subject: Meap: An Essential For Mobile App Development & Deployment? [print this page] MEAP or Mobile Enterprise Application Platform may be defined as a group of products & services which help in the development of mobile apps. The term that was proposed by Gartner Inc, is now a framework identified with the concepts of app development, app management, and app testing in business units. According to recently concluded studies, MEAP is gradually becoming the chosen medium for all enterprises who adopt a strategic method of mobile app development & deployment. It is the purposes and capabilities of the MEAP that make it an important component in todays enterprises. Let us see why Mobile Enterprise Application Platform has become so important to app development & deployment:
1. MEAPs support various types of operating systems and mobile devices without the problem of maintenance of separate sets of codes.
2. The mobile middleware server of MEAP supports integration connectivity and app management while also ensuring security of apps.
3. If a developer has to write custom app extensions, MEAP should be the chosen medium. This is because of the fact that the 4GL technique used as part of MEAP does not require writing of codes.
4. MEAPS allow integration with server data sources. This helps in leveraging all SOA services from the backend systems. Moreover, the MEAP also provides developers with leverage development tools & skills which will help them to magnify the level of expertise.
5. MEAPs allow central management of mobile applications. This makes the managing of all mobile devices that is used for B2E functionaries easier.
6. A MEAP will help to enhance the existing platforms used for business in enterprises as they become more accessible to users anytime anywhere.
7. A very useful of the MEAP is that users can run the platform on the cloud.
8. The difficulties involved in development of mobile software is addressed effectively by MEAPs as management of the diverse mobile devices, user groups, and networks during the time of their deployment & during the later stages of the mobile solution cycle becomes easy.
9. A comprehensive & long term approach to mobile app deployment solutions is one of the chief reasons why the MEAP has become so popular in recent times. With the advent of cross platform mobile apps, the trend of using the MEAP has further gone up. This is because of the fact that with the help of the MEAP an enterprise develops mobile apps once and deploys it across multiple devices ranging from the smartphone, to the tablet, handhelds, & notebooks without a single change made in the underlying business logic.
10 . MEAPs provide easy development templates & higher level languages that help to speed up the mobile app development timeframe and also make it simpler. This means that the workforce of an enterprise using the MEAP need to possess less programming knowledge during the deployment of business mobile apps.
How Do MEAPs Provide Best Performance?
The Rule of Three, conceptualized by Gartner, states that MEAPs provide the maximum advantage to an enterprise when it has:
1. Three or more apps
2. Three or more operating system platforms
3. Integration with three or more backend data sources
Today, most enterprises want to deploy multiple mobile apps on one infrastructure. The enterprises aspire scaling of the apps to the size of the mobile field force used by them so as to provide both online & offline access. Using the MEAP is the best way to realize all these features.
