Issue 3, 2014 |
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Jump on-board the API economy
Rob Rowe, Sr. Manager, Product Marketing, Software AG
More and more companies are interested in exposing Web APIs to create new sources of revenue, establish partner ecosystems or simply leverage external innovation. This allows them to reach new customers and unlock the business value of their corporate assets. Learn how webMethods API-Portal, the newest addition to Software AG’s API Management platform, enables companies to jump on-board the new API economy.
The API economy
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) enable the efficient sharing of information and data across real-time, distributed cloud and mobile applications. Through that sharing, APIs can connect products or services to massive new communities, driving growth across a wide range of industries. This “API economy” broadens a company’s reach beyond direct sales, OEMs and distributors to include virtually any developer interested in incorporating a company’s features and services into new social and mobile applications—driving up revenue opportunities.
For the developer community to find, read about, discuss and test your APIs, you will need an API portal. The portal will need to expose API documentation to third-party developers, manage the developer on-boarding process, and allow these developers to use the exposed APIs for creative new uses. When developers can leverage your APIs with new mashups and apps or to support new devices, your reach is extended, and new channels are opened up to your corporate assets.
API management platforms provide the capabilities to virtualize APIs, protect API access and manage the consumption of APIs. These capabilities are sufficient for companies that only need to support business partners through the use of APIs or intend to create their own mobile apps for partner or customer enablement. But if you want to get on-board the new API economy to reach new customers and unlock the business value of your corporate assets, you must make your APIs easily accessible to developers.
Introducing webMethods API-Portal
To support organizations who want to implement “open API” initiatives, Software AG is releasing a new product—webMethods API-Portal.
Figure 1: webMethods API-Portal
webMethods API-Portal, part of the webMethods 9.7 release coming in October, will provide a number of key features and capabilities that will help you take full advantage of the API economy:
Branding
Customize and brand the portal in accordance with your company’s corporate identity (i.e., logos, skins and corporate colors). Add additional pages. Make it entirely your own!
Automatic synchronization
API documents (descriptions) are automatically generated from CentraSite metadata, so no duplicate maintenance of API descriptions for internal and external consumers is necessary.
Information
Rich descriptions of the APIs, examples of how to use the APIs, file attachments for additional documentation and information about policies enforced on the API level are all available on the portal.
Community support
A collaborative community environment allows users to rate APIs and contribute to open discussions with other developers.
API support
Designed for REST APIs, webMethods API-Portal also fully supports traditional SOAP-based APIs. This allows you to leverage your current investments in SOAP-based APIs while adopting REST for new APIs.
Integrated API testing
Developers can easily try out APIs directly within webMethods API-Portal to see firsthand how the API behaves. Code samples and expected error/return codes with descriptions are provided. Try test invocations with different input parameters and quickly see the results.
Quick on-boarding
Ensure security while simplifying operations during on-boarding new users by using internal workflows for API key and OAuth2 credentials provisioning. Approval workflows allow the provider to individually approve access token requests by developers. Access tokens are automatically provisioned to the webMethods gateway infrastructure.
Built-in usage analytics
Understand where your visitors are coming from, what pages gather most interest, which APIs are popular and which are not. API providers can use this information to gain valuable API insights, improve the portal’s customer experience and increase API adoption by developers.
Search
Developers can quickly find the APIs they need with full text search capabilities.
Design
Count on responsive design for both desktop and mobile access. Use the Web-based administration interface to manage users, groups and permissions.
API grouping
Group APIs using definable criteria help developers discover APIs in larger API catalogs, such as free vs. paid, business domains, or public vs. B2B partner. Also, you can group APIs based on configurable maturity level, for example, beta APIs vs. final APIs.
Get started with seamless integration
Don’t be caught on the sidelines and miss the opportunity to fully participate in the API economy. Add webMethods API-Portal to your webMethods stack to support your open API initiatives while leveraging your current investments. API-Portal was designed to integrate with and complement your CentraSite, webMethods Mediator and webMethods Enterprise Gateway components.
Learn more about webMethods API-Portal by visiting https://www.softwareag.com/au/products/api/default or talk to your Software AG sales representative.
Get started with API Portal here: