Application Fingerprinting

With X-ray like visibility into the new technology and features exploited by developers' applications, platform vendors can quickly identify areas where technology adoption and innovation is strong and where it is lagging and subsequently coordinate resources across the company to drive higher uptake. Accurate information about the tools, technologies, versions, and platform components used by developers can be difficult to ascertain and therefore gathering this data across the entire platform ecosystem is challenging at best.

SpikeSource Application Analyzer is a self-service tool that identifies compatibility, compliance and security issues in developers' applications. Once a binary scan is performed, application dependencies are identified and all platform, ISV and 3rd party components are also discovered including which Application Program Interfaces (APIs) are used – a measure of the technology exploited.

The self-service model allows ISVs to “fingerprint” their applications at any time, in order to track component updates and mitigate newly identified security vulnerabilities. This helps to ensure that the applications are trustworthy, and that the partners are innovating on the latest technologies. The platform vendors have an accurate basis for strategic decision making across all business functions ranging across R&D, Marketing and Product Management.

Platform vendors equipped with accurate, component-level information about developer applications can begin to effectively manage their platform ecosystem. Engineering teams can diagnose platform adoption issues, Marketing can focus on evangelism programs, and Product Evangelists can target partners for “compete wins.”