Xamarin has announced expanded interoperability of its enterprise mobility solutions with Oracle’s mobile security and developer platforms. With thousands of worldwide customers, Xamarin can help organizations release high-quality native apps faster than traditional platform-specific development models. Developers share a single codebase across iOS, Android, and Windows platforms to deliver fully native experiences. The companies have collaborated to create interoperability between the Xamarin Platform and Oracle Mobile Security Suite, allowing customers to equip their native iOS and Android Xamarin apps with Oracle’s robust enterprise mobility management (EMM) and identity suite capabilities. In addition, Xamarin Test Cloud, an automated user interface testing service for mobile devices and operating systems that tests apps on over 2,000 real devices, can now connect with Oracle Developer Cloud, enabling enterprise developers to accelerate the delivery of high-quality apps.

Today’s announcement builds on the companies’ existing relationship, which includes Xamarin and Oracle Mobile Cloud Service interoperability and a go-to-market collaboration. Since its formation in July 2015, the companies have worked together to enable joint customers to successfully develop and deploy native mobile apps with enterprise-ready functionality.

“Successful enterprise mobile apps need to deliver high quality and high performance to ensure user adoption, and they also need to be rapidly distributed and highly secure,” said Nat Friedman, CEO and co-founder, Xamarin. “Now, we’re expanding our work to help organizations deliver better enterprise apps, combining Xamarin’s strength in native apps and user experience and enterprise-ready security and DevOps from Oracle.”

Xamarin Platform and Oracle Mobile Security Suite
The new Xamarin and Oracle Mobile Security Suite interoperability simplifies app development from design to secure deployment: customers build apps with Xamarin, containerize with Oracle Mobile Security Suite, and distribute to users through Xamarin’s Oracle Mobile Security Suite catalog. Xamarin apps are compatible with Oracle Mobile Security Suite’s rich security capabilities, including: user authentication, data encryption, advanced data leakage protection, device integrity enforcement, and remote wiping and locking.

“Oracle and Xamarin are helping enterprises meet consumers’ user experience expectations and stakeholders’ release frequency demands, while also mitigating potential security threats and data loss. With Oracle and Xamarin, enterprises can bring better, secure apps to users,” said Peter Barker, senior vice president, Identity Management and Security, Oracle. “With Oracle Mobile Security Suite, we recognize that mobile security is not just about securing an app’s data, it’s also about managing employee and customer identity across devices, all while delivering a great user experience.”

Mobile security is gaining executive attention worldwide, with over 75 percent of CEOs considering cyber security technologies strategically important to their business (source). This increased focus is warranted, given Gartner’s prediction that, through 2018, more than half of apps will have exploitable vulnerabilities and 75 percent of apps currently fail basic security tests (source 1, source 2). Xamarin recognized this growing need and, through its work with Oracle, addresses these challenges, allowing enterprises to protect against potential threats while delivering high-performing apps at a pace that meets consumer demand.

As companies across industries move business-critical functions to mobile apps, security is top-of-mind in the boardroom. Xamarin and Oracle Mobile Security Suite’s interoperability combines the best of both worlds: native app experiences to help ensure user adoption with built-in, user-friendly enterprise security for data protection.

Xamarin Test Cloud and Oracle Developer Cloud Service
The companies have collaborated to validate the combination of the Xamarin Test Cloud with Oracle Developer Cloud, enabling mobile developers to easily and quickly test their apps on Xamarin Test Cloud’s 2000+ real devices. Automatically testing apps across operating systems and real-world scenarios enables Oracle’s mobile developer community to quickly build and deploy high-quality apps that look and behave well on any device. Developers can initiate tests from Oracle Developer Cloud Service, and catch issues before apps are released.

“Through our work with global enterprise customers, we understand the cloud’s critical role in successful mobile initiatives, and Oracle Developer Cloud Service is a key piece in this equation,” said Chris Tonas, vice president, Mobility and Development Tools, Oracle. “Combining Oracle Developer Cloud’s capabilities with Xamarin Test Cloud enables a more comprehensive DevOps workflow that includes automated testing and issue identification to help ensure better mobile quality and user adoption.”

IDC predicts that the number of enterprise apps will quadruple by 2016 (source) and, to meet mounting demand, organizations need to increase development velocity — while also meeting users’ expectations for high-performance apps. Device fragmentation, with thousands of devices on the market for iOS and Android, multiplies testing efforts resulting in a time-consuming and costly development process. This is further complicated by faster release cycles for mobile, necessitating more stringent and efficient regression testing. Xamarin and Oracle equip enterprises to meet this two-fold challenge: developers can rapidly design, build, and deploy native apps, testing with each release to catch issues before users are affected, and connect with Oracle Developer Cloud to initiate work items and quickly incorporate fixes.

Xamarin is a Gold-level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN).

To learn more about how Xamarin has collaborated with Oracle, visit xamarin.com/oracle.