API management services

Exposing APIs to a large developer community creates nonfunctional requirements that are often the same from one business to another. Key management, authentication, access control, traffic management, caching, tracking and reporting are often implemented as commodity functions that can be reused across applications and businesses without modification. Some service providers have spotted this trend and are offering API management via software as a service. Prominent vendors in this space include Mashery and Apigee, who both offer the option of hosting the service on a customer’s own infrastructure. API management services may also be interesting to enterprise customers who are using Web as platform techniques for their internal SOA, providing a lighter weight alternative to traditional SOA management tools.