Akana is pleased to announce a major platform release featuring support for GraphQL APIs. In addition to GraphQL features, our 2022.1 platform upgrade includes cloud, security, and API automation updates. Get started with Akana 2022.1 today!
The Rise of GraphQL APIs In Context
Digital transformation continues to drive organizational change. Enterprises are moving forward with a variety of tools and technology used to innovate with and integrate applications. This requires complex data-first management practices designed to enhance today’s remote-first business model.
But how did we arrive here?
In short, the pandemic has changed the way we do business. In order to support digital transformation and digitalization of businesses, organizations must achieve tighter integration across platforms within and outside the enterprise. Yet these digital transformation trends have led to an explosion in the number of APIs every organization must build and manage. And these APIs are integrated into more technical domains each year.
On the one hand, APIs empower businesses by allowing them to create enhanced digital experiences for customers, partners, and employees. On the other, they come with new API management and integration challenges that must be met with sound API practices.
As we see more APIs everywhere, there has been an evolution in formats:
- APIs originally started as SOAP/XML but then REST/JSON became the dominant format.
- Newer standards like AsyncAPIs and GraphQL are starting to gain traction. Both standards are tackling different use cases.
SOAP and RESTful APIs
With SOAP and RESTful APIs, developers had to constantly deliver APIs that met the needs of API consumers in a never-ending cycle. As soon as the needs were met for one consumer, another consumer would demand a variation. Or, the backend data changed and a new version of the API had to be created. Naturally, this heavy versioning has been a drain for many development teams.
GraphQL APIs
GraphQL APIs help teams to solve these versioning challenges by defining APIs in a manner that supports diverse API consumer requirements. Therefore, we can offer consumers a single GraphQL API, instead of multiple SOAP or RESTful APIs.
How?
GraphQL is a query language and a runtime for fulfilling those queries. It’s designed to bring flexibility and better performance than RESTful APIs. Developers can query and aggregate data from multiple data sources in a single API call or single endpoint. They offer the flexibility to query only the required fields with smaller payloads, thereby maximizing performance.
Back to topSolving Data Complexity With GraphQL APIs
The proliferation of cloud services and the growth in the number of data services (e.g. databases and data lakes), adds to the increasing number of business and consumer applications that require integration with services. GraphQL APIs address these complexities with open specifications.
Back to topSimplifying API Management With Akana GraphQL Support
As early market leaders, the Akana API Management platform and Sola mainframe solution pioneered API management best practices. We provided the technical backbone for a host of global enterprises smart enough to adopt digital transformation early on. And now with GraphQL support, clients can create a single management plane for all APIs across the entire API lifecycle.
With the Akana API management suite, clients can:
- Rapidly and easily create, publish, and manage GraphQL APIs across the entire lifecycle
- Access best-in-class security and authorization features using our proven API gateway, developer portal, and API marketplace – in the same fashion as RESTful or SOAP APIs
- Gain powerful business intelligence through advanced monitoring and analytics capabilities
- Improve governance and oversight outcomes with Akana’s leading platform security, as was recently featured in KuppingerCole’s Leadership Compass
- Publish RESTful, SOAP, GraphQL APIs in a single developer portal
After a year in which Akana saw record growth, the Akana API Management platform is ready to help organizations achieve an API-first strategy, and evolve from REST to GraphQL APIs.
Find out if you qualify for a free 6-month trial of Akana.
Or, learn more about the Akana 2022.1 platform update on the Akana website.