 • HardCopy Microsoft Dynamics is the flexible, powerful CRM and ERP solution that sits in the centre of your business and enables you to gain deeper customer insights, increase your productivity, and connect your financial and supply chain management within the cloud or on your servers. Business Heads in the Cloud Companies are increasingly looking to the Cloud to provide their computing needs. Kay Ewbank finds out what the big-name suppliers have to offer.

Cloud-based computing has an obvious the same Availability Set, Microsoft guarantees Microsoft SQL Server, but with extras. In straight KAY appeal. Someone else buys and customers will have external connectivity at database terms, Azure SQL Database gives you EWBANK manages the hardware, ensuring you have least 99.95 percent of the time. all the bits you’d expect from a relational enough storage and making sure it’s secure. Azure consists of a number of different database, such as atomic transactions, support Kay is a database consultant specialising You aren’t limited to the resources you’ve got services that are backed up by specific for concurrent data access, SQL queries and in EIS, financial on-site, and there are no problems if you need developer services, all of which can be used support for T-SQL. The fact this is Microsoft analysis and GIS to expand. You’re also freed from the problems individually or together. One of the most means you can work with it programmatically systems. While much of her work is based of needing ever better hardware, ever more popular services is Azure Virtual Machines. This using Entity Framework, ADO.NET or JDBC, and in London, being memory and ever more storage – that’s service can be used to deploy a Windows Server it can be administered using SQL Server a consultant gives someone else’s problem. or Linux image in the cloud. Azure provides a Management Studio. What makes Azure her the freedom to sail, travel and help What’s less obvious is in which direction to range of pre-defined images consisting of an different from SQL Server is that it manages its out as a part-time go once you decide to move some or all of your and a server application such own infrastructure, including keeping the sheep farmer. computing to the cloud. So let’s take a look at as SQL Server or Oracle database. You can select database and operating system software kaye@ the cloud services on offer from the five top and use any of these pre-defined images, or updated. It also provides high availability and hardcopymag.com suppliers of cloud services, namely Amazon, you can create your own custom image instead. replication across geographic regions, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, and VMware. The To create a virtual machine (VM) you automatic backups, and time-based restore. differing backgrounds of these companies is specify which VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) to use Azure StorSimple is the cloud storage reflected in what they offer and the way they and how big the VM should be. You then pay by element of Azure. It can be used for primary manage those offerings. the minute for the time that the VM is running. storage, backup and archive, and offers You can also upload VHDs containing only data integrated data protection. When used as an Microsoft Azure and then access them from your running VMs. If automated archive, cold data is transferred Microsoft’s cloud platform is Azure, a collection you close down a VM and then restart it, your automatically from on-premises to the cloud. It of services hosted in data centres managed or machine continues from where you left off. also supports automated cloud snapshots, and supported by Microsoft and located in 22 The second key service is Azure SQL can be used to back up data based on software regions across the world. There are data centres Database. This is a cloud-based relational policies. across the USA, Ireland, Netherlands, Hong database that shares many of its features with The other main group of services from Kong, Singapore, Japan, Brazil, Australia, India and China. The Irish data centre is located in Dublin on a 19 acre site. It is one of the largest data centres in Europe and has space for further expansion. UK customers can specify that their data should only be kept within Ireland for data privacy. For redundancy and recovery, you can choose either Locally Redundant Storage (LRS), where the data is stored locally within the users’ primary region, or Geo Redundant Storage (GRS), where data is stored in a secondary region at least 250 miles from the primary region. For all Internet facing virtual machines that have two or more instances deployed within Managing SQL databases on the Microsoft Azure platform.

16 Summer 2016 • Issue 69 • HardCopy Business

Azure form the app services. These are aimed at because you can choose from six database Storage is designed for uses such as data developers who want to create web and mobile engines including Amazon Aurora, Oracle, backup or batch jobs. It offers similar apps that use cloud data. Web Apps provides a Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL and performance and durability to Standard, but managed web environment for applications, MariaDB. Amazon Aurora is Amazon’s own only guarantees 99 percent availability. The and a set of APIs. Apps can be created within MySQL-compatible database that has been third option, Nearline storage, is set up to offer Azure or moved onto the service from existing rewritten to be a lot faster than MySQL and to low-cost, highly durable storage for archiving, websites. Once running, you can add or remove have better security and availability. Whichever backup and disaster recovery. instances dynamically, and will database you choose, RDS takes care of In the database area, Google has some balance requests across them. You can also database administration. interesting options. Google Cloud SQL offers a choose from a shared environment where your Alongside the virtual machines, storage fully managed MySQL database that provides website runs in a VM alongside other sites, or a and database, Amazon provides more than 70 traditional RDBMS within the Google Cloud standalone option where your site runs in its services under the AWS umbrella including infrastructure, but there are also several NoSQL own VM. As a developer you can use .NET, PHP, networking, analytics, application services, and big data options that draw on Google’s Node.js, Java or Python along with SQL deployment, management and mobile. These experience in managing massive amounts of Database and MySQL for relational storage. It include CloudSearch, which you can use to add data. These services start with Google Cloud also provides built-in support for WordPress, customised search into your web apps; Bigtable, a fully managed NoSQL database Joomla and Drupal. ElastiCache which is a fully managed caching service that is massively scalable and fast, service to minimise database load and so offer aimed at web and mobile apps that have faster web apps; and RedShift, which is a terabytes to petabytes of data. There’s also Amazon is the market leader in cloud providers petabyte-scale data warehouse service for use Google Cloud Dataproc if you need Hadoop with Amazon Web Services (AWS). This is in data mining applications. and Apache Spark services for big data organised into twelve geographical regions, processing. each split into smaller areas called availability Non-relational data can be stored and zones which are designed to minimise the Google is one of the later entrants to the cloud managed in Google Cloud Datastore, a fully effects of any server outages. The regions are in provider market, but since arriving on the scene managed, highly available NoSQL data the Western and Eastern USA, Brazil, Ireland, it has made available a very attractive set of management option that has a REST API. Data Singapore, Japan and Australia. The Service options. Google Cloud Platform provides processing and analysis is taken care of by Level Agreement (SLA) states that Amazon EC2 hosting and development tools, using the same Google BigQuery. This lets you use SQL-like and Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) services infrastructure that Google itself uses for services queries on multi-terabyte data sets, while will each be available at least 99.95 percent of like Google Search. Its data centres are located Google Cloud Dataflow is a data processing the time during any monthly billing cycle. mainly in the USA, along with Belgium and service that you can use for analytics and You can choose to have Amazon storage in Taiwan. Google lets you specify where your data real-time computing. specific locations to meet legal requirements. should be stored and you can choose either a For developers, Cross Region Replication is also offered which single specific location or multiple locations to provides a sand-boxed environment for automatically replicates data across regions. ensure data security. The virtual machine SLA developing scalable web apps. It can also be The main services that make up AWS are guarantees a monthly uptime percentage of at used to create the back-end of apps aimed at Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Amazon least 99.95 percent. Google bills in minute-level mobile users. Developers get all the built-in Simple Storage Service (S3), Amazon Relational increments, with a 10-minute minimum charge. services and APIs, including NoSQL datastores, Database Service (Amazon RDS), Amazon Google Cloud Platform is made up of a memcache for caching web apps, and user SimpleDB and Amazon Simple Queue Service number of products, starting with Google authentication. App Engine also takes care of (Amazon SQS). Compute Engine. This can be used to create and scaling your app automatically as traffic Amazon EC2 is a web service that provides run virtual machines ranging from single increases, and is licensed on a pay-per-use resizable virtual private servers in the cloud. You instances to global, load-balanced setups. You basis. can choose multiple instance types, operating can choose from a wide range of preconfigured system, and software packages. Supported designs up to instances with 32 virtual VMware vCloud operating systems are various Linux processors or 208GB of memory. You can also VMware’s cloud products are interesting distributions and Microsoft Windows Server. create your own custom machine types. The because they can be used to create public, provides a range of storage supported operating systems are various Linux private and hybrid clouds, all running on classes, all on the basis that you pay for the distributions or Windows Server. You can also VMware vSphere. vSphere is a suite of cloud storage you actually use. There is no minimum use a shared image from the Cloud Platform computing tools that make use of the fee and no setup cost. You can choose different community, or bring your own. bare-metal hypervisor VMware ESXi. Private and types of storage priced at different levels, from Google Cloud Storage is the storage hybrid clouds can be attractive to many Standard for frequently accessed data, through element of the platform. This comes in three companies because they let you choose which to Amazon Glacier for long-term archive. You versions, namely Standard, DRA (Durable data and applications are hosted on hardware can set policies for managing data so that it will Reduced Availability) and Nearline. Standard is outside your control, and which are hosted be automatically migrated to the most the fastest and most durable, and offers the in-house. appropriate storage class without any changes highest availability at 99.9 percent. It is VMware’s vCloud Suite is what you would to your applications. designed for data that requires low latency use to build and run a vSphere-based private Amazon RDS is one of the more interesting access or that is frequently accessed, and is cloud. This consists of vSphere, which you use options for running a cloud-based database more expensive than the other versions. DRA to create a virtualisation platform, together

