| Rich Internet Application (RIA) Technology has | | | | your data centers with monster queries at |
| allowed a new breed of business data analysis and | | | | anytime. 'Intelligent' RIA applications allow the |
| visualization software to be delivered directly over | | | | distribution of the workload between the |
| the internet. This has led to the generation of | | | | multi-tenant server side and the client side. Hence, |
| powerful yet easy to use business intelligence (BI) | | | | a lot of the data processing such as in memory |
| applications that come without the complex | | | | calculations and data pre-processing, can be |
| installation and large price tag of traditional BI | | | | efficiently delegated to the client. |
| software. These have the potential to | | | | This means that you can do a huge amount on |
| revolutionize BI for those already using it, but | | | | the client side without any performance hit for |
| more importantly to open the door to millions of | | | | the system, leading not only to a very reliable |
| new users who previously found it too hard or | | | | user experience but to security advantages as |
| too expensive. | | | | client-server traffic is reduced. In contrast to |
| In this article we explore some of the properties | | | | traditional web pages, no server/client roundtrip is |
| of RIA platforms, such as Adobe Flex, and the | | | | needed; users modify queries, create dashboards |
| innovation happening around them. | | | | and interact with visualizations in seconds as |
| Most RIA technologies have their roots in drawing | | | | everything is synchronized with the servers in the |
| tools so data visualization is in their blood. When | | | | background. |
| you build using them, you hold in your hands real | | | | Security is often cited as a major barrier moving |
| weapons to push the limits of information | | | | to SaaS solutions. However, modern RIA clients |
| visualization. For example, RIA platforms can | | | | interact directly with the platform without need |
| implant Google Maps to create stunning heatmaps | | | | for a proxy server. Combined with client side |
| from your data with a couple of clicks. RIA also | | | | encryption that can be built into RIAs, this makes |
| allows something so often missing in the software | | | | the linkage extremely secure. Different SaaS |
| industry - sexiness. | | | | companies have different server models. We use |
| RIA technology is cloud computing ready. While | | | | Amazon's S3 server for our software, Bime. |
| the battle rages about the applications and | | | | Amazon pour a huge amount of money into the |
| techniques of cloud computing, it is widely seen as | | | | security of their cloud systems and the result is a |
| the way forward in computing. RIA allows you to | | | | much more closely guarded system than anything |
| handle a lot of the work inherent in cloud | | | | most SMBs could ever produce behind their own |
| computing API on the client side. This includes | | | | firewall. |
| complex web services interactions, authentication | | | | Is it possible to build such tool with Javascript? |
| mechanisms, encryptions and XML processing. Of | | | | Even though we have seen huge improvements in |
| course, the customer never sees a lot of the | | | | these areas in the recent past, it is still a long way |
| functionality but they nevertheless derive a lot of | | | | from coming close to what can be achieved with |
| value from it. An example of this is the client RIA | | | | RIA such as Adobe Flex and to a lesser extent |
| processing data in streaming and uploading it | | | | Microsoft Silverlight. A lot of eyes are looking |
| directly to the SaaS platform of choice. | | | | toward HTML5 but this standard has everything |
| Building scalable, enterprise ready, SaaS Business | | | | to prove and it will takes year to come close to |
| Intelligence is hard. Thousands of users can assault | | | | today's RIA applications. |