Behind the scenes : Mobile Backend Technologies

For this month's Tech Session, we turn our attention to what happens behind the scenes on the backend. For many types of apps, especially mobile social apps, the backend technology choices are often make or break.

Do you store data using SQL or a NoSQL (e.g. CouchDB)? Does your app speak XML or JSON for web services? Do host your own machine or use the cloud? What languages do you use? Node.js, PHP, J2EE, something else? What third party services do you use? Google API's? Facebook? How do you approach scalability?
We will feature three presentations that cover essential backend technologies that power modern day mobile apps.
If you would like to present the backend technologies that you use as part of your mobile strategy, please consider sharing a 15-20 minute presentation. Sessions will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Agenda:
6:00pm - doors open - pizza, drinks and networking
7:00pm - program
Presentations

#1: PAAS and NoSQL database for horizontal scaling case study by Andy Glover

Case study of mobile applications using cloud PAAS and NoSQL database for horizontal scaling. Common mistakes when dealing with mobile sites and remote data, and our best practices for scaling.

Andy Glover is the co-author of Addison-Wesley’s 2008 Jolt Award winner “Continuous Integration: Improving Software Quality and Reducing Risk”, Wiley’s “Java Testing Patterns”, and Manning’s “Groovy in Action”, as well as a frequent author for multiple online publications. Andrew is also a regular speaker at worldwide conferences on topics such as collaborative development, Continuous Integration, Behavior Driven Development, software assurance, and Agile engineering practices.

#2: Cloud Back Ends: Pick your Poison presented by Richard Bullington-McGuire.

He willl cover three topics, plus have a Q&A session: 1. Concerns in selecting could providers, tradeoffs, IaaS (Amazon AWS) vs. PaaS (Google App Engine) 2. RPC mechanisms and web service library support: critical to app success 3. Demo and live product launch of a Facebook app with a Google App Engine / Django Python back end. Richard Bullington-McGuire is a serial entrepreneur, technology versatilist, and a mobile software developer. He is currently a Senior Architect at Blackstone Technology Group.
8:15pm - Member Announcements
8:30 - Networking/Cleanup/Adjourn
Special thanks to our awesome sponsors for making it happen:

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