Layer 7 Technologies Unveils New API Portal at Cloud Expo

From the Cloud Expo 2011 show floor, Layer 7 Technologies today unveiled its new API Portal technology, giving show attendees a first look at an enterprise-class solution that enables companies to maximize the growing market opportunity around exposing their content and applications to third party developers. The Layer 7 API Portal provides enterprises and service providers with a secure, turn-key way to manage developers creating applications against their application programming interfaces (APIs). The API Portal expands Layer 7’s API management suite, which includes the API Proxy for enforcing API security and SLA policies, and the Enterprise Service Manager for governing the API lifecycle and tracking API performance.

APIs are the building blocks software developers use to create new applications and online services that can be accessed over the Internet and from mobile devices. Following the Apple iTunes store’s creation of a robust marketplace for iPhone apps, enterprises and service providers are generating their own online marketplaces for their customers and user communities. This growing API-driven economy presents significant new security issues, business opportunities and management challenges for enterprises and service providers, which Layer 7’s API Portal can help address.

“The Layer 7 API Portal represents an industry first, providing enterprises with the ability to manage API keys, developer accounts and reporting locally rather than having to rely on a cloud-based service,” explained Phil Walston, vice president of products at Layer 7 Technologies. “The API Portal is part of Layer 7’s on-premise API management solution, which provides real-time insight into how APIs are being used, coupled with enterprise-grade security controls and automation tools that make managing developer accounts and API keys simple. Unlike other API management vendors that cater to start-ups, Layer 7 focuses on the most security- and performance-minded customers among the Fortune 500.”

API Portal Overview

The Layer 7 API Portal provides best practice functionality out-of-the-box to allow enterprises to get to market quickly and cost-effectively, while facilitating third-party developers’ ability to rapidly create applications against their APIs. Business rules created on the API Portal help companies manage and monetize their APIs, and are programmatically enforced by the Layer 7 Gateway, ensuring APIs remain available, protected from threats and secured against unauthorized access.

The Layer 7 API Portal includes the following benefits that distinguish it from competing solutions:

• The only solution available today that offers integration with an API proxy that provides both enterprise-grade security and PCI DSS compliance
• Can be deployed on-premise, eliminating the need to send API responses (which may include sensitive or private information) to the cloud, offering greater overall security
• Lets enterprises define their API security to fit their requirements (whether it be just API keys, keys plus certificates and/or tokens, etc), and then manage and distribute those keys from a secure, on-premise API proxy
• Offers comprehensive API reporting for third-party developers, as well as for enterprise roles, such as API owners, operations and security officers
• Manages API versioning to ensure all versions of an API will be supported as new versions are updated
• When deployed in conjunction with a Layer 7 API Proxy, the solution is capable of carrier-grade performance, handling up to 25 billion transactions per month on a single API proxy

About Layer 7 Technologies

Layer 7 Technologies helps enterprises secure and govern interactions between their organization and the services they use in the cloud; across the Internet; and out to mobile devices. Through its award-winning line of SOA Gateways, Cloud Brokers and API Proxies, Layer 7 gives enterprises the ability to control identity, data security, SLA and visibility requirements for sharing application data and functionality across organizational boundaries. With more than 150 customers spanning six continents, Layer 7 supports the most demanding commercial and government organizations. Layer 7 solutions are FIPS compliant, STIG vulnerability tested and have met Common Criteria EAL4+ security assurance.