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October 16, 2023

Windows launching Arm Advisory Service for developers

Many developers believe creating apps for Windows on Arm is difficult, but developing for Arm is easier than you think, and Microsoft is here to help! It is my pleasure to announce a new App Assure Arm Advisory Service to help developers build Arm-optimized apps. This service is in addition to our existing promise: your apps will run on Windows on Arm, and if you encounter any issues, Microsoft will help you remediate them. Most apps just work under emulation, and developers can port their apps to run natively with minimal effort. More device manufacturers are building Arm devices for a reason – devices are lightweight, have lightning-fast connectivity, offer extended battery life, and have advanced camera and audio capabilities in addition to many other benefits. These benefits can drive increased customer adoption of Arm devices which is driving more ISVs to develop Arm-optimized versions of their applications, as shown in the section below. In a nutshell, the Arm ecosystem is quickly expanding.

According to Counterpoint, Arm market share will almost double from 14% to 25% by 2027. This means that app compatibility for Windows on Arm is essential to the continued viability of your apps! While we’re officially announcing the Arm Advisory Service today, we have been helping developers make Arm-optimized apps for over three years. We have partnered with developers to share tips and best practices and we are making substantial investments and growing our developer support. For example, our Arm Advisory Service has already helped ISVs in areas of Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and anti-malware product suites on Arm by providing code samples, code reviews, sharing development best practices and debugging help. This Arm development assistance is key to enabling ISVs to optimize their applications for Arm.

Advisory Services Program Features

Our Arm Advisory Service is a no-cost engineering advisory program designed to help developers build Arm-optimized apps. Key benefits of this program include:

  • Technical workshop for development best-practices, guidance and implementation questions
  • Suggestions regarding platform features to enhance the Arm application experience
  • Code samples and reviews to enable Arm development
  • Break-fix assistance with issues that arise when porting or building Arm apps
  • Escalation path to Microsoft engineers to assist with software development and provide product feedback

To get started with the Arm Advisory Service, please fill out this form and our App Assure team will reach out to you. If you encounter any issues, please reach out to us at [email protected].

ISV Testimonials

The Arm Advisory Service has already helped ISVs develop Arm-native applications. Check out these recent testimonials describing how App Assure enabled the successful Arm development for Zscaler, a large cloud security company, and Absolute, a leading cybersecurity company.

Zscaler logo

“Porting the Zscaler Client Connector to Arm was a great experience with the stellar support from the Microsoft App Assure team. The App Assure team engaged our common customers, drove periodic tracking meetings, helped with tough technical challenges, provided deep OS level solutions and so on. They also shared specialized ARM hardware which helped with development and testing. Finally, they made a special effort to help our third-party library vendors to port their software as well. We now have over 100 customers using our ARM client. Thank you App Assure team and Microsoft!”

Absolute logo

“Absolute’s patented persistence technology is embedded in over 600 million devices worldwide and provides self-healing, resilience capabilities to both Intel and Arm compute platforms. When a leading PC manufacturer wanted to learn more about how Absolute Secure Endpoint enables persistence on Arm-based devices in addition to Intel chips, the App Assure team facilitated a meaningful discussion with technical and marketing resources.  It’s a testament to our partnership with Microsoft that the testing and certification moved incredibly fast – and we completed to project on time and under budget. We look forward to engaging with the App Assure team for future market opportunities.”

In addition to Zscaler and Absolute, the App Assure team has helped these other ISVs enable development of Arm-optimized apps:

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