Enterprise IT is becoming more complex. Companies are investing in systems that promise great benefits in terms of connectivity and cost-effectiveness but, to really make the most of these investments, they need control over and visibility into how systems connect across departments, environments and locations. Introduce the Cloud and things can get really complicated.

This summer, we presented a webinar that addressed these specific issues. Created in association with Red Hat, Security, Governance & Integration in a Cloud-Connected World provided deep insight into how enterprises can address integration, management and security challenges arising from technologies like SOA and Cloud.

With input from Pierre Fricke, Director of SOA Products at Red Hat, as well as Jaime Ryan, our Partner Solutions Architect, this webinar proposed combining an enterprise service bus with a SOA Gateway to create a secure, standards-based system for governing integrations that cross organizational boundaries. You can stream the full recording in the player below.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol8YO9F3O7k&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]

This week’s dip into the Layer 7 archive provides real-world advice on how providers of Cloud services can securely expose their APIs to third-party developers. Featuring input from eBay Chief Security Strategist Liam Lynch, Managing API Security in SaaS & Cloud will definitely be of interest to anyone who enjoyed our recent Webinar with Best Buy and Amazon Web Services.

For Cloud providers, API publishing has become critical to enabling integration with enterprise systems, sharing information across affiliate Web sites and providing mobile access to services. Of course, Cloud computing and API publishing create all sorts of new security concerns, which is where secure integration providers like Layer 7 come in.

This webinar was co-presented with our friends at the Cloud Security Alliance but it’s about more than just security. A truly safe and secure API publishing programming will have to tackle the full range of API management concerns. Specifically, Cloud API publishers need ways to address versioning and to meter consumption without burdening either developers or consumers.

To find out more, you can read about the webinar on the Layer 7 Web site or simply watch the recording in the player below.

Next week, Layer 7 will be exhibiting at a couple of events, both of which have a strong Cloud security focus. Between November 13 and 16, we’ll be in Las Vegas for CA World, where we’ll be setting up shop in the Cloud Section and the Security Section. On November 16 and 17, we’ll be at the Cloud Security Alliance Congress in Orlando.

With these Cloud security-focused events just around the corner, it seems like a good time to mention our archived webinar Extending Enterprise Security into the Cloud. Presented with The 451 Group, this webinar explored ways for enterprises to extend existing security investments into the Cloud without incurring significant costs or creating additional IT complexity.

Presentations from Layer 7 CTO Scott Morrison and 451 Group Security Analyst Steve Coplan, delved into how enterprises can leverage the identity, privacy and threat-protection technologies they already own to facilitate the secure adoption of SaaS, IaaS and other Cloud-based technologies.

You can read more about the webinar in our Resource Library or simply watch the recording in the player below, courtesy of the Layer 7 YouTube Channel.

And if you happen to be attending either CA World or the CSA Congress, stop by and say “hi”. CA World attendees can find us at Partner Pedestal 261A in the Cloud Section and Partner Pedestal 338B in the Security Section. For the CSA conference we’ll be at table 10. Hope to see you there!

We know a lot of you get a great deal of value from our webinars, so we’re very pleased to announce that we’ve got a new one coming up on November 17th. Featuring input from Amazon Web Services, How to Secure & Govern Integrations Between the Enterprise & the Cloud will use the example of Best Buy’s API Developer Portal to demonstrate how an enterprise can securely integrate on-premise systems with Cloud applications.

The Best Buy API Developer portal is a superb example of how a large enterprise can leverage a hybrid on-premise/Cloud solution to scale API assets and accommodate peaks in demand, without compromising security or governance. The folks at Best Buy have been able to move into the Cloud while retaining full control of what information is shared with Cloud applications. At the same time, they’ve managed to insulate developers from the security, management and mediation challenges that often turn up with a hybrid Cloud solution.

How to Secure & Govern Integrations Between the Enterprise & the Cloud is happening on Thursday 17th November at 9am PST (which is noon EST and 5pm GMT). As with all our webinars, it will last about an hour and feature a Q&A session at the end. We had an absolutely phenomenal response to our last webinar, so we’re excited to be putting on this event with our friends at Amazon Web Services and Best Buy.

Register for the webinar >>

Our weekly From the Vault series highlights classic resources from the Layer 7 Library. This week, we’ve got not one but two items, both of which will prove highly valuable to anyone who is researching options for purchasing or replacing a SOA Gateway – a white paper called Not All SOA Gateways are Created Equal and a webinar called How to Choose a SOA Gateway.

Not All SOA Gateways are Created Equal notes that most Gateways on the market are able to address a good deal of the most common functional requirements. However, the white paper explains, the total cost of ownership (TCO) varies widely between Gateways – and TCO extends well beyond the initial licensing fees to encompass a range of significant factors.

The white paper goes on to examine those factors that will have the greatest impact on TCO, namely:

• Ease of deployment and customization
• Manageability, scalability and reliability
• Cost of upgrade or repurchasing

Click here to find out more about the white paper and to download the PDF

How to Choose a SOA Gateway expands upon the content of this white paper to provide business managers with practical instructions on which key operational and functional needs, as well as potential pitfalls, to consider when selecting a SOA Gateway, including:

• Portability considerations
• Scalability risks
• Extensibility and upgradeability needs
• Global management implications
• Hidden operational costs

You can either click here to find out more about the webinar and to download a copy or you can stream it in the player below, courtesy of the Layer 7 YouTube channel: