Not until recently did networking engineers need to know what API stood for, not having used one before. That has changed as API growth picks up critical mass. While the concept of a networking API is not new, growth in the industry is only now arrived at a place that established companies can no longer ignore. Increasingly the desire for an API to configure networking devices is affecting purchasing decisions, and small, unsettling companies have been the early beneficiaries as older companies were content to keep offering command-line tools.

 

This steady API growth in recent years is due in part to early candidates making their APIs open-source, which has resulted in the emergence of new environments. Companies have opened up their API and developers have since made hundreds of contributions in various languages. It’s now easier to configure the previously intimidating high-powered network load balancers and proxy.

 

The challenge for established companies is to not only get an API up and running but to make sure it is as powerful as the old command-line interface. They are adapting and have no other option, because API growth is forcing them to make their devices fully configurable or risk being left out.

 

The fastest growing Web API categories in six months financial, enterprise, backend, payments, and messaging.