What is API Management?

API management is the process of designing, publishing, documenting and analyzing APIs in a secure environment. Through an API management solution, an organization can guarantee that both the public and internal APIs they create are consumable and secure.

API management solutions in the market can offer a variety of features; however, the majority of API management solutions allow users to perform the following tasks:

• API design – API management solutions provide users – from developers to partners – the ability to design, publish and deploy APIs as well as record documentation, security policies, descriptions, usage limits, runtime capabilities and other relevant information.
• API gateway – API management solutions also serve as an API gateway, which acts as a gatekeeper for all APIs by enforcing relevant API security policies and requests and also guarantees authorization and security.
• API store – API management solutions provide users with the ability to keep their APIs in a store or catalog where they can expose them to internal and/or external stakeholders. This API “store” then serves as a marketplace for APIs, where users can subscribe to APIs, obtain support from users and the community and so on.
• API analytics – API management allow users to monitor API usage, load, transaction logs, historical data and other metrics that better inform the status as well as the success of the APIs available.

The above features represent some of the ‘major’ offerings that API management solutions provide. The marketplace for API management was $70 million in 2013 and, according to Gartner; this figure is expected to grow at 33.4% between 2017 and 2022, reaching an estimated 3,436.16 Million by 2022 according to Zion Market Research.

Within the API management space, MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform has been recognized as a leader, appearing in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Full Life Cycle API Management. So, what are the benefits of API management with Anypoint Platform?

What are the benefits of API management with Anypoint Platform?

Anypoint Platform enables organizations to design, build and manage their integrations and APIs so they can modernize legacy applications, move to the cloud, create new products, integrate with Salesforce and SAP, and much more.

Anypoint Platform includes an API management solution, Management Center, as well as the following capabilities:

• Design Center – An interface that offers low-friction development tools that make it easy to design APIs, compose integration flows and build connectors
• Anypoint Exchange – An API ‘store’ to save and share reusable assets such as APIs, connectors and templates publicly or privately within your organization.
• Management Center – A single unified API management web interface that allows users to administer all aspects of Anypoint Platform on-premises and in the cloud. Manage API users, traffic, SLAs, underlying integration flows and more.
• Mule runtime – The runtime engine of Anypoint Platform. It combines real-time application integration and orchestration with robust data integration capabilities. Mule runtime is deployable as an on-premises integration engine, hybrid iPaaS, or API Gateway.
• Anypoint Connectors – These connectors provide quick connectivity to an endpoint or dynamic connectivity to API specifications.
• Runtime Services –  This suite helps deliver enterprise-grade security, scalability, reliability and high availability.

Within Management Center – Anypoint Platform’s API management solution – there are three unique capabilities that users can benefit from:

• Full API Lifecycle Management – Anypoint Platform is listed as a leader in Full API Lifecycle Management, offering organizations the ability to have a unified platform that tracks each API and integration from end-to-end. In addition, the API reusability component of the platform leads to improved project speed. With Anypoint Platform’s API management solution and full suite of features, organizations can expect to deliver APIs and integrations 64% faster.
• Single Management Pane for APIs and Hybrid Integrations – Anypoint Platform is a unified, single solution. This means that with Management Center, organizations receive a single API management pane for their APIs and hybrid integrations. This allows organizations to lower maintenance for APIs and integrations by an average of 63%.
• Node Level Policy-based Security – With Anypoint Platform, every API, integration and asset is protected by increased governance and security at the node-level. Organizations that adopt Anypoint Platform and its API management solution can expect to witness a 94% improvement in integration security.

Beyond the above capabilities, Anypoint Platform’s API management solution – Management Center – also includes the follow features:

• Built-in visibility
• Producer and consumer analytics
• Application network analytics
• Utilization and progress KPIs
• API Gateway policies

Anypoint Platform’s API management benefits include:

• Faster onboarding of partners and developers
• Self-service for partners and developers
• Increased speed of delivery for external integrations with partners
• Greater visibility and governance over partners and developers
• Modern technologies attract new partnerships and developers

API management is becoming an increasingly important solution for every enterprise. Any organization that uses APIs or depends on them to deliver services should have a unified API management solution.

Learn more about how your organization can manage the full API lifecycle from design to implementation. And see what Anypoint Platform can do for your organization.

What is API Management? Everything You Need to Know (techtarget.com)

What is API management? (redhat.com)

What is API Management? | MuleSoft

API 管理 – API 工具、服务和最佳实践 (amazon.com)

Use the serverless developer portal to catalog your API Gateway APIs – Amazon API Gateway