New Mendix AppCloud Ignites Application Innovation by Connecting All Custom Apps, Developers, Data and Users in One Enterprise Cloud Ecosystem

Launchpad, free sandboxes, single sign-on and other cloud services transform how teams build, deploy, run and use custom apps in the enterprise

BOSTON and ROTTERDAM – April 3, 2014 – Mendix, the enterprise app platform as a service company, today announced the launch of the Mendix AppCloud. The AppCloud is a new service layer that sits on top of the Mendix App Platform, bringing together data, end users, business analysts, developers and ISV partners in a single cloud environment and fundamentally changing the way modern business apps are built, shared and consumed.

While most organizations depend on traditional development teams to respond to ever-changing business needs, the Mendix AppCloud provides a central place in the cloud for teams throughout the enterprise (and beyond) to build, share and run custom apps without being dependent on traditional IT resources. This not only increases the agility of the organization but enables collaboration and unlocks the creative potential of an entire workforce. In the process, the AppCloud turns IT into a powerful enabler of the business.

“Apps are disrupting industries, no matter what business you are in, and the companies that innovate the fastest win,” said Derek Roos, CEO and co-founder of Mendix. “The Mendix AppCloud allows teams to rapidly act on business ideas. At the same time, it provides companies with quick and easy access to the apps, the data, the developer ecosystem and all cloud resources they need to innovate and compete in today’s marketplace.”

Open Cloud Services that Ignite Business Innovation on All Levels

All users of the AppCloud will also have immediate access to the simultaneously announced free Mendix Community Edition allowing them to develop, test-drive and launch apps at no charge. This empowers business-focused developers to quickly transform ideas into modern enterprise apps. At the same time, the Mendix AppCloud enables IT to manage an ever-growing portfolio of apps, developers and users while ensuring central app management, security and IT governance.

“Mendix has changed the way we deliver business applications — empowering more employees throughout the organization to not only come up with ideas but to easily get started with projects and directly build the apps they need when they need them,” said Wade Sendall, vice president of IT, The Boston Globe. “This has greatly boosted our ability to innovate and compete.”

Mendix AppCloud Highlights

The AppCloud provides access to a growing set of open cloud services that allow end users, developers and IT administrators to easily build, share and use apps in one place:

• All Apps in One Place for End-Users with New Launchpad – The Mendix AppCloud includes a first-of-its-kind Launchpad that provides one easy place for end users to access all of their business applications and standard app services and delivers one consistent user experience across all applications and devices.
• Free Sandbox Cloud Services to Instantly Deploy, Share and Use Apps – The Mendix AppCloud provides all users with free sandbox cloud environments containing everything they need to deploy and run the apps they are building, and instantly share them with other users. Sandbox environments are ideal to start turning ideas into working apps and instantly share prototypes, demos and finished apps with other team members and a first group of users.
• Secure and Centralized App Governance – The AppCloud fuels the development of apps needed by the business by providing users and developers with a one-stop-shop to rapidly build apps any time. At the same time, it is designed to scale for enterprise needs and provides IT the controls it needs for user management, security and app governance.
• Single-Sign-On – The AppCloud services also include a scalable Single Sign-on service that allows users to easily access all their applications with one login, while providing a secure user and identity management service for developers and IT administrators.
• A Marketplace of Apps by the Community, for the Community – The Mendix AppCloud connects developers and applications across the Mendix Community of customers, partners and independent developers. Developers can easily create their own app services and share them privately or publicly through the Mendix App Store. The App Store already includes hundreds of community-built apps, templates and app services. Examples by Mendix ISV partners are an e-health solution by Capgemini, a full-fledged IT service management app by Mansystems and a data validation app service by Dun & Bradstreet.
• Open and Connected; Powered by the Mendix App Platform – The Mendix AppCloud is powered by the Mendix App Platform for rapid application delivery, allowing development teams to make apps and app services instantly available to Mendix AppCloud users. Its open and scalable architecture provides developers, admins, integrators and ISVs with tools and APIs to easily extend the service and develop, integrate and publish new business apps instantly. Developers can utilize ready-made platform services, gaining efficiency and making new apps more social, powerful and complete.

Price

Membership in the Mendix AppCloud is free. Anybody can join and start building and sharing apps at now.mendix.com. For more information and different editions of the Mendix App Platform, see www.mendix.com/editions

Availability

The Mendix AppCloud services are being unveiled today at Mendix World 2014 and will become available to all Mendix users on April 10. New users can sign up for free at now.mendix.com.

About Mendix

Mendix, a Siemens business, is the only low-code platform designed to address the full complexity of enterprise software development challenges. Deploying point solutions to departmental problems solves things at a micro level—but if you want to make a significant impact on your business, you need to go bigger and build powerful portfolios that move the needle sustainably and strategically.

With Mendix, enterprises can take on more complex, transformational initiatives by engaging everyone in capturing requirements, forming ideas, and embedding value assessment throughout the lifecycle of the software portfolio.

Focus on the right problems while relying on governance and control to avoid unnecessary risk. Mobilize your organization. Build the change readiness muscle. And when the next big idea drops, turn it into an outcome quicker.

More than 4,000 organizations in 46 countries use the Mendix low-code platform. An active community of over 300,000 developers has created over 950,000 applications – and counting.