Azure Notifications Hub and SignalIR for Real-Time Event Notifications

Real-time technologies have become a fundamental necessity for applications that rely on highly interconnected environments to deliver optimal performance. These automated notification solutions play a critical role in business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) in providing real-time updates on various platforms. In the former scenario, a real-time notification system improves the turnaround time and increases efficiency, while in the latter scenario, it increases customer engagement. In this article, let us delve deep into the Azure Notifications Hub and SignalIR, two powerful solutions that can be integrated with applications for delivering real-time event notifications.

What Does Azure Notifications Hubs Do?

Azure Notification Hubs is a highly scalable push-notification engine that can be used to send notifications from any backend (cloud or on-premises) to any platform (iOS, Android, or Windows). These push-notifications, which can be tailored for individual users or delivered simultaneously to millions of users, are a form of app-to-user communication in which information is displayed to mobile app users in a pop-up or dialog box on a mobile device.

There are several challenges in implementing push notifications, primarily because they rely on platform-specific infrastructures called Platform Notification Systems (PNS). This restricts scalability and adds cost and time overheads to associate devices with interest groups, users, and other properties to route push-notifications to the right users.

These complexities are resolved by Azure Notification Hubs by providing developers infrastructure to deploy applications with minimal push-related coding, such that devices register their PNS handles with a hub, and the backend sends messages to users or interest groups. Here are some scenarios in which Azure Notification Hubs can be deployed.

• Delivering low-latency breaking news notifications to millions of users.
• Targeting interested user segments with location-based coupons.
• Generating event-related notifications in applications.
• Engaging and market to customers with promotional content.
• Facilitating multi-factor authentication (MFA) and notify users of enterprise events and work items.

When to Use Azure SignalR Service?

Azure SignalR Service is used in scenarios involving pushing data from server to client in real-time. The service simplifies the process of adding real-time web functionality to applications over HTTP, with which content updates can be pushed to connected clients such as a single page web or mobile application. This eliminates the need to poll the server or submit new HTTP requests to update the client.

Azure SignalR Service not only handles large-scale real-time applications by supporting millions of client connections but also removes the burden of self-hosting SignalR, thereby reducing costs while improving availability, scalability, and security. It supports a wide range of clients including, web and mobile browsers, desktop and mobile apps, server processes, IoT devices, and game consoles. Developers can take advantage of several techniques for building real-time web applications using ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET C# SDKs, or even JavaScript frameworks. Here are some scenarios in which Azure SignalR Service can be useful.

• Providing high-frequency data updates for applications such as gaming, voting, polling, auction.
• Developing dashboards and monitoring applications for displaying financial market data, providing instant sales updates, and building multi-player game leader boards.
• Using chat facilities in web applications, such as chat-bots, on-line customer support, real-time shopping assistant, messenger, in-game chat, and more.
• Providing real-time data on maps, logistics, delivery, and transportation tracking.
• Delivering personalized and interactive ads and offers in real-time.
• Adding live captions and translations in real-time audio/video broadcasting.

Apps4Rent Can Help with Azure Solutions

Azure provides multiple technologies for real-time event notifications. While Azure Notification Hubs is a better solution when the cost is the major constraint and developers can leverage the existing frameworks provided by Apple (iOS), Google (Android), and Microsoft (Windows), SignalR is a better solution for real-time updates with in-browser push notification delivery using supported server-side platforms, and in scenarios involving text message, email, or web notifications.

As a Tier 1 Microsoft CSP with Gold competency in specializations such as Cloud Platform and Cloud Productivity, Apps4Rent provides managed Azure services to help businesses take advantage of cutting-edge technologies by Microsoft. Contact our Azure cloud consultants, available 24/7 via phone, chat, and email for assistance.