Future Ready in the API economy

NPR on Cloud Computing

By G C Network | August 29, 2008

You know it’s important when NPR covers it !! On the “All Things Consider” radio show, NPR took a look into cloud computing. I’m not sure if Computing In The…

Sun Federal Cloud Computing eBook

By G C Network | August 28, 2008

Sun Federal now has it’s ebook on cloud computing available for all. The website doesn’t really offer any new information, but it does highlight how Sun Federal is targeting the…

Amazon Elastic Block Store

By G C Network | August 27, 2008

Last week, with their announcement of Elastic Block Store, Amazon has made enterprise class storage in the cloud a reality. According to Dion Hinchcliffe of Ziff Davis,”Elastic Block Store finally…

HP CTO On the Future

By G C Network | August 26, 2008

In a recent Web Guild article, Shane Robinson, Chief Strategy & Technology Office for HP outilined his belief that we are in the early stages of a major shift. As…

Google serves as first line of defense during Russia’s invasion of Georgia (A plug for the cloud)

By G C Network | August 25, 2008

As reported by the Christian Science Monitor, “As Georgian troops retreated to defend their capital from Russian attack, the websites of their government, also under fire, retreated to Google. In…

Apptis and Servervault announce Fedcloud

By G C Network | August 22, 2008

On August 18th, Apptis announced a partnership with ServerVault to offer a trusted cloud computing environment to federal agencies. Called Fedcloud they are offering a federally compliant, on-demand infrastructure that…

SOA-R Educational Series Schedule Changes

By G C Network | August 21, 2008

Since launching the SOA-R series back in July, cloud computing has become a hot topic among national security professionals. Evidence of this high level of interest is obvious from the…

Comments from Mr. Robert Carey, DON CIO and Army COS General George W. Casey, Jr

By G C Network | August 20, 2008

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had the distinct pleasure to listen to both Mr. Robert Carey, CIO, Department of the Navy, and General George W. Casey, Jr., Chief…

Akamai at SOA-R Session

By G C Network | August 19, 2008

Had another very enlightening SOA-R session last week. Of particular note to me was Akamai’s vision of cloud computing. As presented by Fran Trently, Sr. Director Public Sector, Akamai is…

Six Benefits of Cloud Computing

By G C Network | August 18, 2008

A Public CIO magazine article, to be published later this fall, will highlight six main benefits of cloud computing. Reduced Cost Increased Storage Highly Automated Flexibility More Mobility Allows IT…

The world of business is software. No matter the industry vertical or business model, effective software is the key to business success.  An even more important aspect of this reality is the application programming interface (API).  If you are unfamiliar with this kind of geeky term, APIs are the glue that connects applications to each other and manages the virtual discussions between you and your customers.  APIs are also what enables business agility and flexibility of a #FutureReady business.

“Application programming interfaces (APIs) have been elevated from a development technique to a business model driver and boardroom consideration. An organization’s core assets can be reused, shared, and monetized through APIs that can extend the reach of existing services or provide new revenue streams. APIs should be managed like a product—one built on top of a potentially complex technical footprint that includes legacy and third-party systems and data.”[1] 

APIs are also at the heart of cloud computing.  These are used to provision, de-provision and scale the resources needed to run the software that drives your business. The importance of software, and by extension the APIs that drive software, is evident when you compare the top Dell Future Ready cities to the top cities for software engineering and entrepreneurship capitals.Eight of the top 10
Future Ready economies are in the top ten nationally for software engineering cities. All ten of the cities highlighted as “Capitals of Entrepreneurship” are FutureReady economies. Ten of the FutureReady economies are also cities ranked as having the most high tech jobs.

Driven by social media, mobile devices, applications, cloud and Internet of Things, the number of endpoints connecting to critical business applications is growing exponentially.  This also means that a FutureReady business faces an ever-growing number of APIs—which must be governed and managed effectively. This is why products like Dell Boomi’s multi-purpose Platform as a Service (PaaS) is critical to business success.  This particular platform can be used to:

  •  Create and publish any endpoint as an API;
  • Deploy APIs on-premises or in the cloud;
  •  Use versioning to effectively control APIs throughout the lifecycle;
  • Centrally manage and monitor web services;
  •  Enjoy economies of skill for increased developer productivity;and
  • Accelerate time to value and reduce total cost of ownership.
Being cloud-based, the Dell Boomi API Managementservice provides faster implementation and shorter time to value, as well as lower upfront costs and total cost of ownership (TCO).  This solution also delivers a centralized location to manage all of the company’s APIs, no matter how your APIs are created.
This high level overview shows that beyond a doubt, being #FutureReady means being software ready.  And software ready, by extension, means that FutureReady Enterprises must be ready to manage APIs.


[1] https://dupress.com/articles/tech-trends-2015-what-is-api-economy/

 

( This post was written as part of the Dell Insight Partners program, which provides news and analysis about the evolving world of tech. To learn more about tech news and analysis visit Tech Page One. Dell sponsored this article, but the opinions are my own and don’t necessarily represent Dell’s positions or strategies. )

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