From: Pavlos Tsulfaidis
Date: 28.11.2021
This is what many project managers dream of: going from "zero" to "live" in six months. With its own marketplace platform, and without a team of hundreds of developers. The reality: the new SUNIFY solar technology marketplace achieved just that.
A platform with an extremely comprehensive approach: "SUNIFY is a photovoltaic network economy-creating platform that connects producers, system providers, service providers, property owners, solar installers, electricians, investors, insurers, banks, contractors, EPCs, lobbies and information."
Marketplaces like SUNIFY are a big issue in many vertical industries. But often it fails at the implementation. Of course, you can create anything in a period of 10 years and dozens of specialists. But if, as usual, resources, developer hours and time are limited, the risk of developing the whole project into numerous dead ends increases. That's why frameworks are a good foundation.
SUNIFY therefore decided early in 2021 to develop its platform from the ground up with smartstore technology:
- 1. Smartstore Core as the ultimate E-Commerce Framework with thousands of functionalities from A like articles to Z like payments
- 2. Microsoft ASP.NET Core as a new cross-platform, high-performance Open-Source-Web-Framework
- 3. All this in combination with Visual Studio and Coding-Tools supported there, such as GitHub
This results in a development environment that is faster and more reliable than ever, to build cross-platform applications: whether in the cloud, as microservices, serverless in containers, or edge devices managed by the Internet-of-Things hub, with AI capabilities for every developer and every scenario.
The possibilities of this trio and Microsoft Azure Cloud Computing services are endless. Ideal for the SUNIFY platform.
SUNIFY is a joint project between two companies with vast industry experience.
- The Alumero Group is the expert for solar technology in it. Alumerogroup came from a metal parts manufacturing background, and since entering the design and manufacturing of solar mounting systems, has scored with solutions that provide fast and practical installation with structural-static safety on a wide variety of roofs.
- The software company Levasoft had decided in 2010 to produce a Standard Planning Software for photovoltaic projects. Since its market launch in 2011, Solar.Pro.Tool has become the world's unique planning tool for solar roof design. A core feature: the static load that the solar modules exert on the roof is calculated in unique detail and in a user-friendly way.
In order to transfer this know-how to a SUNIFY platform and to enable corresponding industry participants on the platform, the Smartstore Open Source Enterprise Edition was selected.
- Smartstore Enterprise is a feature-complete e-commerce solution with mechanisms to ensure short server response and page load times even under full load. Smartstore Enterprise can be run on a single server or out-of-the-box in the cloud and on many instances in web farms. Included in Smartstore Enterprise is 24/7 support and 12 days of coaching for custom application development. This provides SUNIFY with an ideal foundation to deliver a powerful and reliable e-commerce platform.
- SUNIFY further decided to use Smartstore Enterprise with the additional source code option. This gave the SUNIFY project manager complete insight into otherwise closed code areas, such as the intelligent store search MegaSearch or the built-in load balancing for maximum performance.entschied sich weiter
- Deep customization became possible. The Smartstore Enterprise Commerce OS provides the SUNIFY platform with scalability and flexibility in the areas of orders, users, catalog, functions, etc., and allows the platform to be optimized and scaled in parallel with business requirements, just step by step.
ASP.NET framework for platform projects
The ASP.NET MVC framework developed by Microsoft since 2009 enables the creation of web applications such as SUNIFY as an interaction of the three roles Model, View and Controller. Since 2015, Microsoft has been developing ASP.Net Core as a free open-source web framework and successor to ASP.NET MVC.
ASP.NET Core was part of the "Cloud first, Mobile first" strategy proclaimed by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in 2014, and so the implementation initially focused on web-based applications.
"Productivity is the force that moves our society forward"
Satya Nadella
By nature, individual developments do not exist out-of-the-box
ASP.NET Core is modular and has significant architectural changes that result in better performance. ASP.NET Core runs with the full .NET Framework on Windows and cross-platform on Linux and macOS. Docker containers are also possible. The Core framework is a complete rewrite that combines the previously separate ASP.NET MVC and ASP.NET Web APIs into a single programming model.
Although it is a new framework based on a new Web stack, it has a high degree of concept compatibility with ASP.NET. The ASP.NET Core Framework supports parallel version management, so different applications developed on a single computer can be used on different versions of ASP.NET Core. This is not possible with earlier versions of ASP.NET.
Smartstore, which will be released completely and exclusively as an ASP.NET Core framework from version 5 in the second quarter of 2022, is thus one of the most powerful e-commerce open source software that can be used free of license costs.
Smartstore is continuously developed by us and a strong, but above all professional community of more than 3,200 developers worldwide.
Smartstore Core in conjunction with the ASP.NET Core Framework offers maximum flexibility and enables the development of individual web applications that are optimally tailored to a wide range of requirements. Complex portal solutions and sophisticated online applications in the B2B, D2C or B2C area can be realized as well as, for example, a company-wide intranet solution.
One use case that has become increasingly important in recent years in particular is the development of Digital Experience Platforms (DXPP). Portal-based DXPs provide companies with an excellent basis for the consistent digital transformation of both their sales and marketing activities and their internal processes.
Get your outdated .NET application back on track with Smartstore Core
Smartstore Core follows a modular building block principle, the bundle system.
- Individual bundles or modules, the Smartstore "plugins", can be loosely coupled together.
- The bundles are independent of each other and can be freely used, extended and customized according to the respective project requirements.
Advantages: Since bundles can be used during the development of a new project, web projects can be realized very efficiently. At the same time, the system is stable and easy to maintain due to the complete independence of the individual components from each other.
With a DXP, different systems and data sources can be brought together centrally. Information, services and functions can thus be made available to different target groups (employees, customers, sales partners, etc.) on a single platform. Users can thus access a wide range of digital services with just one login.
The trio, consisting of Smartstore Core, ASP.NET Core and Visual Studio, is an excellent toolbox for you as a developer to realize various web applications.
What these can be in concrete terms depends entirely on the desired features and individual requirements that a digital project must fulfill. Our experience shows that our customers' tasks often end up as individual developments. The solutions that emerge are as diverse as the companies from the most varied sectors and industries with which we work.
Due to the great flexibility and the modular structure by means of a bundle system, there are no limits to the possibilities of realizing individual online projects with Smartstore Core and thus a fast and cost-effective implementation is guaranteed. Another advantage of Smartstore Core in the DXP Enterprise Commerce Open Source Edition that should not be underestimated is the open source code.
The DXP Enterprise Commerce Open Source Edition is designed for internationally operating brands and retail companies and can also be referred to or understood as the DXP Commerce Framework at this point.
Summary
A custom development based on Smartstore Core and the ASP.NET Core world is an excellent solution for professional online portals, DXPs and web applications whose special requirements cannot be mapped by simple store or e-commerce systems. Just like for SUNIFY!
More information:
Do you still have questions about the topic or would you like to make an appointment for a live demo? You can reach us via the contact form, by e-mail at info@smartstore.com or by phone from Monday to Friday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. under +49 231 5335 0.