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Tag: Apigee

  • Google Announces Availability of iPaaS Service

    Google Announces Availability of iPaaS Service

    Google today made available an integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) capable of invoking a range of methods to integrate applications.

    Initially developed for the Apigee application programming interface (API) management platform Google acquired in 2016, the Application Integration service can now, for example, also consume a publish and subscribe event or an event driven through a Salesforce platform.

    Amit Zavery, vice president and general manager for Google Platform, said the Application Integration service provides IT organizations with all the benefits of an iPaaS without requiring them to stand up and manage an integration platform themselves.

    The Google Application Integration service also provides access to a Visual Integration Designer tool that can be used to build workflows using a low-code tool. In total, there are now more than 75 connectors that can be used to integrate multiple Google Cloud services and third-party platforms that can run in either a cloud or on-premises IT environment, said Zavery.

    In general, visual tools are transforming how integrations are created and expanded within organizations, noted Zavery. Rather than using lower-level procedural code, a visual tool enables developers to employ low-code to create integrations. That makes it simpler to collaborate with business users that can now more easily participate in developing workflows.

    In fact, in some cases, business users, otherwise known as citizen developers, have enough technical acumen to create their own workflows using low-code tools.

    There are, naturally, going to be plenty of complex integration challenges that will require procedural code, but the bulk of the integrations required today are not especially complex.

    Regardless of who creates the integration, the number of them being employed across an enterprise organization continues to increase as more digital business transformation initiatives are launched. Developers are not going to be able to keep pace with the demand for those integrations if they rely solely on procedural code. The only way to effectively reduce the backlog for integrations is to rely more on visual tools to construct them. In most cases, the integration being created is relatively trivial. The only reason it wasn’t created sooner is there are not enough developers available to complete that task using procedural code.

    There are, of course, no shortage of iPaaS options available. As more workloads are deployed in the cloud, Google is betting the center of gravity for integration will shift toward the places where modern microservices-based workloads are deployed to reduce overall latency.

    It’s not clear whether organizations still view integration as an afterthought versus employing an integration platform around which all applications revolve. That latter approach tends to reduce the total cost of integration when compared to using multiple point products that are not managed via single framework, noted Zavery.

    Ultimately, IT teams that adopt an iPaaS are able to focus more on higher-value IT tasks. The issue is determining which integration projects really require professional developers with lots of integration expertise and which, via a low-code tool, can be handled by almost any developer.

  • How Google’s Acquisition of Apigee Impacts Developers

    How Google’s Acquisition of Apigee Impacts Developers

    Google revealed a few weeks ago that it is acquiring Apigee for approximately $625 million. The deal demonstrates both the increasing demand for APIs (application programming interfaces) and Google’s desire to remain on the cutting edge of providing a platform for APIs. The purchase also underscores some important trends for developers.

    If nothing else, Google’s purchase of Apigee validates the importance of APIs for online commerce, as well as for businesses and developers in general. I had an opportunity to get some insight and feedback from Steve Davis, CTO of Four51, a provider of B2B ecommerce solutions, regarding the Apigee news.

    As DevOps and microservices continue to gain momentum, APIs play a very pivotal role. According to Davis, the API is the product for Four51, which makes it the foundation for the company’s DevOps strategies. “Most microservices are API-based as well, so the role is simply that they are the heart of these strategies. The concepts of DevOps relate to continuous delivery and all of the stages from development to deployment and operation. APIs allow developers the tools and visibility they need to work in this environment of delivery.”

    I asked Davis if he believes that it was a smart decision by Google to acquire Apigee at this time. “It was a wise move by Google to jump in, as the API economy is accelerating faster than other areas,” Davis answered. “The corporate customer appetite is increasing for APIs as companies continue their digital transformation, and API management is a critical discipline for security, scalabilty and reliability.”

    Davis pointed out that Google’s primary competitors—Microsoft and Amazon—have been out there with AWS and Azure cloud services for a while, and they’re doing quite well. He suggested that Google has some catching up to do, and that Apigee—as a best-of-breed independent platform—made a lot of sense for Google to target.

    For developers, Google’s acquisition of Apigee elevates Google as a cloud-hosting option—putting it on a more even footing with Microsoft and Amazon. The presence of an API management services enables developers to offload that tedious work and focus on more important things—such as continuing to innovate and bring value to their products.

    Davis also shared some thoughts on what the Apigee acquisition means for Four51. “Though we aren’t directly impacted by this acquisition, it does validate the path we’ve taken with our API-first eCommerce platform,” he said. “Many of the same enterprises looking to tap into the API economy are doing so to improve security, scalability and efficiency in their e-commerce and order management with their customers. We’re a big believer in the benefits of cloud infrastructure, as we recently moved hosting of our OrderCloud.io platform to Azure, and we’re utilizing the services there.”

    DevOps and microservices are all about streamlining productivity and operating as efficiently as possible. APIs play a major role in that effort, because they allow much of the heavy lifting on the back end to be automated. The acquisition of Apigee makes Google more competitive with its primary rivals, and highlights just how important APIs are—and will be for the foreseeable future.

    — Tony Bradley