Integrator Mobilizes Cloud Computing

With the launch of its new 2GO Cloud Platform, Chicago-based cloud integrator Model Metrics on Tuesday delivered a mobile cloud services platform for enterprises that lets users take critical business functionality on the go and delivers applications that work across the desktop, the mobile phone and on a Web browser.

Leveraging offerings from Model Metrics partners Amazon Web Services, Google and Salesforce.com, the company delivers mobile solutions with support for any device running Adobe AIR, HTML5 or iOS, including Google Android smartphones and tablets, the Apple iPhone and iPad, BlackBerry devices and Windows Mobile devices.

Model Metrics CTO John Barnes said the 2GO mobile cloud platform leverages a modular architecture that allows for real-time packaging of industry-specific functionality. And the latest generation of the 2GO platform adds new functionality like barcode scanning, advanced signature capture and order entry -- all tasks that can now be performed using most smartphones.

The 2GO application framework was built to speed customer mobile deployments of Salesforce CRM and Force.com applications and customer applications on the AWS infrastructure. It operates both online and offline transparently, so all data input is stored offline until the device syncs back to a network when data is transmitted, Barnes said.

The 2GO platform comes as industry watchers predict the mobile cloud computing market is ready to explode. Juniper Research predicts that the mobile cloud market will hit $9.5 billion by 2014.

According to Barnes, Model Metrics designed the 2GO platform for field representatives and other mobile workers who need mobile and offline access to critical cloud applications. Companies can pick and choose functionality from pre-built, mobile-enabled components to speed deployment time. IT shops can also design their own user interface.

"We've created a platform, a framework, to take the cloud offline," he said.