AppForges Crossfire Mobilizes .Net

AppForge Inc. has started shipping its first mobile and wireless application development environment for Microsoft Corp.s .Net platform.

Crossfire, which launched on Monday, is designed to support a wide range of device operating systems—specifically those beyond Microsofts.

“Crossfire, as the name implies, is the ability to expand the Microsoft .Net framework into not just Microsoft devices but non-Microsoft operating systems such as Palm and Symbian,” said Gary Warren, CEO of AppForge in Atlanta.

Using Crossfire, developers can create a single application and then deploy it to the myriad devices in an organization without having to rewrite the application for each operating system and form factor.

In the past, “every time a new device came into their network theyd have to redevelop the software they did on the initial rollout,” Warren said. “Now all they have to do is install a new device definition.”

Developers can test the application within the IDE without the need for an emulator, officials said.

Crossfire also supports features that have become de rigueur in high-end wireless devices—multiple graphics file formats, for example, and the ability to control a devices built-in camera.

Furthermore, it includes database support, integrating with several mobile databases, including Microsoft SQL Server CE and Pocket Access, Palm Database (PDB), and SymbianDB databases.

Crossfire pricing depends on the size of the purchase.