Industry Leading XML Gateway Overview

Layer 7 XML Gateways Offer Unmatched Flexibility, Upgradeability, Performance & Security

Not all SOA and XML gateways are created equal. Over the past several years Layer 7 has established itself as a clear leader in the XML Gateway market for SOA Governance, API Management and Cloud Integration for several reasons, including:

Deployment Flexibility
Layer 7 is the only XML Gateway vendor to offer multiple form factors (hardware, software, and virtual appliances for virtualized platforms such as VMware, Xen, KVM, etc); support for a wide range of platforms (Solaris, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, as well as a cloud platforms like Amazon EC2, CA 3Tera, etc); and–most importantly–license portability across those form factors and platforms so your investment can be preserved if your deployment platform of choice changes.

Performance
Layer 7 offers both software- and hardware-based acceleration for XML message processing. Layer 7’s patent-pending FastPath parsing technology ensures that message processing is optimized to reduce wasted steps/operations, economizing on processor utilization. Layer 7’s hardware appliance marries FastPath with the industry’s first 5th generation XML acceleration silicon to give customers with large data volumes unmatched performance. Moreover, Layer 7’s XML hardware co-processor frees the appliance CPU to perform other tasks with the result that like operations can be performed at a fraction of the CPU utilization and power consumption of software-only solutions.

Customizability
Layer 7’s XML Gateways are highly extensible, allowing customers to better tailor the solution to their specific requirements. The Gateway ships with a number of adapters that support non-XML data  types and identity sources, as well as a Java-based SDK that allows customers to create and implement new policy assertions, as required. Additionally, programmable APIs make integration with existing SOA and management infrastructure simple and straightforward.

Scalability
Layer 7 XML Gateways are designed to scale up, as well as out. New loads can be handled dynamically through the addition of self-configuring nodes. Variable loads can be handled through clusters of virtual appliances that can be dynamically commissioned and decommissioned.

Enterprise-Scale Manageability
Layer 7 is the first XML Gateway vendor to offer a fully integrated, enterprise-wide Gateway and Service management solution to simplify policy lifecycle management, gateway health monitoring, service management and disaster recovery. Layer 7’s management tools support multi-regional, mixed deployments of hardware, virtual and cloud-based gateways spanning development, test, production and backup across the enterprise, datacenter and cloud.

Software Upgradeability
Layer 7 uniquely allows its customers to initially purchase as little (or as much) functionality as they need, and then upgrade as their requirements broaden. For example, customers requiring XML acceleration can buy the SecureSpan XML Accelerator, and then upgrade at a later date to the API Proxy (for REST and JSON security) just by simply applying a software license key. There’s no need to swap out the hardware appliance or software gateway.

Breadth of Transport, Identity, Data & Application Adapters
Layer 7 gateways are true mediation devices. The top of the line SOA Gateway ships with a broad range of adapter for:

• Different transport types including native MQ, JMS, Tibco EMS, raw sockets, FTP
• Identity adapters for Tivoli, Oracle, Novell, RSA, Sun, Microsoft, database, LDAP
• Data adapters for EDI, Mainframe Copy Books, HIPPA, among others
• Application adapters for legacy and emerging cloud systems like Salesforce

API Virtualization & Manageability
Layer 7 allows customers to virtualize their SOAP, REST and JSON APIs. Manage versions, meter usage, restrict access by identity, rate limit based on SLAs, aggregate or compose virtual APIs from existing interfaces. You can even orchestrate interactions across backend services that are proxied by the Layer 7 XML Gateway in order to deliver richer results.

Security Certification
Over the last decade, Layer 7 has continually invested in making its XML Gateway platform the most secure in the industry. Layer 7 was the first vendor to offer FIPS support for software, VMware, cloud and hardware gateways, as well as the first to offer elliptic curve cryptography. The Layer 7 Gateway has passed rigorous vulnerability tests, including the US governments’ Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) Assurance testing, is one of two vendors in the market that has completed common criteria certification and is the only one to have achieved  EAL4  common criteria requirements for defense and intelligence industry applications and has satisfied a PCI DSS compliance audit and is the only vendor to offer a PCI DSS SIG secure implementation guide in the category.

End-to-End SAML & OAuth Federation for SOA, API & Cloud Services
Layer 7’s support SAML 1.1/2.0 token generation, transformation and validation (via an onboard STS) and lets customers extend their existing LDAP, AD and Web SSO identity investments to encompass newer SOA and API services. Layer 7 similarly supports various OAuth 1.x and 2.0 2 and 3 legged token exchange flows for REST and JSON API security. Layer 7 also offers support for XACML allowing customers to define and configure diverse rules for credential based access to mixed Web and Web service environments.

Commitment to Standards & Openness
With a history of providing integration to all leading middleware, identity and governance solutions, as well as investments in industry standards, Layer 7 is committed to protecting customers against single vendor lock-in. Layer 7 has also been a leading author and editor of key SOA standards, including WS-SC, WS-Trust, WS-Federation, WS-Policy, WS-SecurityPolicy, WS-I BSP to name a few, as well as the only independent Gateway vendor to have consistently participated in the subsequent interops.

Licensing Freedom that Protects Buyers from Changes in Technology
Some XML Gateway vendors offer only hardware others only software. Layer 7 is the only vendor that can offer customers the exact same functionality across our hardware, software, virtual and cloud-based appliances. Moreover, Layer 7 does not lock in customers to any one form factor. With Layer 7’s Freedom License customers can migrate their production licenses between form factors, ensuring true architectural freedom when designing their SOA architecture.

Layer 7 is also the only XML Gateway vendor to:

• Be named to Gartner’s MQ Leadership Quadrant
• Deliver certified form factors for both VMWare and Amazon EC2
• Deliver 5th generation XML acceleration technology
• Offer FIPS compliance in both software and hardware form factors
• Provide PCI – DSS audit certification and secure implementation guide
• Offer integrated SAML, OAuth and XACML identity and access capabilities
• Provide broad transport, data and application adapters
• Protect against technology changes through our Freedom License

Notable News

• Layer 7 Positioned as a Leader in the Forrester Wave for SOA Application Gateways
  
• Layer 7 Placed in Leaders Quadrant of 2011 Magic Quadrant for SOA Governance Technologies