A presentation at JFokus in in Stockholm, Sweden by Holly Cummins
The Wearable Application Server Holly Cummins cumminsh@uk.ibm.com @holly_cummins © 2009 IBM Corporation
Some context … © 2012 IBM Corporation
“Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.” Popular Mechanics, 1949 © 2012 IBM Corporation
“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” Thomas Watson chairman of IBM 1943 © 2012 IBM Corporation
Then: HARDware © 2012 IBM Corporation
Now: Everyware © 2012 IBM Corporation
© 2012 IBM Corporation
“If your background is in the programming of PCs or even more powerful computers, a fair warning: embedded programming for low-cost devices means working with very limited resources …” © 2012 IBM Corporation
“… This is in shocking contrast with the World Wide Web, where technologies usually seem to be created with utmost inefficiency as a goal…” © 2012 IBM Corporation
“… Embedded programming requires more careful consideration of how resources are used than what is needed for PCs or servers…” © 2012 IBM Corporation
“… Embedded platforms only provide small sub- sets of the functionality of their larger cousins, which may require some inventiveness and work where a desired feature is not available directly.” © 2012 IBM Corporation
June, 2011 © 2012 IBM Corporation
Spot the difference ■ Netduino Plus ■ Raspberry Pi © 2012 IBM Corporation
Spot the difference ■ Application server, circa 2010 ■ Application server, circa 2012 © 2012 IBM Corporation
What’s it good for? © 2012 IBM Corporation
Programming for developers ■ Easy install ■ Fast server start ■ Fast and transparent application deployment ■ Convention over configuration ■ Source-controllable configuration ■ Nifty t-shirts © 2012 IBM Corporation
What’s it good for? (ii) © 2012 IBM Corporation
Programming for the Cloud Density ■ Small download ■ Small memory footprint Elasticity © 2012 IBM Corporation
Programming for the Cloud Density Elasticity ■ ■ Small download ■ Small memory footprint Enable and disable function – ■ For extra points, do it dynamically Easy install – Easy uninstall © 2012 IBM Corporation
Good for anything else? © 2012 IBM Corporation
Ubiquitous computing++ © 2012 IBM Corporation
Ubiquitous computing++ © 2012 IBM Corporation
Old new-world ■ Mobile technology a trend only on the client-side ■ Why? ■ Clients are mobile ■ Servers are not mobile – Obviously © 2012 IBM Corporation
New new-world ■ Servers are lightweight ■ Seriously - they literally don’t weigh much ■ Move from location-based services to locate-able services © 2012 IBM Corporation
WAS Liberty Profile ■ New in WebSphere Application Server 8.5 ■ Free for developers ■ Free tools ■ Very very lightweight – – – ■ No restarts! 50 MB download 60 MB footprint for biggish JEE app Starts in under 5s Entirely modular and dynamic © 2012 IBM Corporation
Modularity and dynamism © 2012 IBM Corporation
How can it be full-featured? © 2012 IBM Corporation
Where can the Liberty profile go? Nexus 7 tablet Asus Transformer © 2012 IBM Corporation
Where can the Liberty profile go? Old Android phone © 2012 IBM Corporation
Where can the Liberty profile go? Raspberry Pi © 2012 IBM Corporation
The Raspberry Pi ■ £25 ■ £25! ■ 1.6 oz ■ 700 MHz ARM 11 processor ■ 256 MB RAM (shared with GPU) ■ Up to 4 GB SanDisk © 2012 IBM Corporation
But what about the hat? ■ And why on earth would you want to do that? ■ ‘True’ location-based service ■ Collaboration without internet © 2012 IBM Corporation
Demo-time www.wasdev.net © 2012 IBM Corporation
Pi lessons learned ■ James Bond Wifi – – “For your eyes only” Power supply is an issue ■ A hat is a hot environment for a server :) ■ Solution: failover pi! – At £25, why not? © 2012 IBM Corporation
Can we do better? ■ Yes. ■ Built-in battery ● A built-in battery can’t work itself loose mid-demo :) ● Built-in wi-fi ● Built-in wi-fi doesn’t die mid-demo ● A phone has enough (electric) power to host an adhoc wifi network © 2012 IBM Corporation
The problem Holly, in Stockholm Tom, in London © 2012 IBM Corporation
No problem! ■ We have a Nexus 7, too! © 2012 IBM Corporation
Demo-time (again) www.wasdev.net © 2012 IBM Corporation
The problem ■ We updated the Nexus 7 :( – It needs rooting again © 2012 IBM Corporation
Any questions? www.wasdev.net © 2012 IBM Corporation
Mobile technology has so far mostly been confined to the client side, for fairly obvious reasons - traditionally, clients are mobile, and servers are not. However, not only is hardware getting smaller, servers are too. When your application server can run on pocket-sized £25 hardware it opens up some pretty cool possibilities - your server is literally lightweight. Not only can you have location-based services, you can have locatable servers. Servers can run on phones, they can run on the Raspberry Pi, and so they can go almost anywhere you can think of. Modularity gives software the flexibility it needs to cram into these tight spaces without sacrificing power. This talk will demonstrate developing and deploying a web application to an application server embedded in a silly hat.
The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.
for free. You
can too.