API Hub Mashape Opens Up Kong Platform
The API marketplace Mashape has released its Kong application development tool as an open source platform that is billed as among the first management layers for emerging micro-services.
The San Francisco-based company said its open source release would eliminate what it calls the "busy work" of rewriting code for backend logic. The management tool would allow developers to write code once and dispatch it to all APIs and micro-services via a central open source platform. They can then be extended via plugins to other projects, Mashape said.
The open source release of the Kong platform is intended to streamline basic processes used by developers in hopes of accelerating the development of applications and micro-services like application containers for the web and the Internet of Things, Mashape said on Tuesday (April 28) in announcing the open source release.
Mashape claims to be the world's largest API marketplace, processing billions on API requests from 140,000 software developers. It also claims to be adding more than 10,000 developers a month. The open source release of Kong would allow developers to centrally manage micro-services and APIs by adding utilities for authentication, logging, caching and security on top of the platform.
Kong management layer for APIs and microservices. Source: Mashape
The company said Kong could be used to design API's and micro-services running either on-premise or in public or private cloud infrastructure. As micro-services like applications containers enter production environments, Mashape also stressed that the open source Kong platform could be scaled from a single datacenter to hybrid cloud environments increasingly being adopted by large customers.
As part of its open source push, Mashape said Kong could replace proprietary API management systems. A RESTful API is used to import data from third-party management systems to the Kong platform. Several distributions of open source Kong are available, including Docker and Ubuntu. It can be installed via Amazon Web Services (among Mashape's backers is Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos), Linode or Rackspace as well as via VMware and other virtual machines.
The company also touts the management service as handling multiple APIs and micro-services with secure authentication and authorization, data encryption and logging. That emphasis reflects growing requirements for "trusted platforms" needed to support micro-services like application containers that have yet to make much of an impact in production environments.
Augusto Marietti, co-founder and CEO of Mashape, said in a statement that the release of Kong as an open source management platform would speed the transition from "monolithic and legacy software to micro-services-based architectures.”
Founded in 2010, the company said it manages and distributes APIs for startups as well as banks, retailers like Amazon and Target, hotels and NASA.
Mashape said the open source version of its Kong management platform is available now for free download. Enterprise support and commercial plugins are also available.
Along with Bezos, Mashape's backers include Charles Rivers Ventures, Index Ventures and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.
