Akana Simplifies API Management Across Multiple Data Centers

Taking API management to a higher level, Akana today unveiled an upgrade to its namesake platform that creates a single logical instance of a control plane for API endpoints that can be distributed across multiple data centers.

Rather than having to manage a complex web of API gateways, the latest version of the Akana API management platform enables a client to establish a handshake with the platform in a federated manner to reduce overall application latency, Ian Goldsmith, VP of product management for Akana, said. Akana will then route the rest of the API calls to where the application resides across a distributed set of data centers.

Scheduled to be available in the fourth quarter, the API management platform itself can either be invoked as a service managed by Akana or deployed on-premise by an internal IT organization. There is also a hybrid configuration through which an on-premise deployment can invoke additional API management resource residing in the Akana cloud when needed. The Akana API management in the cloud itself is distributed across multiple cloud and hosting service provides in much the same way a content delivery network operates, said Goldsmith.

“Our API management platform is based on a multi-tenant architecture,” said Goldsmith. “We have the ability to create a multi-master approach that is … centralized but also highly distributed.”

Other benefits of this approach, added Goldsmith, are the ability to have one server or an entire data center to go offline with no interruption to the API service, the ability to distribute OAuth tokens in a way that makes them available to every server, and the ability to apply API analytics on a global basis.

At its core, the Akana API management platform makes use of NoSQL databases based on MongoDB that are interconnected via a Hazelcast in-memory data grid. In addition, Akana has included ElasticSearch technology that makes it simpler for IT organizations to discover all the documentation and content associated with a particular API.

In general, Goldsmith said, API management inside most organizations is becoming more federated. While developers still design and create APIs, other individuals inside product management teams are now responsible for version control and the portal through which those APIs are accessed. Internal IT organizations, meanwhile, are taking more responsibility for running the API management control plane in order to guarantee performance levels and maintain security, said Goldsmith.

As the “API economy” continues to mature so do the approaches to managing APIs that by definition become more distributed every day.