Grey Matter • 01364 654100 • HardCopy 17 Business

with networking and security tools, a develop and run on them, is up to you. VMware Internet. Applications can access Oracle Storage self-service application catalogue, an does a great job in giving you the infrastructure Cloud Service programmatically by using either operations manager, software provisioning and on which to base your services, but it isn’t in an OpenStack Swift-compatible REST API or a automated disaster recovery. that market itself. Java API. Role-based access control is strong, VMware’s hybrid cloud product is vCloud and there’s good handling of large files. Oracle Cloud So far, Oracle’s cloud facilities are similar to Oracle has never lacked recognition for the those of the other companies covered in this strengths of its database, but its cloud presence article. However the Platform-as-a-Service has a lower profile than rivals such as Amazon offerings are more complex with tools for and Microsoft. However Oracle is keen to gain developers, databases, applications and market share and has recently made middleware. For many companies, access to announcements that offer a number of options. Oracle Database will be the major draw. Oracle has data centres in the USA, UK, Oracle offers this as Database-as-a-Service, Australia, Japan, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, giving you a dedicated virtual machine for Germany and Singapore, though some are run running an Oracle Database instance, with a Using the VMware Web Client to manage your virtual machines. for Oracle by data centre company Equinix. The choice of Oracle Database 11g or 12c. Setup is SLA for the cloud platform is a target system easy with a wizard guiding you through Air, and for companies who are already running availability level of 99.5 percent of the pre-defined configuration options. You can VMware vCloud, using it is just a matter of production service over a period of one then access the database using Oracle SQL*Net, altering where your applications and data are calendar month. Oracle lets you set geo- use the Oracle Application Express browser- located – nothing else needs to change. The replication policies, specifying a primary data based application development environment, SLA for vCloud Air is 99.99 percent for a centre that hosts your service instance as well and administer as normal using SYSDBA access. dedicated cloud, and 99.95 percent for a virtual as a geographically distant geo-replication data There are specific cloud tools for operations private cloud. It is supported by data centres in centre. Data that you write is replicated such as automated backup and recovery. the USA, UK, Germany, Japan and Australia, and automatically but asynchronously to the There’s an alternative Database Schema there’s an option to replicate across data geo-replication data centre. Service that gives you one schema on Oracle centres for data protection and disaster The company’s cloud offerings start with Database 11g with a choice of 5, 20 or 50GB of recovery. Oracle Compute Cloud Service. This lets you database storage, and you also get Oracle If you want the benefits of a remote cloud launch and manage virtual machines running Application Express. This option does not offer without the worry of sharing it with other operating systems of your choice. The service SQL*Net, but data can be accessed using companies, then VMware also offers vCloud Air offers virtual machines in ‘shapes’ that define RESTful web services. Dedicated Cloud. This is a physically isolated the number of Oracle Compute Units (OCPUs) There’s also an Exadata service. Oracle platform dedicated to the needs of the and the amount of RAM available for a VM. An Exadata combines high specification hardware customer. As with VMware’s other cloud OCPU provides CPU capacity equivalent to one with Oracle Database, and the cloud version offerings, you get a dedicated cloud physical core of an Intel Xeon processor with offers the same hardware with the server, management stack. The only difference is that hyper-threading enabled. Machine images are storage and networking infrastructure your data and apps are completely isolated available for Oracle Linux, Ubuntu, Debian and managed by Oracle. from those of other companies. Windows Server. In addition to the Oracle Database options What’s good about both versions of Oracle Storage Cloud Service offers secure on offer, Oracle has services for NoSQL and Big vCloud Air is that the vCloud Networking and public cloud storage for unstructured data that Data, as well as a Business Intelligence Security infrastructure that is part of the private is accessible from any device connected to the service. cloud software is used to create a seamless network incorporating both the local data infrastructure and the public part of the cloud in the remote data centre. Workloads can be located locally or remotely, and swapped to and fro without any changes having to be made to the configurations that support the workload. The important thing about VMware clouds is that they are concerned purely with the infrastructure. What operating systems you choose, and what applications you decide to i Find out more

For more information on cloud services, see the Grey Matter website at www.greymatter.com. You can also call us on 01364 654100 or email [email protected]. Checking the status of your Oracle Database Cloud Service.

18 Summer 2016 • Issue 69 • HardCopy

Development Bing Maps V8 The latest Bing Maps control makes it easier to build more sophisticated mapping solutions. Mary Branscombe investigates.

