Cross-platform mobile application development tool provider Telerik today announced Icenium Everlive Backend Services, a cloud-based, mobile Backend-as-a-Service offering that integrates with the new version of Icenium, the company’s integrated cloud environment. The company also today announced the end of Icenium’s extended free trial period in conjunction with the commercial availability of Icenium.
Until today, Icenium only helped developers build and manage the front end of their Android and iOS applications using CSS, HTML and JavaScript. “That’s largely what we’ve delivered up to this point,” said Todd Anglin, executive vice president of cross-platform tools and services at Telerik. “That is, a developer experience combining not only a cloud-based development environment with Icenium Mist and a desktop Windows-based development environment with Icenium Graphite, but we’ve delivered this experience with great simulators and the ability to debug applications on devices with LiveSync.”
By integrating Icenium Everlive into Icenium, Anglin said the solution now provides a complete mobile application-development platform, giving developers one solution for both front-end and back-end development. Icenium Everlive also frees mobile developers from having to set up any servers or infrastructure. “The front end is important, but most apps have to eventually talk to a server,” Anglin said.
“What Icenium Everlive Backend Services does is provide a simple way of handling things like data and file storage, user management, execution of code in the cloud, as well as things like sending e-mails to users. And it’s all done with a simple API so developers can focus on features, not on setting up servers, and writing and securing Web services.”
In addition to Icenium Everlive, the company also announced that Icenium is now available via a monthly subscription. Until today, Icenium had only been available as a free download from Telerik’s Website since its initial release in October 2012; that offer ended May 1. “We are introducing our commercial option for Icenium with this release,” Anglin said. “Users will still be able to try Icenium with our 30-day free trial, and then we’ll have subscriptions starting at US$16 per month per developer, depending on the various set of features developers want.”
The company also announced that all Icenium subscription holders will have access to Kendo UI DataViz, an HTML5-based toolkit, in addition to Kendo UI Mobile, an HTML5/JavaScript framework. “Up until now, we’ve offered Icenium users access to Kendo UI Mobile because it’s a great way to build that native-like experience using these hybrid apps,” Anglin said. “With this release of Icenium, we’re also making available Kendo UI DataViz, which gives developers access to all its charts, gauges and inline data visualizations.”
Icenium’s new features
· Icenium Everlive project templates: Automatically provisions the cloud back-end service, creating the necessary types and fields so that the sample app can go live in seconds.
· Data navigator: Lets developers explore the structure of back-end projects, and navigate to types, fields and permissions.
· Cloud code: Execute business logic and validations without replication on the client, where process and response time is crucial.
· User management: Make applications social by letting users register and log in with a few lines of code, minimizing authentication and authorization behind the scenes.
