IBM Named a Leader in Application Programming Interface (API) Management Solutions

SOURCE: IBM

ARMONK, N.Y. – 30 Nov 2016: IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today that Forrester Researchnamed IBM a leader in its recent report, The Forrester Wave™: API Management Solutions, Q4 2016.

Forrester analyzed and scored numerous API management solutions and identified IBM as a “leader” for offering broad and deep functionality. This included creating business agility, adapting to constant change and responding to new and changing competition across a wide range of unpredictable scenarios.

The 27-criteria evaluation used in the report is designed to help application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals select the right API management platform for their needs. API management platforms were evaluated on current offerings, strategy and market presence.

The report notes that since Forrester’s last Wave evaluation on this space, “IBM has rebuilt its API management solution around its StrongLoop acquisition to create a unified solution for API management and APIs built using Node.js,” and “its new microgateway provides a developer-focused extension to API management.”

“Companies are increasingly using APIs to connect new and existing IT services and integrate vast amounts of data as part of their digital transformation strategy and shift to the cloud,” said Marie Wieck, general manager, IBM Hybrid Cloud. “We believe this recognition by Forrester underscores IBM’s commitment to offer clients innovative hybrid integration solutions for cloud and on-premises deployments to meet their business needs.”

Increasingly, new cloud services depend on integrating data and applications. To allow for this strategic transformation to hybrid cloud environments, IBM offers an easy-to-consume cloud service, IBM API Connect, that developers can use to connect applications, data and microservices. It is designed to make it easier to find, call and connect over the cloud.

Additionally, IBM API Connect helps enable the automated creation of APIs, simplified discovery of systems of records, self-service access for internal and third party developers and built-in security and governance.

In addition to a new integration pattern that is further accelerated by the shift to Cloud, APIs may help make it easier to spur on digital transformation, IoT, Mobile and capturing company value and differentiation from existing IT assets.

IBM helps meet the business needs of its customers by providing a unified solution for API management, that can either be fully vendor-managed, hybrid-vendor managed, or fully customer managed. API Connect is designed to provide value-add functions for platform as a service-based API implementation hosting through IBM Bluemix.   Additionally, API Connect forms the basis for IBM’s Connect to Cloud family of offerings that enables key IBM software products to expose existing assets to participate in the $2.2T API economy (source – IBM estimates for 2018).

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1.    The Forrester Wave™: API Management Solutions, Q4 2016, Forrester Research, Inc., November 14, 2016.