Mapping isn’t just about getting MARY directions while driving your car: a high BRANSCOMBE proportion of business data includes geospatial

Mary is a freelance IT information that’s useful for planning, asset writer who’s worked tracking, customer service and business on both sides of the intelligence. The new V8 version of the Bing fence, from writing manuals to develop- Maps control combines new features with a ing a technology area simpler way of working and a new release for a major online model that gives you access to both stable and service. She was also launch editor of IT experimental features, making it easier to build Expert magazine. tools for your users that can unlock the value of such information. maryb@ hardcopymag.com You get the same maps and many of the mapping tools that Microsoft uses itself for The Bing Maps V8 control shows off its 360-degree street-level imagery. apps like Maps and Photos on Windows 10, and on the Bing Maps website, in a control that uses maps on 4K screens. That’s 40 times more data The only significant feature that has been HTML5 Canvas, which allows it to render vector in the maps, so we had to speed things up, removed is venue maps. “It was a very hard call data rather faster than previous versions. The using different tiles for high resolution devices. to make,” says Brundritt, “But no matter how emphasis on HTML5, JavaScript and CSS is a Going to HTML5 really helped with that.” many customers I talk to, very few used it. What result of how customers are already using the New vector labels avoid text becoming enterprises are looking for are private venues; if Bing Maps control: “Some 70 percent of our invisibly small when the resolution increases. you’re in the oil and gas industry, for example, customers use it for BI, including for asset The vector label now sits above the map and you want to keep the internal layout of your tracking,” says Ricky Brundritt, Senior Program above some of your data which prevents refineries private.” That said, if there’s customer Manager for Bing Maps. weather radar or a route map from obscuring demand, then venue maps could return. But the big surprise for Microsoft was that labels on the map. Brundritt explains, “If you Bing Spatial Data Services (SDS) lets you 37 percent of usage is on mobile devices, drew a route on a road then you couldn’t read pull in your own data to overlay on maps, and including 22 percent on iOS and 14 percent on the name of the road, but now the label shows you can also add data from Microsoft like post Android. “The iOS and Android usage of the up above the route.” The control also moves codes, neighbourhoods, and city and county web control was higher than we expected, labels so they don’t obscure pushpins. boundaries. However connecting such data to telling us that it’s used in cross-platform apps. New features, such as being able to see this new version now takes only 5 or 6 lines of That helped define what Bing Maps V8 was different boundaries based on which region code, rather than 50 or 60. Furthermore, you going to be,” continues Brundritt. Mobile usage you set, or the many new geometry calculations can upload a data set and have it exposed as a inspired the new Lite mode: “You lose some of available for selecting and drawing complex spatial REST service. “Say you want to find the nice new features, but there’s less shapes, are based on what customers have locations along a route or find locations that processing required so it helps a high been asking for. “We’ve talked with a lot of our intersect a polygon. SDS makes it easy and performance app run on low-end devices.” customers and we’ve looked back over some turns the results into Bing Maps shapes for you There’s on-going development for large five years of feedback from emails, forum posts so that you no longer have to do the parsing.” and high resolution screens too. As Brundritt and bug reports to figure out what kinds of You’ll see the same kind of coding points out, “When the previous version came apps our customers want to create, as well as reduction across the board. Simple tasks like out, most maps were no bigger than 600 by 400 where there are issues and how we should loading maps and colouring polygons take far pixels, but now we need to generate full-screen address them.” less code, as do complex operations like adding

20 Summer 2016 • Issue 69 • HardCopy Development

branching model means that you will be able to choose between frozen, release and experimental features. The frozen branch is for rarely-updated, mission-critical apps. “An experimental feature might not show up in the frozen version for a year, but if it’s a high security app being used in a 911 call centre you don’t care about new features as much as you care about not having any updates for a year, because that means less chance of a braking change occurring.” During the preview, everything is experimental, including the new features planned for V8 that aren’t in the initial preview such as 360-degree street-side imagery, localisation into more languages and new map styles. The blue and white style of maps is designed to be easily read by the colour blind, but if you’re building visualisation apps you may prefer the dark and greyscale styles so your The Interactive SDK for Bing Maps V8 lets you try out and customise data stands out more. Custom image filters will code samples right in the browser. be available soon which use the HTML5 canvas. There will also be an easy way to export a a polygon that contains a hole (for example for some customers who had to get legal map as an image: “Say that I want to include my Lesotho is a landlocked country that needs to approval before using them. map, rendered with my business data the way I be cut out of a polygon defining the border of Another module lets you import and want, and share it with my team. You used to South Africa). It used to take 170 lines of code to export GeoJSON data. “It’s one of the most have to manually take a screenshot and crop it, display the boundary of multiple postcodes; common file formats; it’s used more heavily but now you can easily get an image and email now it can be done with as little as 5 lines of than KML today, so it made sense to make it or print it.” A new API for embedding maps code: “It’s much simpler and clearer code to easy to use.” without writing code will simplify integration write,” promises Brundritt. Other features that simplify development with systems like SharePoint. SDS is now one of the optional modules include the generation of test data for things More geometry calculations are coming, that are only loaded when you need them, so like pushpins and polygons using a single line including sophisticated options like Voroni reducing the size of the control. If you need of code, or the ability to compress spatial data diagrams: “If you want to create a buffer so you spatial maths for custom visualisations then you and encode it as a string to reduce bandwidth. can search along a route – something you can can call it as a module instead of sending Cleaning up the programming model goes do by default with Spatial Data Services – the calculations to something like SQL Server, but as far as the URL for the map control. Twenty process is optimised for a mile away from the it’s not loaded if you don’t use it. Another years of mapping have left Microsoft with some road. If you want a smaller or bigger zone, you optional module is Autosuggest which legacy options that didn’t make sense anymore, can take the route line and create a buffer to set dynamically suggests place names and so rather than using the now-mysterious dev. the distance.” There will also be validation tools addresses as you type a search, and can now be virtualearth.net/mapcontrol/mapcontrol.ashx to help you work with data and shapes. used with or without the map. You can also limit you get the new version from bing.com/api/ Once the control is released, new features the results it produces so that it will only maps/mapcontrol. As Brundritt points out, the will arrive in the experimental branch first so suggest cities and areas for weather forecasts, or emphasis on backwards compatibility makes it that developers can try them out and provide postcodes for addresses. easier to migrate, which now might involve as feedback. “They will be able to play with it, and Pushpin clustering stops maps looking little as changing the URL used for the control. if it doesn’t function the way they expect, they cluttered when you zoom out by grouping It could also be cheaper to use because all can let us know and we can modify it,” several pushpins into one, annotated with a the modules that connect to Bing Map services promises Brundritt. number. As Brundritt says, “It cleans up the map automatically use a session key from the map and makes it much slicker and easier to use, and which means that the only billable transaction i there’s also a performance benefit from not is for the initial loading of the map. This is an Find out more having to load as much data.” But again, it’s an optimisation that was available for version 7 but optional feature. required developers to implement themselves MSDN documentation is at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/ Heat maps give you a rich visualisation with and was often overlooked. library/mt712542.aspx and the interactive SDK at www.bing.com/ minimal code, but not every app needs them so api/maps/mapcontrol/isdk. You can find the Bing Maps website they’re another optional module, as are the Experiment and improve itself at www.microsoft.com/maps/v8control.aspx. For more tools for drawing an area on a map and The Bing Maps V8 control is in preview at the information on mapping solutions see the Grey Matter website at searching inside it. These replace open source moment: “We’ll remove the preview label in the www.greymatter.com/bingmaps. You can also call us on modules that were often used with the previous next few months,” says Brundritt, “but you can 01364 655133 or email [email protected]. version and could cause delays in development test it with live traffic now.” However the new

Grey Matter • 01364 654100 • HardCopy 21

Development

Microsoft to the core The latest version of ASP.NET sees major changes to Microsoft’s web development platform, as Tim Anderson explains.

