--- title: "Fastal Introduces NOVA, a Next-Generation Architecture" description: "NOVA is Fastal's new PWA architecture for enterprise mobile apps: automatic updates, offline capability, responsive UI and simplified distribution." url: "https://www.fastal.it/en/blog/2026-02-architettura-nova/" lang: "en" published: "2026-02-03" updated: "2026-09-01" author: "Fastal" tags: ["Mobile", "PWA", "Software Development", "Gestorete", "NOVA"] sources: ["https://www.w3.org/TR/service-workers/", "https://www.w3.org/TR/appmanifest/", "https://www.w3.org/TR/push-api/"] --- February 2026 opens with another important milestone: the release of the new generation of enterprise mobile applications **made by Fastal**. Our group's focus on the then-emerging world of smartphone and tablet apps for enterprise users dates back to 2010, when the first significant investment was made to develop a management app for automating cash collection processes by AWP machine operators. The project gave rise to the **Gestorete** product, subsequently customized in several variants for the most important supply chains in the Public Gaming sector. The chosen architecture was based on emerging cross-platform technologies, with the goal of unifying the development of apps for the main mobile operating systems into a single codebase. From the **Gestorete** experience, numerous other business-oriented apps were developed, including the most recent **SmartAML** solutions. Over the past 15 years, the sector has evolved significantly. The market has polarized around just two leading operating systems: Apple's iOS and Google's Android, present on all non-Apple mobile devices. The mobile sector has literally exploded, and today broadband connectivity is absolutely pervasive. At the same time, the evolution of operating systems has undergone a strong acceleration, with continuous releases of new versions and new security and compatibility requirements. In recent years, we have witnessed an unprecedented frequency of framework and software library *deprecation*, creating significant challenges for mobile apps used in enterprise contexts. An organization managing the *deployment* of an application across thousands of devices is not equipped to handle the constant distribution of new releases at such high frequencies. For all these reasons, at the beginning of last year we decided to invest in developing a new architecture for our mobile apps, suited to the new operational and market scenarios. The result is today's release of the Architecture we have named **NOVA**, *Next-gen Optimized Versatile Application*, upon which the new version of the **Gestorete** mobile app is built. ## The PWA paradigm One of the most significant elements of the **NOVA** architecture is the **PWA** (*Progressive Web Application*) paradigm, the new standard that embodies the evolution of the modern web by breaking down the increasingly blurred boundary between websites and native mobile applications. The term "progressive" reflects the fundamental concept of the paradigm: PWAs work for any user, regardless of the browser used or the device's capabilities, *progressively* enhancing their features when the browser and device support them. If an advanced feature is not available, users continue to receive a solid baseline experience. This progressive enhancement approach makes it possible to reach anyone, anywhere, on any device with a single codebase. ## Offline functionality Thanks to service workers and intelligent caching, our new **NOVA** applications will continue to work even without an Internet connection or with unstable connections. The caching strategy typical of PWAs allows critical resources to be stored locally and content to be served even when the network is unavailable. ## Push notifications NOVA applications will be able to send push notifications to users, keeping them informed and engaged even when the application is not actively in use. ## Responsive interfaces The User Interfaces, redesigned according to modern UX standards, will adapt perfectly to any screen size and orientation, working on smartphones, tablets, and desktops from any manufacturer, overcoming the current limitation of apps exclusively optimized for the Android platform. Each app will be accessible natively or through a web browser, while the interface will offer fast transitions and fluid interactions, very similar to those of native apps. ## Automatic updates Unlike native apps, NOVA applications leverage the PWA paradigm to update continuously and automatically each time a user opens them, always ensuring access to the most recent version without requiring manual downloads or MDM management. ## Why this closes the problem we started from It is worth returning to where we started, because that is where the properties just listed stop being a catalogue and become an answer. The problem was never that native apps worked badly. It was that the life cycle of mobile software has stopped being compatible with the life cycle of a corporate device fleet. Every framework deprecation forces a new build, every new build forces a distribution, and a distribution across thousands of devices is an organizational operation before it is a technical one — it has to be planned, announced, verified device by device, and in the meantime different versions of the same application coexist in the field. The PWA paradigm breaks that chain at a single point, but a decisive one: updating stops being a distribution event and becomes a page load again. The user opens the application and already has the latest version, without anyone having sent it to them. The fleet no longer has to be governed; it aligns itself. The rest follows. Offline operation matters because an application that lives on the web would otherwise stop the moment the network does; responsive interfaces matter because the fleet is no longer homogeneous and never will be again; push notifications matter because otherwise a web application stays passive and has to be opened before it can say anything. Taken one at a time these are features. Taken together they are the condition under which an enterprise application can live without a distribution cycle. ## Security and distribution NOVA applications comply with the latest security standards and can still be distributed in a controlled manner through enterprise MDM systems, without the configuration complexity required by purely native apps. During the transition, however, MDM remains a fallback rather than an ordinary channel: we will use it only in the unlikely event of an urgent patch that has to be pushed to devices without waiting for the application to be opened next. The normal channel is the automatic update — and the distance between the two is exactly what the architecture was designed to achieve. ## What is given up An architecture that steps away from native gives something up, and it is worth saying precisely what instead of leaving it to be inferred. The loss concerns functions that depend directly on the device hardware, and in Gestorete's case one came up concretely: printing receipts on a portable thermal printer connected over Bluetooth, which staff used during cash collection. The answer was not to look for a technical workaround but to change the process. Receipts have been dematerialized and are sent by email. The operator no longer carries a printer, no longer manages its rolls or its battery, and the receipt reaches its recipient in a form that can be filed and searched rather than on a thermal slip destined to fade. We do not present this as a consolation: it is the case, and it is not guaranteed, in which the architectural constraint suggested a better solution than the one it replaced. The criterion nonetheless stands and has to be applied every time. Before moving an application onto NOVA, you have to look at which of its functions are born from the hardware and decide, for each one, whether the process around it can change. Where it cannot, native remains the right choice. ## Release status *Update of 1 September 2026.* The new **Gestorete** release built on NOVA enters production starting today, rolling out gradually across the network rather than in a single switchover.