Growth of API Usage Sparks New Management Tools
The popularity of software-as-a-service and cloud-based apps continues to climb, but the rise of APIs eclipses other strategies for enterprise. Developers are increasingly looking to outside-sourced APIs, especially when building mobile apps. For example, ProgrammableWeb started keeping a directory of web service APIs in the summer of 2005, when it listed only thirty-two. In November of 2012, the database hit the 8,000 milestone.
Open APIs have become not only available, but prevalent, giving capabilities to photo, video, messaging, mapping, music, and news outlets. Facebook recently launched an API to make it easier for developers using Open Graph to create apps, and Mozilla is working on a JavaScript API to allow Firefox OS users to make secure online payments.
With so many companies increasing their API usage, the need for help managing APIs also is growing. "A lot of our customers are exposing their services through APIs," says Apigee spokesman Bala Kasiviswanathan. Apigee's API exchange platform is geared to the telecom industry, but the company has plans to include health care and financial services.
Other companies, such as Layer 7 Technologies, MuleSoft, Temboo, and WSO2, also are throwing their hats in the ring to provide API management solutions. Services include secure API access, back-end data and application integration, mobile capabilities, publishing of APIs, and routing API traffic.
According to InfoWorld, Forrester Research thinks APIs have proved quite valuable to developers and businesses—and also vice versa:
Forrester says it has fielded an increasing number of inquiries about whether and how companies should expose web APIs directly to third-party development organizations to create and unlock the value of business data: 'Sometimes, an API provider's data gains value only when combined with data from other sources; for example, mashing up maps with transit data, payment data with retail [point-of-sale] systems, or sports scores with Open Graph information.'
