Myths about using business apps online

COMMENTARY--The Web has been gradually adopted as an enterprise computing architecture replacing the traditional Thick Client architecture. It significantly lowers the total cost of ownership for applications and enables universal deployment and centralized management.

Outlined below are the top-eight myths about the Web that often restrict companies from reaping the full benefits of Internet technology. In addition to presenting these myths, truths to help you make better decisions for your business applications are also outlined.

Myth No. 1: The Web is unreliable, slow and cannot scale making it impossible to use for business critical applications.

There are major issues with the Web in terms of reliability, performance and scalability.

Truth: A software layer that sits on top of today’s Web infrastructure can be used to solve these three problems. Specifically, a presentation software layer can add robust messaging support, enable stable client-side computing and reduce the number of round trips, network bandwidth consumption and server load. Coupled with this software layer, the Web can deliver the same functionality and performance benefits of a .NET thick client for Web applications without creating the deployment and desktop upgrade issues.

Myth No. 2: Application functionality loss is a given when "Webified."

Although using DHTML and JavaScript/HTML would add limited interactivity there would still be loss of functionality.

Truth: Solutions are available that can solve this problem. These solutions add the missing functionality onto the existing Web infrastructure via a “managed smart client environment,” enabling Windows desktop functionality in a browser and Web built applications with no compromise.

Myth No. 3: I have to develop two versions of my application: a desktop version for doing the heavy duty real work and a Web version that does simple reporting.

Truth: A presentation software layer would deliver all the desktop functionality without compromise in the Web application, eliminating the need to develop and maintain a separate thick client.

Myth No. 4: The Web is a proven infrastructure for business applications and I want to use the Web for all my applications.

Truth: For mission critical applications, data loss can have serious implications. Page refreshes and network disruptions can to be very annoying not to mention costly, for serious enterprise implementations. For such applications the Web is not enough.

A presentation software layer can solve these inefficiencies, particularly if it includes:
1. A robust, smart messaging layer that solves the unreliability issue within the current Web infrastructure. This messaging layer automatically handles occasional network disruptions without causing data loss.
2. A managed smart client environment that solves performance issue by leveraging client side resource to reduce bandwidth usage and server/network dependency.

Myth No. 5: The No. 1 challenge when using the Web for business application is its lack of rich user interface.

Truth: Rich user interface is one of the problems, but for enterprise-level applications it often isn’t the main problem. Reliability and performance issues must be handled in order for the application to meet enterprise requirements.

Myth No. 6: "Webification" is the answer to my legacy application migration challenge.

Truth: Moving "sunset" technologies to a mainstream architecture in an attempt to "Webify" these applications can pose major problems in the areas of user training as well as application reliability, availability and performance. A well-designed presentation software layer added to the existing Web architecture that can handle these issues would remove these challenges.

Myth No. 7: Web application development is expensive and time consuming.

Truth: There are tools today to simplify Web application development. However, a good tool must be accompanied by a well thought out architectural framework to dramatically simplify both the code complexity itself as well as the development challenge.

Myth No. 8: Web applications cannot be used if disconnected.

Truth: Web applications based on today’s Web architecture are not available offline. A presentation software layer can enable Web applications offline without causing loss of the many Web-based application advantages. Solutions are available today that not only enable a unified Web-programming model but also dramatically reduce total cost of ownership.

In summary, the Web today has the following major challenges specific to enterprise applications:
1. The Web is not reliable and cannot easily scale to large data sets and transaction volumes
2. The Web is not available when the network is unavailable
3. The Web does not help application performance; in fact, it slows down application performance due to excessive page refreshes and overdependence on network round trips
4. The Web offers very limited user interface capability and interaction support
5. Web application development can be costly and time consuming

To fully leverage the Web for enterprise applications these problems must be solved. A successful solution must enable enterprise Internet applications to meet the following four requirements:
1. Be enterprise ready
2. Offer a richer application experience
3. Be based on open standards and a flexible architecture
4. Enjoy easy-of-development, deployment and maintenance

To meet the above requirements a complete presentation layer solution must include the following four components:
1. A Managed Client Layer
2. An Enterprise Messaging Layer
3. An Integration and Scalability Layer
4. A Visual Development Tool

biography
Coach Wei currently serves as CTO for Nexaweb, which develops the leading XML-based rich client technology platform for building and deploying Enterprise Internet Applications. Previously, he played a key role at EMC Corporation in the development of a new generation of storage network management software. Coach is a graduate from MIT, holds several patents, and is an industry advocate for the proliferation of open standards.