Item: IBM API Connect
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

To support the development, lifecycle management, operational management and operational security of APIs.
Use the Developer Portal for discovery and testing of API.
Use the Analytics to understand usage and aid in troubleshooting.
API Gateways for enforcing security policies and protection of backend systems.
Aid in enforcing best practices, standards and security for managing APIs.

Pros and Cons

Developer Portal for API discovery and testing
API Gateway for policy and security enforcement
Management system for managing API lifecycle

Support for getting tokens using additional OAuth flows in the Developer Portal
Better monitoring support for API Gateways
Better product feature stability between upgrades.

Return on Investment

Improved the maturity of API development by enforcing OpenAPI and semantic versioning standards
Improved security of APIs
Provide better visibility of APIs available and their usage

Usability

The web based user interface makes it easy to interact with the product to either view API analytics. configuration of the solution and management of APIs.

The command line interface enables a DevOps approach for publishing and managing APIs.

API Security

The product supports OAuth for single sign-on for end users. Consumers can self-service manage their client applications and subscriptions via the Developer Portal and API Product Managers can self-service manage their APIs via the API Manager.

Analytics support access management partitioning to ensure visibility to only those who are authorised.

Audit logs and analytics logs can be offloaded to a SIEM.

OAuth, certificate and basic authentication are supported for API invocation in addition with API Keys for authentication and usage tracking.

Key Insights

Do you think IBM API Connect delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with IBM API Connect's feature set?

Yes

Did IBM API Connect live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of IBM API Connect go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy IBM API Connect again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

IBM API Connect is best suited for publishing and managing APIs in Enterprise and Customer scenarios by providing a Developer portal for API Discovery and Documentation in conjunction with the API Manager for APO lifecycle management and the API Gateways for providing best practice security controls for protecting systems and data.

It is not optimised for management of micro services and service mesh architectures.

Solid API Management Product for Enterprise API Management

Overall Satisfaction with IBM API Connect