Still, with Web and mobile technologies creating competition from outside the telco sector, carriers need ways to quickly adapt to technological change – and APIs provide the perfect solution. APIs allow telcos to open up their services for efficient repurposing by internal developers and partner organizations, creating opportunities for being quick to market with innovative new offerings.

Layer 7’s latest eBook 5 Ways Every Telco Can Benefit from APIs provides an overview of how carriers can realize these opportunities. If you visited the Layer 7 booth at MWC, you might have picked up the print version of this handsome document. If not, don’t hesitate to download the electronic version.

The Oracle-Versus-Google Verdict Comes Down
June saw a remarkable amount of media coverage focusing on the world of APIs, as the Oracle/Google court case made headlines. Layer 7’s Jaime Ryan was relieved that the ruling stated APIs are not protected by copyright. Jaime said: “By taking a strong stand on the issue… the judge has possibly prevented a whole new round of lawsuits that could have rivaled the still-ongoing Apple/Samsung/Google patent wars.”
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Are Open APIs Too Open for Big Business?
In July, Ronnie Mitra took a detailed look at how nervous major social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook were becoming about their open APIs and concluded that “enterprises will need to adapt or risk being unable to reach their customers as the device revolution continues at its explosive pace… Organizations need to think carefully and plan their API strategies in order to find the perfect balance between control and accessibility.”
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Why I Still Like OAuth
In the midst the controversy surrounding July’s formalization of OAuth 2.0, Scott Morrison launched a passionate, though qualified, defense of the standard. Scott argued that “sometimes you just have to declare a reasonable victory and deal with the consequences later. OAuth isn’t perfect, nor is it easy. But it’s needed and it’s needed now, so let’s all forget the personality politics and just get it done.”
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History Repeats: The Search for Agility & Reuse Through APIs
This September, Dimitri Sirota visited the SDP Global Summit in Rome and noticed how much of the discussion around telecom carriers’ API initiatives echoed the SOA talk of a decade ago. He noted “telco after telco (echoed) the decade-old SOA mantra of abstraction, agility and reuse when talking about their new API initiatives… But if Web APIs are to deliver on the SOA vision of agility and reuse, they will need some of the same plumbing that made Web services work.”
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RESTful or Not?
Also in September, Mike Amundsen provided an explanation of the key term “RESTful”, which is so often used in reference to APIs and Web services. Mike explained: “Essentially, REST… is a style. Specifically, it’s a style of network-based software architecture. This style was first defined in 2000 by Roy Fielding. Fielding stated that ‘an architectural style is a coordinated set of architectural constraints that has been given a name for ease of reference’.”
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We tackled issues around mobile and BYOD head-on in a white paper called Secure Mobile Access for Enterprise Employees, which describes how enterprises can securely open their data and application functionality to mobile devices via custom-made apps. Another popular white paper was Federated Identity & Single Sign-On, which explores identity federation for API, mobile, SOA and cloud.

Our webinars featuring input from Forrester Research also drew a lot of interest, especially A Practical Guide to API Security & OAuth for the Enterprise, which provided real-world insight into deploying OAuth as the access control component of a complete API Management solution. Forrester also helped us explore enterprise mobile enablement in another webinar, How to Make Your Enterprise Applications Mobile Ready, Fast.

Looking to the future, Layer 7 will be publishing a series of eBooks, outlining essentials for addressing key issues around API Management and Mobile Access. We got a great reaction from the first of these, called 5 Ways to Get Top Mobile App Developer Talent for Your Open APIs. Over the coming months, we’ll also be publishing eBooks talking about mobile enablement and OAuth. Be sure to watch out for those!

On July 12, Layer 7 will be presenting a live webinar called How to Run a Successful Hackathon for Your Open APIs. This interactive one-hour session will give you the key knowledge you will need in order to use hackathons as a tool for engaging app developers and building a community around your open APIs.

For this webinar, we will be joined by leading API evangelist and author Kin Lane who will deliver real-world advice on how to organize hackathons that will truly contribute to the success of your API publishing program. Click here to get more information and to register for the webinar today.

These issues raise new and highly significant security and management challenges for enterprises. This webinar will look at the most significant mobile challenges facing enterprises and propose some real-world solutions. The goal is to provide practical insight into how on-premise application functionality can be securely exposed, via mobile-friendly APIs, to apps and the developers who build them.

Space is limited so please don’t hesitate to register for the webinar today.

It’s an all-day catered event, divided into two sessions (9am-12pm and 1-4:45pm, with lunch served in between). The morning session will focus on best practices for using Layer 7’s API Management, Mobile Access, SOA Governance and Cloud Integration products. The afternoon session will feature a workshop focusing on the topic of API Management.

For more information you can view the full agenda. Space is limited, so if you’re interested in attending, please don’t hesitate to register for the User Conference & Workshop.

On May 29, he’ll be presenting our latest Tech Talk Tuesday meet-up, titled Swagger, WADL & API ‘Scriptions. This interactive session will take a look at the relative merits of different standards for creating formalized, machine-interpretable API descriptions. For full details on how to view and join in with this event, visit the Tech talk Tuesday page.

The following day, Scott will be reprising the recent webinar Identity, Access & Privacy for the New Hybrid Enterprise, featuring Eve Maler of Forrester Research, Inc. This is a special live presentation for the Asia/Pacific region (at 11am Sydney time/9am Singapore time). For more information, take a look at the webinar registration page.

Scott gets a break when Product Manager Dana Crane takes over webinar duty on June 5 for Getting Your API Discovered: The Secret to API Promotion, featuring ProgrammableWeb Founder John Musser. This session will explore a range of best practices for building a community of API developers. Registration is open now and you can click here to sign up.

We have some pretty exciting things planned for upcoming Tech Talks. The next regular Tech Talk will be a discussion of “Swagger, WADL & API ‘Scriptions” on May 29. You can click here to add it to your calendar. We’re also planning to stream a very special Tech Talk from the upcoming Glue Conference. Watch this space for more details.

For all the latest Tech Talk news – as well as quick-and-easy access to archived broadcasts – you can visit the Tech Talk Tuesday page on our Web site.

API monetization comes in the form of two very distinct opportunities. First, companies like Elastic Path are creating new revenue opportunities for themselves by opening up their information assets via APIs. Second, some companies are charging third-parties for the use of particularly valuable APIs, creating even more revenue opportunities.

To learn more and throw some questions at our API monetization experts, just visit the Layer 7 Facebook page at noon EDT on May 15 and click the Livestream icon. If you don’t have Facebook, simply click here to watch directly through Livestream. You can submit questions on Facebook or through Twitter, using the hashtag #layer7live.

Value comes not from devices or APIs as such – it comes from developers and the applications they build for these devices, against these APIs. To get true value from its APIs, an organization must take a developer-centric approach: reaching out to get developers on board; providing support to help developers use APIs effectively; tracking API usage to identify the most valuable developers; managing APIs to ensure developers can create applications that work consistently.

Our upcoming webinar Developers, Developers, Developers – The Secret to Running a Successful API Management Program will explore tools and techniques for developer-centric API management. Presented by Layer 7 CTO Scott Morrison and RedMonk analyst James Governor, this webinar will take place at 9am PDT on April 19. Space is limited, so don’t hesitate – sign up today!