API Management From Cradle to Grave: WSO2 Launches 100% Open Source API Manager

Janet Wagner, August 16th, 2012

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WSO2, a global enterprise middleware corporation, has announced the launch of the 100% Open Source WSO2 API Manager after receiving applications from over 140 developers to participate in the beta program.

The WSO2 API Manager is “an enterprise-ready, fully-open source, complete solution for creating, publishing and managing all aspects of an API and its life cycle in a scalable manner.” The WSO2 API Manager is the first Open Source API management product that allows developers to manage the entire lifecycle of APIs; from creating, publishing, blocking, deprecating and retiring.

Traditional API management systems are often extremely complex and very costly to implement, which causes significant barriers to adoption. In the announcement, Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana, WSO2 founder and CEO, is quoted as saying that the WSO2 API Manager:

“democratizes API management by making it affordable to acquire the software, easy to control APIs and manage the API lifecycle, and simple to find and subscribe to APIs.”

Designed with Simplicity and Ease of Use in Mind

Additionally, The WSO2 API Manager was designed with simplicity and ease of use in mind for developers and API consumers. WSO2 has already received some positive feedback from developers and technology professionals.

Kin Lane, founder of API Evangelist, said of the WSO2 API Manager:

“I was looking for a full open source API platform tool, and it appears WSO2 has what I was looking for. WSO2 API Manager is a simple, easy to understand API platform, but has all the hardened enterprise goodness many developers will be looking for when it comes to security, governance, policy enforcement, etc. I also like that it acknowledges how many APIs are not born out of technical departments, and it allows for duel ownership of any API from the technical and business discipline—which is very important to the success of an API.”

Many Unique Features

The WSO2 API Manager provides many features that are not found in some API management solutions, such as:

Create a Store of all Available APIs

• Graphical experience similar to Android Marketplace or Apple App Store.
• Browse APIs by provider, tags or name.
• Self-registration to developer community to subscribe to APIs.
• Subscribe to APIs and manage subscriptions on per-application basis.

Publishing and Governing API Use

• Publish APIs to external consumers and partners, as well as internal users.
• Supports publishing multiple protocols including SOAP, REST, JSON and XML style services as APIs.
• Govern the API lifecycle (publish, deprecate, retire).
• Provision and Manage API keys.
• One-click deployment to API Gateway for immediate publishing.

Govern Complete API Lifecycle

• Manage API lifecycle from cradle to grave: create, publish, block, deprecate and retire.
• Publish both production and sandbox keys for APIs to enable easy developer testing.
• Publish APIs to partner networks such as ProgrammableWeb (Available soon in future version).
• Powered by WSO2 Governance Registry.

A detailed list of features is available on the WSO2 API Manager Product Website.

Links to Additional WSO2 Information

• WSO2 Corporate Site
• WSO2 API Manager Product Page
• WSO2 API Manager Documentation
• WSO2 Blogs
• WSO2 OxygenTank