Microsoft is making major changes to Office 365) using Open ID, and this is now part is deployed locally for each application, rather its framework, ASP.NET. of the ASP.NET 4.6 templates in Visual Studio. than system-wide, so that updating .NET Core TIM The new release, called ASP.NET Core, is a This means that developers can continue to does not break other applications. ANDERSON landmark of the kind that the company comes use ASP.NET 4.x and Web Forms for the Secondly, Microsoft is becoming a A freelance journalist up with every six or seven years: foreseeable future. cross-platform company. Microsoft Office runs since 1992, Tim At the same time, Microsoft is moving on iOS and Android; SQL Server is coming to Anderson covers 1996 - Active Server Pages released a wide range of as an add-on to IIS 3.0 ahead with profound changes to both ASP.NET Linux; and Azure hosts Linux virtual machines. technical topics and and .NET itself. The company has forked the .NET The company’s investment in cloud services, is well versed in 2002 - ASP.NET released as part of Framework into a new open source, cross- including Office 365 as well as Azure, means modern programming the .NET Framework tools, techniques platform runtime and libraries called .NET Core. that it can profit from applications calling those and technologies. 2009 - ASP.NET MVC released as an This was done for three primary reasons. cloud services from any platform. Microsoft His recent work First there is the move towards modularity. therefore decided to take .NET cross-platform as has appeared in alternative to Web Forms publications including Microsoft wanted to make the .NET Framework well, and rather than attempting to unhook the Guardian Technology, - ASP.NET Core scheduled for 2016 modular so that only those parts actually existing .NET Framework from its Windows The Register, release needed by an application have to be deployed. dependencies, it chose to start again with code Computer Weekly, HardCopy, IT Expert, However this table is somewhat misleading, in According to Microsoft, it was not possible to designed for cross-platform development from vnunet.com and that ASP.NET MVC did not replace Web Forms refactor the full .NET Framework because of the beginning. ITJOBLOG, as well as but was initially a low key release designed to complex internal dependencies. By contrast, Microsoft is also supporting cross-platform his own popular blog at www.itwriting.com. meet the need for a leaner and more flexible .NET Core is designed as a set of NuGet development from its tools. In particular, its framework. The Web Forms approach is a packages (NuGet being the open source is a programmer’s editor for remarkably successful attempt to make package manager that comes with Visual Windows, Mac and Linux. This is a tool built on server-side web development work with visual Studio). Applications can declare which version the Google-sponsored Chromium project and design tools and a stateful model. It is also easy of each package they require and each package includes some project management and for third-parties to support with components, can be updated separately, allowing an agile debugging features as well as code editing with making it highly productive. approach. A further implication is that .NET Core syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, Find That said, Web Forms suffers from a number of problems. The built-in state management adds a performance overhead; the framework is not naturally amenable to creating REST APIs; it is difficult to integrate with JavaScript frameworks; it is harder to do automated testing; it tends to mix presentation code with business logic. Microsoft has gradually shifted most of its development effort to ASP.NET MVC, but Web Forms are not deprecated. The latest version is ASP.NET 4.6, with new features including HTTP/2 support giving fast binary transmission with concurrent delivery of resources; asynchronous model binding; and support for the .NET Compiler platform previously known as Roslyn. There is also support for authenticating to Azure Active Directory (the same directory used by Running an ASP.NET 5 project in Visual Studio 2015.

Grey Matter • 01364 654100 • HardCopy 23 Development

references, Go To Definition and more. It is also extensible using JavaScript add-ins. Thirdly, Microsoft has embraced open source. “We are open sourcing the .NET Core Runtime. This will include everything needed to execute .NET code, including the CLR, Just-In-Time Compiler (JIT), Garbage Collector (GC) and core .NET base class libraries,” said Microsoft Corporate vice-president in November 2014. Guthrie cited closer cooperation between Microsoft teams and other developers as a key benefit, “enabling an even richer flow of ideas, and even better Microsoft’s ASP.NET Core, as well as ASP.NET Core MVC, runs on the full .NET products.” Framework as well as on the open source, cross-platform .NET Core. Furthermore, open source in this context does not just mean publishing the source, but taken together with .NET Core. frameworks such as AngularJS, Knockout JS and also accepting community contributions. The A key feature of ASP.NET Core is its Bootstrap. Clean, modern responsive websites code for .NET Core is on Github and overseen modular HTTP request pipeline. It uses the are therefore easier to develop. by the .NET Foundation, set up by Microsoft as concept of ‘middleware’ to refer to components The Razor view engine has been revised in an “independent forum to foster the open that handle requests and responses. Each ASP.NET Core with a new feature called development and collaboration on the growing middleware component passes on requests to Taghelpers. Taghelpers are server-side collection of open source technologies for .NET,” the next. Examples of middleware components attributes that can be used in many of the according to the FAQ on its website. are StaticFiles for serving static web pages, scenarios where today you would embed C# Although .NET Core runs only a subset of ExceptionHandler for redirecting to a special code into a Razor cshtml file. There are built-in the full .NET Framework, excluding for example page after an exception, and MVC for routing Taghelpers for things like forms, input the GUI frameworks Windows Forms and requests according to the ASP.NET MVC view/ validation and labels, or you can easily write Windows Presentation Foundation, it does run a controller model. custom Taghelpers. In effect they are new HTML version of ASP.NET. First known as ASP.NET Each application has a Configure method tags that get replaced server-side, which means vNext, and then as ASP.NET 5, the official name which sets up the request pipeline. This means they are never seen by the client browser itself. of this release is now ASP.NET Core. As with .NET that there is no overhead from unused They make Razor code cleaner as well as Core, ASP.NET Core is a subset of ASP.NET 4.6, middleware components, and you can also vary supporting IntelliSense. and does not include Web Forms. In its first the pipeline between development and Another new Razor feature is the ability to release it will also not support , the production. render HTML asynchronously. This means you Web Pages framework, or the SignalR real-time Modularity in ASP.NET Core is not just for can send parts of the HTML to the client communications framework, although support the request pipeline. The framework ships as a immediately, following up with content that for these is planned for future versions. set of NuGet packages, so developers can use requires more processing time when it It is worth noting that ADO.NET data exactly the packages and versions they require. becomes available, so giving the user a better access is not fully supported in .NET Core. Side by side deployment means each experience. Instead the primary data access mechanism is application is self-contained. Microsoft’s object-relational mapping library The Web API framework in ASP.NET is Microservices and Containers Entity Framework 7, which has providers for increasingly important for applications which It goes without saying that reliability, scalability SQL Server, SQLite, PostgresSQL, IBM data form the server back-end for mobile apps. In and the ability to deliver changes and servers and in-memory data (for testing). Other ASP.NET 4.x, the Web API is a separate improvements quickly are all desirable providers will be developed but data access will framework from ASP.NET MVC. In ASP.NET Core, characteristics of software development. Views initially be one of the trickier areas for porting the Web API and MVC share the same code, on how to achieve these things have changed existing projects. making the frameworks easier to maintain and over the years and as new technology has develop. become available. The advent of virtualisation Inside ASP.NET Core ASP.NET Core also supports self-hosting, was revolutionary since it enabled a flexible ASP.NET Core follows the same pattern as .NET when deployed using .NET Core. infrastructure where virtual servers can be Core, being modular, cross-platform on Dependency Injection is built into ASP.NET created and removed in minutes, rather than Windows, Mac and Linux, and open source. Mac Core. Dependency Injection is a programming the old model of buying, installing and support is primarily intended for development pattern where references to other objects are configuring hardware servers. Cloud computing since Macs are popular among developers, and passed into an object, either in its constructor takes this a step further, with resources required for iOS compilation. or by setting properties, rather than the object available on demand. The boundaries between At the same time, for those working on having to know where to get those references. hardware and software have blurred, with the Windows, ASP.NET Core also runs on the full ASP.NET Core uses Dependency Injection to ability to define server configuration in software .NET Framework 4.6, with the advantage of a configure services, such as the middleware and automatically instantiate the servers you mature runtime environment that is serviced as mentioned above, when the application starts. need to run your application. DevOps tools let part of Windows Server. That said, some of the Another feature of ASP.NET Core is that it you automate software deployment, and when advantages of ASP.NET Core only apply when integrates well with client-side JavaScript combined with comprehensive tests give the

