SAP America has announced that it is partnering with Xamarin and Service2Media to provide developers a mobile development frameworks that allow them to create apps on its SAP Mobile Platform. These environments are intended to build custom mobile apps for iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices from a single code base.

The Xamarin platform allows developers to use C# to build native applications for iOS, Android, Mac and Windows, and share on average 75% of the source code across
different operating systems. The agreement with SAP aims to make it easier for enterprise developers to integrate SAP mobile solutions, as well as other data sources back end, with its cross-platform applications.

With the announcement, the two companies have launched a SDK and SAP combined Xamarin Mobile Platform with a native. NET interface. It contains ways to access SAP business objects as well as for authentication and supports Language Integrated Queries (LINQ). In addition, the Xamarin test cloud is now equipped with data verification mechanisms for the SAP Mobile Platform. They should ensure through testing options for front and back end that applications can accept data from SAP systems.

Mobile is the focus area for developers

It is estimated that there are over 1.2 billion people accessing the Internet from their mobile devices and 80% of the time is spent using the mobile apps. This large change in behavior in the use of mobile is driving a massive increase in workers engaged in these devices and require a large development of rich apps and easy to use processing of relevant information and business processes through mobile devices.

Xamarin has a developer community consists of over 500,000 members in 111 countries and a network of more than 150 consulting partners worldwide. Xamarin build mobile apps from the Microsoft Visual Studio environment. This approach to the development of mobile apps will be extended with a software developer kit (SDK) that allows direct access to the cloud and on-premise versions. Initially, Xamarin and SAP will focus on a new version of SDK, a Xamarin Test cloud with verification capabilities integrated data in SAP Mobile Platform. The company also is expanding its program to include a University course for mobile developers who want to learn more about how to connect their applications with the SAP Mobile Platform. It also has a certification program for consultants working with some of the companies.

“Both SAP and Xamarin are committed to giving developers the tools and technology necessary to rapidly create multi-OS mobile applications for today’s untethered enterprises,” said Bill Clark, Global Vice President, Mobile Strategy, SAP. “The collaboration between SAP and Xamarin will enable the vibrant and rapidly growing developer community to easily integrate the rich information maintained in SAP solutions into the high performance applications that are the hallmark of Xamarin developers.”

Developers can use native C# objects to directly access their SAP business objects. Xamarin Test Cloud profile includes data checking capabilities with SAP Mobile Platform to ensure that mobile apps properly synchronize data with the SAP system.

A similar partnership was signed with Service2Media that develops management solution lifecycle M2Active apps. It has the advantage of being cross-platform and brings together development tools, debugging and testing. Its SDK provides a layer of abstraction between the developers who writes the code and various mobile platforms on which the app is run.

This is not the first time that Xamarin joins forces with a major provider of business software. The company announced an alliance with Microsoft last November in conjunction with the release of Visual Studio 2013. The most important part of the agreement is a technical collaboration that integrates technology with Xamarin tools and services for developers of Microsoft, including Visual Studio 2013.

The partnership with the German publisher further strengthen the reach of Xamarin cloud environment with a development kit that allows direct access to the cloud and on-premise versions of SAP’s mobile platform.