Thoughts on API Best Practices API Management and Infrastructure Blog

Retail APIs and Garden Hoses: Making Things Grow in the Enterprise

APIs are like a garden hose. They can make things grow.

Well that's what I was thinking as I tried to save my roses from the blistering summer heat here in Dallas, Texas. It really started to make sense when I snapped off my trigger nozzle in favor of a sprinkler. I have the quick connect system so it's a piece of cake to swap out attachments. The 104 degree heat was getting to me, and I started to imagine the hose being connected to retail information and inventory - the API being the quick connect and the nozzles being the interface to consumers.

I'm sitting on the patio at this point, the sprinklers doing the work now, and I'm thinking I should grab a beer and really see where this analogy goes. I watch the sprinkler go back and forth, spraying a pattern of precious water across the lawn - and on my FENCE!

No, the source of life cannot be wasted on a board-on-board fence. I get up and carefully plan my assault on the sprinkler, careful not to get wet (note to self: cold water pelting your body when its 104 is not something you should avoid). The sprinkler has all kinds of adjustment mechanisms. I can adjust the spray pattern left or right, long or short. I can control the amount of water going through the valve and of course there's a timer.

Ahhhhh, this like API infrastructure, the control panel for APIs. Crystal clear. Just like the mechanisms of the garden hose nozzle let your control and target different areas of your lawn, API infrastructure lets you optimize your API for various sections of the market - from mobile developers to affiliate marketers. And just like a great sprinkler system, an API infrastructure lets you scale up to cover your whole "lawn." Finally, API infrastructure provides visibility, letting you see where your services are going and how they are being used.

At its core, an API infrastructure lets you harness and control the power of an API and grow your market, just like a garden hose lets you harness the power of water to grow your lawn.

So you know what I did? The next time I went to talk to a prospect I carried a garden hose, quick connect and sprinkler with me (at least they will remember me).

Analogy complete. No!

One more beer (my answer to Job's "One more thing").

API.... A Profit Interface. Another entry on that soon.

Mobile Location-Based Services - don’t forget the Telcos

TechCrunch recently posted on a Juniper report on “Mobile Location Based Services"  This report taps on the potential for this new wave of powerful apps – like letting your phone geotag the video you just took and posting it to Facebook with a Google Maps link;  one-button dial to a nearby restaurant discovered through your social network; or dynamically billing for high-value media content via the operator.  

Companies like Google, Foursquare, and Nokia are mentioned as on the forefront of many of these services.

But don't forget the Telcos - they have rich location based services with network data and a huge customer base.  Exposing APIs and working with third party content and service providers is critical for telcos and network operators. 

But Telco APIs can be complex.  Our view is that the Telcos that focus on making these APIs as simple and accessible as those from consumer Web players can be winners in MLBS.  We talk about these and other issues in detail in our new Telco 2.0 Whitepaper.

But can you hold the API to the SLA?

Great article by Jonathon Feldman in Information Week recently with some steps for CIOs to take before getting into cloud computing.   One is to insist on SLAs from cloud providers, especially considering the natural tension from the provider's perspective between high-availability and low-cost operations.

Absolutely agree.  But to build on this - remember that scene from Seinfeld where Jerry is at the car rental counter -  "Anybody can *take* a reservation, the important part is to *hold* the reservation."

Often, cloud and API providers will agree to SLAs, but have limited means to enforce or verify the SLA is held. Many SLAs are just 'on paper' with minimal enforcement or monitoring.  This gets especially tricky if you need to discuss financial penalties. 

Consider how you will monitor, meter, and audit API traffic and content between you and your partners - from your side - in order to pinpoint problems, protect your organization, and especially if you need to enforce penalties based on SLA misses.