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For up-to-date product documentation, see the IBM MobileFirst Foundation Developer Center.


General architecture

The Application Center is composed of these main elements: a server-side component, a repository, an administration console, and a mobile client application.


Server-side component

The server-side component is a Java™ Enterprise application that must be deployed in a web application server such as IBM® WebSphere® or Apache Tomcat.

The server-side component consists of an administration console and a mobile application. This mobile application installs the mobile applications available to the client-side component.

The web console and the installer application communicate through REST services with the server component.

Several services compose the Application Center server-side component; for example, a service that lists available applications, a service that delivers the application binary files to the mobile device, or a service that registers feedback and ratings.


Repository

A database that stores information such as which application is installed on which devices, the feedback about applications, and the mobile application binary files. The Application Center application is associated with the database when you configure the Application Center for a particular web application server and a supported database.


Administration console

A web console through which administrators can manage applications, user access rights to install applications, user feedback about mobile applications, and details about applications installed on devices. See The Application Center console.


Mobile client application

We use the mobile client to install applications on a mobile device and to send feedback about an application to the server. See The mobile client.

The following figure shows an overview of the architecture.

Figure 1. Architecture of the Application Center

The three main operational areas of the Application Center: the console, the application server, and the mobile device.

From the Application Center console, we can take the following actions:

From the mobile client, we can take the following actions:

The Application Center supports applications for Android, iOS, Windows Phone 8, and Windows 8 devices. Therefore, the mobile client comes in separate versions for Android, iOS, Windows Phone 8, and Windows 8.

The Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 8 mobile clients are built on the MobileFirst platform.To learn how to configure the Application Center server-side component on various Java application servers after the product is installed and build MobileFirst applications for the Application Center client, see Configure Application Center after installation.

Parent topic: Application Center