Application framework and tools vendor hires aggressively; HTML5 technologies drive demand for highly functional web apps that deliver native-like experiences on advanced mobile devices.
Redwood City, CA: Sencha, the leading provider of HTML5 frameworks and toolsfor desktop and mobile application developers, is experiencing rapid growth, fueled by record sales and downloads of its advanced tools for developing rich web applications. With more than a million downloads during the last year, Sencha tools and SDKs allow developers to showcase the rich experiences delivered by modern Web apps on both desktop and mobile devices.
Enterprises and development firms are increasingly choosing Sencha tools and SDKs because of their ability to deliver faster development times and better user experiences. As a result, the Sencha developer community has more than doubled over the last year and now numbers over 220,000 registered members. The recent launch of SenchaDevs, a directory of application development firms experienced with Sencha technologies, attracted over 350 partner signups in its first few weeks. Sencha’s tools are even spawning companies dedicated to creating web apps with its tools.
Sencha is hiring aggressively, with a focus on software engineers to develop its mobile Web product line. The company recently tripled its office space, moving from downtown Palo Alto to ten thousand square feet of space in the Pacific Shores Center in Redwood City. “We quickly outgrew the Palo Alto offices, and our new location gives us the runway we need for our continued rapid growth,” said Abraham Elias, CEO of Sencha.
Web apps are game-changers for application development and deployment
Demand for Sencha open-source Web application frameworks and tools is being driven by two key trends in both business and consumer markets. Publishers, retailers and developers of consumer-facing apps are gravitating toward mobile Web technologies as a flexible solution for reaching mobile users on smartphones and tablets. This transition has been accelerated by the emergence of advanced mobile browsers that embed the latest HTML5 technologies. In addition, many enterprises have begun to migrate their core enterprise applications from first-generation Web architectures to modern, single-page Web applications powered by the latest AJAX technologies.
“We’re seeing an incredibly positive response from developers who are inspired by the potential that HTML5 offers on advanced platforms such as Android, iPad, and the RIM Playbook. This generation of tablets demands touch- and gesture-driven interfaces and this is spurring a wave of new application development,” said Michael Mullany, Sencha’s VP of marketing and products. “2011 is shaping up to be the Year of HTML5, and Sencha offers the broadest array of tools for developing applications that leverage these technologies.”
Sencha tools see broad adoption across all market sectors
In the last 12 months, Sencha has added over 5,000 paying customers across all markets — from in-house enterprise developers, to Web development shops, to major OEM partners. Sencha technology powers the user interfaces of some of the world’s most important Web properties, providing rich, responsive application experiences for users, whatever their browser or platform.
“Sencha Touch enables us to build mobile Web apps that perform and look like native apps, and it allows us to speed up development time and support multiple platforms,” said Joseph Schmitt, Web developer at Vimeo. “By choosing Sencha Touch, we only had to build one version of our Vimeo Festival app for iPhone and Android, which gave us a huge head-start on our development. We were able to add more features and still make our very tight deadline. We got to focus on building a great mobile app that provided a more interactive experience and became an essential tool for attendees by allowing them to ‘check-in’ to the video wall, view and ‘like’ videos, and create personalized schedules.”
“We’ve been using Ext JS for our entire client-side framework since 2007, and it gives us exactly what we need to deliver a gorgeous user interface and a great user experience,” said Glen Lipka, senior director of user experience at Marketo. “By using Ext JS, we speed up our development time and enhance our designs for modals, trees, drop-down boxes, and components. Plus, we get the benefits of cross-platform support, which greatly reduces our testing burden. Ext JS frees us to focus on building differentiated features for our customers. We’re looking forward to Ext JS 4 and continuing to push the envelope with support for new browser capabilities and interactivity.”
“Ext GWT reduces the complexity of building high-performance applications by providing support for the latest Web standards and cross browser compatibility,” said Alessandro Giannone, director and co-founder of SambaStream. “With Ext GWT, we were able to quickly produce highly optimized JavaScript code with all the advantages of using an enterprise-scale language like Java. We made extensive use of the Ext GWT library – our ListView is a real work of art, and the performance is superb. Ext GWT helped us to save months of development effort, and we’ve invested that time in building a world-class product with an innovative user experience.”