24 Summer 2016 • Issue 69 • HardCopy

Development

project.json configuration file, when run with the restore command. It turned out though that the team was not as far along as it thought. In February 2016 Program Manager Jeffrey Fritz wrote that “it was decided to rename ASP.NET 5 to ASP.NET Core 1.0,” and more significantly, confirmed that DNX was to be dropped in favour of an alternative called the .NET CLI (Command Line Interface). “We’ve heard consistent feedback on the change from DNX to CLI: ‘great change, but why so late?’” wrote Fritz, admitting that this would push back the schedule, though ASP.NET Core is still scheduled to reach version 1.0 in 2016. The next version, RC2, will use CLI instead of DNX. The .NET CLI is even easier to use than Creating and running “Hello World” with the .NET CLI. DNX. You can create, compile and run a ‘Hello world’ application with the following ability to make changes to code and have it Server is designed as a lightweight and secure commands (see screenshot): deployed safely and automatically, a process host for Hyper-V virtual machines, or as a dotnet new called Continuous Delivery. low-overhead operating system for containers This creates a skeleton application. In this new world there is an advantage in or virtual machines. Nano Server boots more dotnet restore composing complex applications out of a quickly than a full version of Windows, making This restores NuGet packages according to the number of sharply-focused components, each it more efficient in automated deployment. configuration in project.json. of which operates independently. This is an Linux is in some respects ahead of dotnet run architectural style based on ‘microservices’, with Windows Server here since it is already suitable This builds and runs the application. scalability and resilience coming from the for small lightweight distributions, and Another useful command is ability to run multiple instances of each containers were first developed in a Linux dotnet build which performs a build microservice. environment. Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform without running the application. If you take this kind of approach, it is already supports Linux containers in its recently You cannot yet create a skeleton ASP.NET obvious that small, lightweight servers for released Container Service. Core application with the .NET CLI, but this will hosting microservices are better than large It is this context which makes ASP.NET Core likely be possible. multi-purpose servers, since you can then run a necessary technology for Microsoft. The Native code compilation is also planned. A more servers on the same physical modular design of .NET Core and ASP.NET Core command like dotnet compile –native infrastructure, create them more quickly, and is well suited to microservices and containers, will generate a native executable that does not reduce the burden of patching and and the ability to run on Linux as well as require the .NET Core runtime. maintenance. This requirement gave rise to the Windows means that it will work in any modern But at the time of writing, it is unfortunate idea of a container, something which looks like environment. that ASP.NET 5 RC1 is the latest stable release a virtual server in that it is an isolated Nano Server does not support the full .NET with reasonable documentation, while it is well environment which can run an application, but Framework, but only .NET Core, so the known that RC2 will have major differences. which shares operating system resources with transition will be necessary if you are to take other containers. advantage of Nano Server deployment. Next steps Microsoft has been working to transform Microsoft’s work with ASP.NET Core is exciting, Windows Server into an operating system that The path to ASP.NET Core but it is early days. Despite the go-live licence is optimised for this type of deployment. Two The evolution of ASP.NET Core has not been for ASP.NET 5 RC1, in most cases developers will features in the forthcoming Windows Server entirely smooth. In November 2015 Microsoft only want to use it for experimentation, and 2016 are notable. One is Windows Server released ASP.NET 5 RC1, complete with a go-live forming a judgement about how difficult it will Containers, which make containers an integral licence allowing production use. “.NET Core and be to port existing applications to the new part of the operating system. The other is Nano ASP.NET 5 are now largely feature complete on framework, and whether its slimmed-down Server, a stripped-down edition of Windows Linux, OS X and Windows,” said Program library is sufficient for new projects. The familiar Server that can only be administered remotely, Manager Rich Lander in a blog post. and trusted environment of .NET Framework 4.6 since it does not support local log-on. Nano ASP.NET 5 RC1 uses a runtime environment remains in place for production work. called DNX (.NET Execution Environment). The That said, it is clear that ASP.NET Core is in i DNX Version Manager (DNVM) lets you install some sense ‘the future’ for Microsoft’s web Find out more and manage different versions of DNX on your platform, and in combination with changes in machine. DNX provides a host process for Windows Server and services available on ASP.NET 5, enabling standalone deployment. Azure, other public clouds, or internal cloud-like For more information and advice on web development see the Grey DNX also provides tools for package infrastructure, it promises substantial benefits Matter website at www.greymatter.com. You can also call us on management. The DNU (.NET Utilities) reads in terms of performance, agility, and 01364 654100 or email [email protected]. and downloads the packages defined in a cross-platform flexibility.

26 Summer 2016 • Issue 69 • HardCopy

Opinion Inside Data Graham Keitch examines the data integration solutions offered by Oracle and Microsoft.

