Extending the reach of developers further, Appirio Inc., a cloud solution provider, announced a challenge program focused on Apple’s new Swift programming language to create enterprise iOS and OS X applications. Appirio has partnered with BMC Software Inc., Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., Brivo Labs, Harman International Industries and NTT Innovation Institute, Inc. and its 660,000 topcoder member community of data scientists, developers and designers. The goal is to lead Swift development of mobile and enterprise Web applications–as well as push into physical security systems and the Internet of Things.

The challenge series will bring $500,000 prizes to the topcoder community starting September 3rd, 2014.

Appirio believes Swift language lets developers build applications that feature the speed and usability of a native app with the flexibility and manageability of a cloud app. For developers, iOS apps can be updated in real time without the need to redeploy. There is also no need to re-compile, re-test and re-deploy code, which can save time and money while maintaining and enhancing apps.

Enterprise IT space

Swift’s compatibility with Objective-C, Rust, Haskell, Ruby, Python, C#, CLU and others also means that developers who already have code bases can start playing with the new language immediately.

The language gives Apple developers a quicker path to getting into the iOS app market than the Android app market. Thus giving Apple an important competitive advantage in enterprise IT space.

“Business transformation is always at the forefront of our strategy when connecting with our customers, partners and employees,” said, Karen Bintz, Senior Director, Customer Experience, BMC Software, Inc.

Bintz added that the combination ofSwift and Appirio’s topcoder community add up to powerful, compelling iOS enterprise applications. She lauds Appirio for gathering such a stable of the world’s top talent into a single resource pool to aid BMC in delivering the best offerings of the industry.

Swift can also be used by Appirio’s growing network of third-party developers from its developer community. Being able to utilize the world’s best developer talent in a single community will help enterprises not only deliver the most compelling application designs, but also do it more quickly and efficiently.