Develop Games and Advanced Mobile Apps in the Cloud with Azure Training

Microsoft Azure is a powerful cloud computing platform that comes with a host of services, tools, and frameworks. These components work seamlessly with Azure to help organizations and entrepreneurs create robust, future-ready mobile applications. Cloud computing has changed the way mobile developers think about apps. From app design to app delivery, all the entire app lifecycle will change for the better.

Cloud-Powered Mobile Apps

What exactly is a cloud-powered mobile app? Any smartphone application that uses the cloud to provide important services to the user or mobile client. This service can be anything from data storage, push notifications, etc. The code that runs on the user’s Android or iOS device is called the mobile client. In order for the app to function, it has to interact with the mobile backend just as your browser interacts with a web server. Many of the apps you use daily are powered by the cloud. For example, Facebook stores news feeds in the cloud and Instagram uses the cloud for image storage.

The Mobile-First Movement Moves to the Cloud

Many enterprises are using multi-cloud strategies and have implemented platform as a service (PaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), and software as a service(SaaS) environments. Azure training programs such as Developing Azure solutions and Azure Fundamentals, can make integrating these tools and services a lot simpler. Mobile apps have to interact with this complex ecosystem, as a result, cloud-centric app development will help organizations leverage the complete power of the cloud. Cloud apps offer the following benefits:

• Improved scalability
• Faster testing and deployment
• Easier to maintain
• Less costly to maintain
• Improved data security
• Data is readily available and shareable
• Customized push notifications
• Azure Active Directory integration for enterprise single sign-on
• Integration with Facebook, Twitter, etc.

All these benefits have encouraged developers to incorporate cloud platforms into their mobile-first strategy.

Enterprise-Grade Apps with Azure App Services

Microsoft Azure operates within a secure enterprise-grade datacenter environment. Global standards of security and IT compliant infrastructure is at your service. Enterprises can both build and host mobile apps without worrying about security issues. Simply connect your mobile apps to existing cloud enterprise systems in minutes. Integration with Azure Active Directory is an added benefit that provides secure single sign-on. Once integrated, use the App Service to deploy to public, private, or even hybrid cloud. The App Service Environment allows you to easily set up and operate applications in a dedicated, isolated, and secure environment. Secure high-speed connections will link your app with on-premises enterprise resources. You have full control over the data being transmitted.

Auto-scaled App Configuration and Push Notifications

Every app has different needs that vary by user loads and time. Azure Notification Hubs and autoscaling allow developers to configure scaling features for mobile apps. The platform senses variation in user loads and increases or decreases resources so you only end up paying for what you need. Your apps can extend their reach worldwide by using Azure’s global network of datacenters. The Notification Hub is a notification tool capable of broadcasting to millions of devices. You can easily connect Notification Hubs to any current app back end, even if the back end is hosted on premises.

Secure Data Connectivity and Corporate Sign In

App security is a huge concern for enterprise mobile applications. User authentication processes are often governed by stringent checks. Azure lets you use Azure Active Directory to authenticate users that connect to your on-premises resources. Customers, partners, and employees that wish to interact with on-site databases such as Oracle, SAP, SQL Server or content management systems such as SharePoint can take securely connect by using the authentication feature.

Azure also helps you build apps that utilize data streams from your own datacenters. Secure access to your on-premises data is possible through Azure Hybrid Connections and VPN. Another concern for high-availability apps is offline data synchronization and responsiveness. Network issues often have an adverse impact on app functionality. Therefore, it’s important to provide customers with the ability to create and modify their data even when they are offline. App responsiveness can be improved by caching data on the customer’s device. Then use Mobile App services to sync the data across your apps.

Xamarin and Azure-Powered Apps

Enterprise mobility demands apps that function across all platforms since employees often stick to a specific kind of mobile operating system. This has led developers to focus on cross-platform app development and adopt hybrid methodologies.

Xamarin is a cross-platform development tool that helps you create flexible platform-agnostic mobile apps. This tool is owned by Microsoft and as a result, integrates seamlessly with Azure. Together these combine to give developers the ability to build, test, and deploy scalable, robust, and powerful apps. Creators can use the programming language of their choice and easily use the Azure cloud to host their app. Azure can even help your users by targeting specific segments. Xamarin gives you the performance you desire to keep users engaged.

Using Azure App Center for Game Development

Game development is a specific use case that greatly benefits from Azure’s amazing features. Your team can easily develop resource-heavy games that scale according to player demands. This method is highly cost-effective for small developing studios that can’t afford costly infrastructure. Azure’s App Center can be used to test games on literally thousands of devices. Once you’re ready to launch, distribute to beta testers and track performance metrics within the cloud. App Center simulates more than 3300 Android and iOS devices running over 4400 configurations. This is the ideal testing and benchmarking environment. Advanced analytics reports and crash reports help you diagnose issues once you’ve deployed the app. The knowledge and skills acquired through an Azure certification track help gamers and all app developers learn how they can utilize one of the most powerful cloud platforms in their quest for creating amazing mobile apps.

Get in touch with one of the Azure experts today, to learn more about our Azure courses and modules.