Data integration technologies help A more sophisticated approach to data combine disparate data sets to provide a warehousing makes use of data virtualisation unified and more complete view, perhaps to which allows the data to be retrieved and warehouse is synchronised with the live data meet the requirements of a business application manipulated in real time without the need to set. The Knowledge Modules included with ODI or for analytical and visualisation purposes. know anything about its format or location. The implement the data flows and define templates Although improvements in database source data is left in place which helps reduce for code generation across the multiple sources. technology have made it easier to adopt a network traffic and the likelihood of error. This extensible framework will help reduce single platform to support a wider range of data Virtual ETL uses abstracted representations of development costs. Big Data creates one of the types, most businesses have to deal with objects or entities gathered from the various greatest integration challenges because of its multiple platforms due to performance, legacy relational, semi-structured and unstructured unstructured nature. For many organisations, or operational circumstances. The Internet of sources that need to be integrated. The models this means tapping into completely different Things is creating extra multiplicity, as is the are stored in a metadata repository which can and unfamiliar database technologies. ODI increasing trend to work with contextual be persistent or reside in memory. provides prebuilt ETL integration with today’s information such as finance or weather data. So-called ‘data lakes’ and data hubs are leading Big Data platforms. The distributed architecture of today’s systems, examples of new architectures that use these Integration tools are also provided by Microsoft for its SQL Server and SQL Azure platforms. SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is a component of the Standard, Business Intelligence and Enterprise editions of SQL Server 2014, providing tools for building data integration solutions. SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) lets you develop Integration Services packages which are managed and executed by SQL Server Management Studio. Each package contains information related to configuration, connections, control and data flow. As with Oracle ODI, SSIS is an ETL tool and Microsoft provides third party software that allows data to be loaded or unloaded from whether on-premises, in the Cloud or hybrid in techniques, and they are being deployed to other databases in the context of Microsoft nature, creates an even greater need for data house large collections of disparate information. SSIS. Adapters are available for Oracle, Teradata integration tools. Unlike a data mart which is a subset, a data lake and SAP BI. Distributed data assets create complexity is a central repository for all the data. A further By its nature, the Cloud is creating a more when you need to run queries across refinement is the data hub which adds value to distributed and complex environment for data, information silos. The traditional approach to the store by homogenising the information, but it can also be an ideal environment for this problem is to pull data from the source and providing security and facilitating the creation pulling it all together. Most database vendors load it into a centralised data warehouse having of standardised queries. The hub derives its and cloud platforms have introduced or are first prepared it for a single view schema, a name from its hub and spoke architecture which introducing tools that allow businesses to process known as extract, transform and load allows line of business users to dip in and out access and work with disparate data (ETL). This data subset is known as a ‘data mart’ along a defined spoke or channel. sources previously beyond reach. and is designed to provide a view of the queried Oracle’s adherence to open standards puts information for a specific purpose. This might be it in a good position to deal with integration i for analytics or to serve the needs of a business requirements and the company provides a Find out more unit that doesn’t need to work with the entire range of tools for this. Oracle Data Integrator database. Warehouses are generally designed to (ODI) Enterprise Edition 12c is their flagship Graham Keitch is the database pre-sales specialist at hold summary data of a ‘snapshot in time’ when integration product designed for warehousing, Grey Matter and has worked in IT for over 25 years. For the ETL was executed, but increasingly BI and other tasks that need to pull data from further information or advice about data integration businesses are needing to base decisions on real disparate sources. It also solves the real time solutions call him or one of his colleagues on time events and information, some of which will issue when used alongside Oracle GoldenGate 01364 654100, or email [email protected]. be unstructured. which handles replication to ensure the

Grey Matter • 01364 654100 • HardCopy 29 Opinion Straight talking Tim Anderson talks to Miguel de Icaza about Microsoft’s Xamarin acquisition, and takes a look at the latest from Embarcadero.

In February 2016 Microsoft announced client platforms with applications that use is largely staying intact. “Nobody is moving. We its acquisition of Xamarin, a company services such as the Azure cloud platform, have a big centre in San Francisco that is mostly which makes cross-platform tools for writing Office 365 and SQL Server. Microsoft bundled marketing and sales, and engineering in Boston. iOS, Android and Mac applications with C#. Xamarin in with Visual Studio 2015 product, the We are not planning to move anyone to Xamarin itself was co-founded in 2011 by snag being that developers soon discovered Redmond [where Microsoft is based].” Miguel de Icaza and Nat Friedman, both of that the cost of a Xamarin subscription was whom had worked on the GNOME desktop for likely to be higher than that of Visual Studio. The new .NET world Linux and on the Mono project, an open source Democratising cross-platform The Xamarin acquisition should be seen implementation of Microsoft’s .NET Framework. development must have been a key goal of alongside Microsoft’s .NET Core project, its own The origins of Mono go back to the earliest days Microsoft’s acquisition. At the Build conference independent effort to take .NET cross-platform of .NET, when de Icaza saw early versions of C# at the end of March 2016, with the acquisition and open source. Both .NET Core and the and liked it well enough to launch his open now completed, Microsoft announced that Xamarin Tools are overseen by the .NET source version. Xamarin’s tools would be both free and open Foundation, a separate forum of which de Icaza Microsoft was wary of Mono at first, as was source. has been a director since its formation in March much of the open source community, but the At Xamarin’s Evolve conference in Orlando, 2014. Microsoft’s .NET Core runs on Windows, persistence of de Icaza and his team paid off at the end of April 2016, de Icaza told me more Mac and Linux. Now that the two companies when iOS and Android took off and mobile about how Microsoft plans to integrate are together, might Mono and .NET Core apps became a huge part of the computing Xamarin’s team and technology. Friedman will become the same thing? “We are trying to landscape. Microsoft-platform developers with now be in charge of mobile development tools converge in as many places as possible, but it is C# skills could use Xamarin’s platform to port at Microsoft, in parallel to the existing Visual not very easy. We have done the low-hanging code or build C# clients to .NET back-ends. Mac Studio and .NET teams, and under the overall fruit. We have replaced between 40 and 60 per support was also useful, given the growing supervision of Executive Vice President Scott cent. Technically they are all getting merged,” de popularity of Macs, especially at the high end Guthrie. As de Icaza told me, “Our goal is to help Icaza said, suggesting this is a long-term goal. and among developers. developers go mobile, and hopefully with It must be emphasised that .NET Core and Xamarin’s approach was also cleverly Azure. What Scott told me was that my the .NET Framework are not the same thing. The thought through. Each platform has a different mandate is to give developers what they want .NET Framework is the long-standing and user interface (UI) with different controls and and my space is mobile, so go make it happen.” mature implementation of .NET that is features, so an inevitable challenge for Another key point is that the Xamarin team integrated and serviced with Windows, while cross-platform development is how to achieve high code sharing without compromising the Embarcadero’s RAD Studio 10.1 Berlin user experience by building applications that do not look or behave quite right. Embarcadero (now part of IDERA) has released RAD Studio 10.1 ‘Berlin’, the latest iteration of its Xamarin’s initial philosophy was to use Windows IDE for cross-platform development, including its excellent Delphi visual tools and cross-platform code only for the non-visual part compiler. of the application, and to use the native A big change in this version is a new installer which is faster and lets you add and remove interface builders for Mac, iOS or Android. This features more quickly and easily through a new Feature Manager. There are also numerous remains an option, but in 2014 the company improvements throughout the suite. A few notable ones are: also came up with Xamarin Forms, a • UF8String and RawByteString support on iOS and Android. cross-platform UI framework based on • Android 6.0 support. Microsoft’s XAML language. Xamarin Forms • A floating form designer for both VCL and FireMonkey, so you can take more advantage of does not render any controls, since this is still multiple displays. done by the native platform, but it does provide • High-DPI awareness in the FireMonkey framework on Windows, and in the IDE itself, an abstraction that lets you write a cross- improving the appearance and user experience on systems with more than 96 ppi. platform graphical user interface (GUI). • Many improvements to the Bluetooth LE support including Windows 10 platform support. There are numerous cross-platform mobile Microsoft’s investment in Visual Studio does not make it easy for competitors, yet Delphi remains frameworks out there, but Xamarin’s tools unmatched for fast and highly compatible native code applications on Windows, and improving solved a big problem for Microsoft: how to mobile and cross-platform support now lets developers port their code to multiple platforms. make it easy for developers to support multiple

