I was particularly impressed by the range of industries and organizations that were represented in the audience. We had developers from large enterprise shops, specialized Internet-focused start-ups and even a few entrepreneurs just getting started. I think this range of interest is indicative of the value of Web APIs for all and bodes well for a continued investment in designing great APIs, rather than just chucking them out into the ether.

Next up on the tour is our Paris API Workshop taking place tomorrow (Tuesday, October 16).  As always, we have a great set of speakers lined up, with Martin Duval from bluenove talking about building developer outreach programs and Benoit Herard from Orange Labs discussing their API launch. France has a  great start-up culture and a reputation for enterprises like Orange driving innovation, so I’m expecting good conversation, some excellent API Management presentations and – if I’m lucky – some great wines.

For the Layer 7 perspective on these service technology trends, come see our presentations throughout the week. On Monday, I’ll be speaking about how traditional SOA technologies such as the enterprise service bus (ESB) need to adapt to an evolving IT landscape. On Tuesday, our CTO Scott Morrison will be giving a closing keynote about “The New Governance”.  Wednesday brings an API Management Workshop at the Canadian High Commission, hosted by Layer 7 along with our customer MoneySupermarket.com and analyst firm RedMonk.

Layer 7 is a Founding Partner at the Symposium and we’re excited to welcome a who’s who of analysts, vendors and enterprises to join in the conversation. These illustrious attendees have helped to define the industry and revolutionize enterprise IT – and I’m looking forward to insightful speakers and great networking opportunities. For a more intimate conversation, stop by our booth (#110) to see a demo or discuss your SOA, cloud, API or mobile use cases.

London has shown an incredible amount of enthusiasm for sporting events this summer, from the Olympics and Paralympics to the Tour de France, which was won by a Brit for the first time in its history. Let’s keep that excitement going – see you at the Symposium!

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.

There was an hour of networking before the presentations started, during which lunch was served. The room filled quickly. As this was an exclusive event, seating was limited. By the time the first presenter had started, it was standing room only.

Layer 7 CTO Scott Morrison hosted the event, which featured guest speakers Caleb Sima and Rag Ramanathan. The workshop provided insight into API security and management best practices for mobile and Cloud.

More and more enterprises are looking to API publishing as a way of exposing their data to partners and external developers building mobile apps and Cloud services. But this inevitably creates serious security concerns.

So the aim of the workshop was to address the issue of API security for mobile and Cloud, with three presentations. The slides from these presentations are embedded below.

Caleb Sima: Open APIs – Security for Mobile & the Cloud
A look at what’s driving new Internet-facing organizations to open up information through APIs, plus a discussion of the implications for application security.

Rag Ramanathan: Securing & Governing Cloud APIs
A look at why APIs matter in the Cloud and the unique security challenges Cloud APIs create.

Scott Morrison: API Security & Management Best Practices
A look at the high-level considerations for controlling, metering and monitoring APIs from test through to production.

Layer 7’s SecureSpan API Proxy fits into this strategy as the policy enforcement point. The API Proxy verifies/authenticates any incoming message before assembling a standard XACML request, which is then sent to the policy decision point. Layer 7 offers easy integration with leading policy decision point technologies from Axiomatics and Radiant Logic.

To help enterprise architects understand how XACML is used for this kind of integration, we’ve been organizing a series of workshops in collaboration with our friends at Axiomatics, Radiant Logic and SailPoint. Coming up, we’ve got events at the Mikrotek Training Facilities in San Francisco, Chicago and New York. Here are the details:

• San Francisco
  February 27, 9am-5pm
  REGISTER NOW
• Chicago
  March 5-6,  9am-5pm
  REGISTER NOW
• New York
  March 8, 9am-5pm
  REGISTER NOW