This report highlights five important focus areas for those looking to understand the value of modern APIs along with crucial considerations and strategies for their creation, lifecycle management and security.

Specifically, readers will discover:

1. The value in APIs

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) enable easier and faster development of many different types of applications allowing for new values and capabilities to be delivered. APIs are not new and in this report we discuss the five drivers progressing the use of APIs today, outlining the value they specifically bring to organisations and the foundations for successful APIs.

2. API evolution: backdrop to the modern API landscape

There have been various abstraction and integration approaches that have evolved over the years, each achieving varying levels of success. In this section we outline the constituents of today’s API landscape today while pinpointing the underlying technologies behind the transition to modern APIs.

3. Strategies for the development community

One of the big challenges from a technical perspective is how to break down an API to make it easier to develop and maintain. With APIs, those responsible for creating them will need to think about their design and how much functionality they want an API to address. In this report we identify technical skillsets to address some of the specific challenges facing those tasked with creating and managing APIs. Crucially, we outline and discuss in detail the various development and management strategies as well as the primary considerations for API Creation, API Management and API Security.

4. An effective API delivery and management strategy for practitioners

IBM API Connect brings together two key IBM products – IBM API Management and IBM StrongLoop. In this section of the report readers will get an overview of IBM’s API lifecycle management solution and a detailed breakdown of the facilities it offers for creating, securing, consuming, running and managing both APIs and micro-services. We specifically discuss the competitive advantages of IBM’s API Connect solution and outline the wider potential it offers organisations and their development teams for either on-premises or cloud based application.

5. CIC Analysis

CIC provides an insider’s perspective and unique user directions and qualifies why integrating software packages and services to share data and provide additional functionality has been, and continues to be, important. Readers will see first-hand CIC’s guide for building a high quality API, complete with a journey planner based on user input and experience.