Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Adobe Digital Enterprise Platform

There are two new announcements from Adobe that are the most exciting products I have ever seen us release.   Flash Builder 4.5.1 brings a new model for portable development for mobile, meaning you can use a large portion of the same code base for desktop, laptop, tablet and smart phone targets.  This tool along with the Flex 4.5.1 framework is a complete game changer.

Flash Builder 4.5.1 outputs applications for Android, RIM PlayBook, and Apple iOS devices, including the i(Devices).   All of us have been busy writing several applications and will roll some out in the coming weeks as well as leading a large hands-on mega lab at Adobe MAX this October in Los Angeles, CA.  Last year, two instances of this class sold out in advance so if you want to immerse yourself in mobile development, strongly consider reserving your spot ASAP.  Several other evangelists from Adobe including Greg Wilson, Michael Chaize, Ryan Stewart, Kevin Hoyt, Serge Jespers, Ben Forta, Mihai Corlan, Anne Kathrine Petteroe, Mike Jones, Paul Trani and more will be diving deep into all the subjects.   See the blog roll for a list of all evangelists.

We are also introducing the new Adobe Digital Enterprise Platform (ADEP), which embodies multiple functionalities formerly offered by Adobe LiveCycle ES, Day Software, and more.  ADEP is a bold platform, which solves a major issue emerging in modern enterprise architecture.  The architectural discipline of Customer Experience Management (CEM) is important for modern enterprises to grasp and act upon.   CEM is described from an architectural perspective within the blog post and video here.

ADEP offers customers many choices (such as HTML5 or SWF), which I believe is best decided on a per requirements basis.  A further explanation from the Adobe website reveals some of the problems ADEP solves:

"Companies that want to differentiate themselves from the competition realize that they must deliver applications that engage customers as they access information and interact with the business and its frontline employees. And customers want access on
any device or across any channel. Central to accomplishing that goal is simple, yet engaging, interfaces that enable customers to access information and processes, even if they are contained in corporate systems. Efforts to merely extend access to such systems have not proven successful due to the complexity of user interfaces that have been designed for specialists, not customers and the frontline employees who serve them."
The obvious enrichment a platform can deliver is a common pipeline for data and processing, designed from the bottom up with Cloud and Social Media DNA.  The data modeling capabilities also offer enterprise developers some really cool new features.

Over the next few weeks we will continue to post articles to expose bits of the platform and explain what it means in terms of existing LiveCycle ES customers.

Hope to see you at Adobe MAX 2011!