Microsoft

Microsoft

Artilium's Microsoft-based ARTA Mobile Applications Platform bridges traditional telecommunications networks with the Internet to open mobile networks to third-party application development and ‘long tail’ niche revenues

Artilium has established a dynamic strategic partnership with Microsoft that includes mobile applications developer evangelism and community engagement, and business development activities. As a Gold Certified Partner, Artilium has proven its ability to extend Microsoft technologies, including the .NET framework, Windows Server, SQL Server and Microsoft Visual Studio.

ARTA opens mobile telecoms networks to third-party applications and connected social media using Microsoft’s .NET Framework, running the Windows Server operating system and utilising Microsoft’s SQL Server database technology to manage subscriber information. Microsoft Visual Studio is used as a rapid service creation environment to activate the more than 4 million certified .NET developers.

ARTA is a carrier-grade proof point for Windows and SQL Server, as well as a real-world technology and monetization testing ground for mobile applications innovation and developer community engagement.

Artilium and Microsoft share a vision for convergence; one that embraces the principles of Mobile 2.0 while also maximizing the assets of telecoms companies such as customer relationships and network infrastructure.

It has been widely reported that mobile is now a vital strategic battleground for Microsoft. At the infrastructure level, mobile telecoms middleware software is almost exclusively UNIX-based. In 2006, Microsoft had only 2.9% of the mobile middleware market (IDC) and it is believed that little has changed since then. Artilium believes that it has achieved an industry-first; engineering ARTA to reach real-time, carrier grade reliability on the Windows family of Microsoft infrastructure software and development tools.

Carrier grade in telecoms refers to a system that is extremely reliable, well tested and proven in its capabilities. Carrier grade systems are engineered to meet or exceed “five nines” high availability standards, and provide very fast fault recovery through redundancy (normally less than 50 milliseconds).

At the handset/device-level, operating-system competition with Apple, Google Android, RIM, Symbian, and RIM is extremely intense. Although Microsoft has made significant gains in market share with its Windows Mobile operating system, the fight has now moved to the applications layer with Apple setting the pace via the success of the iPhone AppStore. As part of its response to Apple, in April, 2009 Artilium and Microsoft announced a partnership to build a mobile application developer ecosystem.

Windows Marketplace

At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February 2009, Microsoft announced the availability of Windows Marketplace for Windows Phone users. Windows Marketplace will be launched fully with the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 later this year. The Marketplace will be a central store for Windows Phone users to download applications. There are over 20,000 existing applications available for download but they are distributed across multiple sites such as Handango and MobiHand.

With this number of mobile applications, Windows Marketplace will be one of the most popular platforms for developers which will benefit from 70% of the revenue from the sale of each application. Windows Mobile 6.5 will allow developers to build innovative mobile applications without having to learn new skills or programming languages, by leveraging familiar desktop and server development tools such as Win32, Active Template Library and Microsoft Foundation Classes (Visual C++), Visual C#, Visual Basic .NET, ASP.NET and asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX).

To learn more about Windows Mobile, click here.

News

Microsoft and Artilium Partner on Mobile Application Innovation.
Hosted in Microsoft Netherlands new Schiphol office, Artilium ran a mobile applications seminar for 70 independent developers and representatives from national and international companies and mobile operators. At the event, Artilium announced the June 30, 2009 general availability of ARTA8, the next generation of its mobile applications platform. To learn more about the event, click here.

  • Quotes

    “Microsoft’s strong relationship with developers has led to some of the most exciting innovations in the software industry.  We’ll continue our collaboration with Artilium to engage developers. The response to this [Artilium and Microsoft April Developer] seminar is evidence of the incredible opportunity that mobile represents to applications developers.”
    - Ruud de Jonge, Director of Development and Platform Evangelism at Microsoft Netherlands.

     “We are excited that KPN and Artilium have chosen the Microsoft platform to power their ecosystem of connected mobile services. We will be working closely together to help make this great vision a compelling reality for the millions of consumers who are eager to embrace rich, personalized and contextually-aware mobile experiences.”
    - Steve Zimba, Managing Director Global Telecom Business at Microsoft Corporation

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