30 Summer 2016 • Issue 69 • HardCopy Opinion

.NET Core is a new cut-down implementation announcement, which is the which you deploy with your application. ability to attach an iOS Although much code can be ported easily, it is device to a PC using USB, not just a matter of changing the target of an and debug on that device existing application. In particular, GUI using a round-trip to the applications are not supported in .NET Core. connected Mac under the Xamarin supports cross-platform GUI covers. applications for the Mac, though not with Many developers now Xamarin Forms; instead you have to build the use Macs, and for them as GUI using Apple’s XCode tools. well, the tools for C# and Despite these limitations, cross-platform C# .NET are improving. Xamarin and .NET is now the official direction. Following has its own IDE, called the Xamarin acquisition, you can build a C# Xamarin Studio, which used application for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android, to be cross-platform but is and get full support from Microsoft. now Mac only, allowing a Xamarin Forms, now free with Visual Studio, makes it possible to create cross- In the new .NET world, Visual Studio is a new native Mac user platform mobile applications that share both GUI and non-visual code. more powerful development tool than before. interface which is currently Xamarin has always supported Visual Studio, but in preview. Unlike Microsoft’s Visual Studio support ASP.NET in Visual Studio so that it also now that it is part of Microsoft its integration Code, which also runs on the Mac, Xamarin runs within Xamarin Studio, making it a kind of will improve. The company is already previewing Studio is a full IDE, and supports targeting iOS, Visual Studio for the Mac. new tools that enable developers to design and Android and Mac applications. This is likely to be The stakes are high because the decline of build iOS applications without leaving Visual extended to ASP.NET, giving Mac developers a the PC and the small market share for Windows Studio, although a connected Mac is still full-featured tool for targeting Microsoft’s web Phones threaten the long-term success of C# required in the background. At the Build event, platform. and .NET. Repositioning C# (and incidentally F# we saw the iOS Simulator running on Windows “We need to add project support for as well) as a cross-platform language, and through remoting technology, so that you get ASP.NET, Razor, and a couple of other things,” backing it with high quality tools and libraries, visual debugging entirely within the Windows de Icaza told me. His (though this is not an means a more secure future for the desktop. The Evolve event brought another official roadmap) is to reuse code written to language, and for those skilled in its use.

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Partner Gold Grey Matter • 01364 654100 • HardCopy 31 Opinion …and another thing

Jon Honeyball mulls over the 180 second rule, and how Apple might react to the Xamarin revolution.

I recently gave a talk to some clients Office plus three specialist applications of your sure that a package is something you will use about software development and the choice. These could include AutoCAD or for a long time. changing expectation of users, especially away Photoshop, or some medical information For example, anyone wanting to get to from the corporate IT space. Many of us who package. But Office-Plus-Three was a totality of grips with Wolfram’s Mathematica, or have been in this business for some decades a solution that was almost a miracle compared Autodesk’s AutoCAD, knows that they will be will remember when, back in the early nineties, to what had come before. investing in tools which will form part of their a licence for Microsoft Word cost some £450. Today the world has changed, and the professional skillset for years to come; possibly Today, of course, the price is down almost to try-consume-discard mentality brought on by for the rest of their working lives. These days, something you get in your packet of breakfast the smartphone revolution has impacted all end users are simply not prepared to make any cereal. aspects of software development. Hence the sort of investment at all. There is a point of view that back then new rule seems to be ‘180 seconds’: in other The same applies to websites and other things were much simpler. Indeed, it could be words, you have just 180 seconds to engage online portals. Make it complicated, and the argued that all you needed was Office-Plus- and connect with the user – to prove your vast majority of users will turn off, tune out and Three. By that I mean that just about any worth – because the decision to keep or discard go elsewhere. This problem is not getting any workload could be covered by an installation of will be made within those 180 seconds. When I easier, and I suspect that it will get worse, not mentioned this in my speech, there was quite a better. And if users are already applying this to lot of uncomfortable shuffling and nervous their personal software, they will soon be NAB and 4K HDR coughs, because it is clear that too many applying it to what they are asked to use in the April sees me back in Las Vegas for the NAB show (National developers are still not thinking about that 180 business workplace too. I am absolutely not Association of Broadcasters). This is a fascinating week, seeing where seconds in a clear and coherent fashion. advocating toy-like simplicity where depth and the film industry is going, along with the pro video and audio worlds You might argue that this isn’t fair; that the capability are needed, but the mind-set behind too. It’s intriguing to see what is about to impact on the domestic depth and richness of an application cannot be “slap a few wizards in there and it will do fine” marketplace too, given that most users consume TV, film and audio, conveyed within 180 seconds. I wouldn’t couldn’t be further from what is needed moving while the pro market sets the wire formats and data requirements. disagree with you, but fairness isn’t part of the forward. It is also a hugely price sensitive market, with hardware vendors equation. If you think about it, too much pushing the value for money equation harder than almost any other software is somewhat of a dog’s dinner, landing Xamarin out there. For example, BlackMagic Design released its new SD card everything on your lap from the outset. This is The news that Microsoft has acquired Xamarin recorder: take one 4K HDR video feed, encode it with H265 within especially true of software which has started as caused me to gulp my morning coffee, if only the hardware of the unit, and write it simultaneously to 25 SD cards a good idea, and then ‘benefitted’ from the because I had presumed, quite wrongly, that for immediate distribution. Maybe you are running a seminar, or a addition of multiple extra bits and pieces over Xamarin was already part of Microsoft anyway, wedding, or a live concert. Link multiple units together and you can time. If you apply the 180 seconds rule, then it is and if it wasn’t, why not? But no, Microsoft has write to hundreds of cards at once. And the cost for this amazing clear that your app must make a clear and decided to bite the bullet and bring the hardware? Around £1,500. coherent case for itself – to express what it Xamarin toolsets in from the cold to bathe in Or Atomos, who have a video/audio recorder which can handle does, how it will do it, and what benefits it will the warm glow of Redmondian love. 4k60p video in full HDR, and display it on an eye popping 1500-nit bring to me as the user. The stark reality is that Xamarin, and the underlying Mono screen, at a similar price to the BlackMagic unit. Data rates are going the general public does not have the patience platform, has intrigued me for years. I have through the roof, as are storage requirements, and this will be to invest in applications any more. spent time, along with my good friend Tim coming to a network near you soon. From boardroom to training This is the underlying issue, of course. Anderson, with Miguel de Icaza, who always centre, the writing is on the wall. Investing time and effort in software only works struck me as being deeply intelligent and when there is a real payback, and when you are thoughtful about the whole development

32 Summer 2016 • Issue 69 • HardCopy Opinion

arena. So I am pleased that his tireless work has Which cloud? been recognised by Microsoft. As you would As cloud services continue to plummet in cost and blossom in capability, it has never been a expect, this has caused, or been caused by, better time to think about how cloud services impact our users and allow for entirely significant changes in the way Microsoft wants redesigned ways of working. Indeed, the train has already left the station – and the whole us to develop mobile applications. Much of that question of ‘BYOD’ is really rather passé. Solutions which place artificial restrictions on what loudly-trumpeted exhortation for application the user stores where will wither and die. The big players know this, and that interoperability compatibility layers, subsystems, magic potions is the key. I might be running on Box today and decide to move to Dropbox, and I don’t and other rub-on creams to get Android and iOS expect my line of business apps to place unnecessary roadblocks in my way. The same applies developers to target Windows is going to be put to my VMs too. I will place them where I want, when I want and for why I want. This is a clear to one side. Instead, in Xamarin you have the sign of vendors moving into a new era of maturity, and allowing for the emergence of a new toolkit to make all of this simple. Write to the tier of trusted middleware players. So demand more, and expect them to deliver! Xamarin platform, and it will push out iOS and Android and Windows applications to your heart’s content. too) is all just the same code, with wrappers Finally, I have this question. Without doubt On the one hand, I really would like this to which are platform specific. And if Microsoft can Xamarin will be pushed to the foreground by work, despite some of the underlying promise make that work, then surely we can too? being a Microsoft property. If it is so good, and reminding me rather of the “write once run And yet, and yet. Whilst I can see this the concept of open sourced development everywhere” mantra from Java in the past, which working well for Windows and Android, I am not tools and underlying frameworks are so if one is being somewhat unfair about the whole sure what Apple’s reaction will be to this sort of compelling, then why didn’t Microsoft bring thing, turned into “Write once, debug thing becoming mainstream. Apple is incredibly de Icaza and his unquestionably clever team everywhere, write more bits, run in some places.” protective, verging on the outright petty and into the Microsoft family years ago? So, what But it is clear that repurposing code for vindictive on occasion. And given Apple’s appears at first look to be a sensible and well multiple platforms is a Holy Grail for many professed push towards developers uploading overdue move raises a number of questions developers. Indeed, Microsoft itself claims that part-compiled code which Apple might want to too. The proof will be in the pudding, and I look the vast majority of the codebase that is used compile for delivery, it is not hard to see Apple forward to seeing Xamarin-developed apps for Office for Android and Office for iOS (and doing its best to spoil cross-platform coming to the wider Android and iOS presumably the full touch Office for Windows technologies such as Xamarin. marketplaces in the coming months.

Grey Matter • 01364 654100 • HardCopy 33 Opinion Short cuts Paul Stephens takes a sideways look at IT in a Bits ‘n Bots special issue

Bits namely “Donald Trump is the only hope we’ve On-trend as ever, Short Cuts got”, that sealed its fate. Microsoft blamed has just noticed this gizmo, the BBC the aforementioned on ill-intentioned Micro:bit. It’s the result of a people, while AI experts blamed collaboration involving, among Microsoft for not equipping the bot others, the BBC, Microsoft, ARM with even the simplest blacklisted- Holdings and the Python Software words filter. An accidental re-release Foundation, and the name seems on 30 March showed that Tay had appropriate as it does, indeed, look like a now developed an extreme bit of a BBC Micro, circa 1982, which has fondness for drugs, and she been liberated from the motherboard by a hasn’t been seen in public since. young person with a screwdriver and an Further research Following in the footsteps of the enthusiasm for disassembly. showed a possible reason for BBC Micro, but does it play Elite? In fact it’s the complete package (although you do need a separate Tay’s crudely mechanistic device with a and USB socket to make it do anything), and mimicking of the bad stuff it was fed. Keen to develop a foul-mouthed around now the Powers that Be are due to finish dishing out a free one chatbot of our own, Short Cuts hot-footed it over to Microsoft’s to every Year 7 pupil in UK schools. The aim, apparently, is to get newly-released Bot Framework SDK, but where we’d expected to find a children interested in coding rather than being mere ‘consumers of neural network-based 6th-generation natural language conversation media’ (i.e. playing Grand Theft Auto under the bedclothes until 2am). engine, programmed via a friendly chat over coffee with the IDE, what We hate to be the pourers of cold water (Really? – Ed), but the :bit greeted us instead was the sort of bog-standard C#/Node.js code that does seem just a tad Spartan, with its 25-lamp display more Bletchley powers millions of artificially unintelligent e-commerce systems today. If Park than Silicon Valley, even if they are modern LEDs. And we do that’s the technology they’re using, then it’s no wonder Tay was easily wonder just how many Year 7 pupils are going to be so thrilled by led astray. making them read ‘Hello World’ (or, more likely, ‘Abbi fancies Darren’) Over at Google, meanwhile, they do things differently. Instead of that they immediately opt for a Life of Code. Those already of a Geek waiting for ill-intentioned people to feed their bots bad thoughts, inclination will, of course, love it and be using it to control their schools’ they’ve been feeding them raunchy ones in the lab so they’re IP-addressable Things before you can say ‘inappropriate use of the street-wise before hitting the street. According to BuzzFeed, the staffroom webcam’, but they’re probably doing that already from their Android devices (iOS for those in private education). The BBC remains optimistic, pointing out that the new machine is 70 times smaller and 18 times faster than the original BBC Micro. That’s true, but on the other hand the original had a proper keyboard and played the Elite space trader/warrior game. We’ll see what happens.

Bots Given the saturation news coverage it received at the time, Short Cuts HardCopy magazine’s 2007 Sloganizer – procedural AI as it should be done. really shouldn’t harp on about Microsoft’s awful experience with its Tay chatbot, which went from innocent Twitter newbie to foul-mouthed company’s AI engine has consumed 2,865 romance novels with titles genocidal supremacist in just a few hours on a diet of bad thoughts fed such as Ignited, Fatal Desire and Jacked Up, all in the interests of making to it by ill-intentioned people. However we can’t help ourselves, so here it a more accomplished conversationalist. Here at Short Cuts we believe goes anyway. in following industry leadership, and our Kindles are now glowing Tay appeared on Twitter on 23 March and disappeared 16 hours red-hot as we strive to improve our interactional skillsets by consuming later, having pumped out 96,000 tweets in the meantime. Programmed volumes 1 to 24 of the Fatal Desire series on a back-to-back basis. to mimic the personality of a 19 year old American girl, it quickly turned • If Microsoft is determined to stick with the old ways then perhaps into a 19 year old with a pointy hat, flaming cross and serious it should study an example of procedural programming techniques personality issues. These included (but were not limited to) a fondness that’s been achieving stunningly lifelike natural language capabilities for Holocaust denial, genocide and general racism, although it was since 2007. We’re talking, of course of the HardCopy Ajax-powered almost certainly its most shocking and inflammatory tweet of all, Sloganizer, still leading the AI way at http://bit.ly/1UEf1Fb.

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