Are APIs and SOA Converging

Are APIs and SOA
Converging?
Sachin Agarwal
VP Product Marketing
SOA Software

Copyright © 2001-2013 SOA Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What is SOA?


What is SOA?
• Service Oriented Architecture : A loosely-coupled architecture designed to
meet the business needs of the organization.


SOAP, WSDL, UDDI and Repository
• SOA was initially focused on UDDI, WSDL
and SOAP

•
•
•
•

SOAP had widespread adoption
WSDL provided interface definition
UDDI standard, while ratified, lost support
UDDI Registry as replaced by the
Repository

• But due to complexities of type of
integration challenges, SOAP/XML
became “heavy weight”

What are APIs?


What is an API?
Your Customers

Your API


Your Application

Characteristics of an API
• Well documented
(human-readable)
• Easy to consume
• Can be selfprovisioned by
developers and
partners
• Published through an
API Portal


Extend the Reach of your Business


Capture new Opportunities with APIs
 Drive Innovation

 Increase Reach

 Support New Devices

 Discover New Business Models

 Increase Partner Network


The API Advantage
•
•
•
•
•

Easy to consume
Well documented
Self Provisioned
Developers are attracted to use the best APIs
Business Driven


API AND SOA MYTHS


Myths and Facts
Myth

Fact

SOA is a technology

SOA is a design philosophy independent of
any vendor, product, technology or industry
trend.

SOA requires web
services/SOAP

SOA is not limited to SOAP/web services

APIs are not SOA

APIs are services, and in that aspect are
more like SOA

APIs require REST/JSON

APIs are not limited to REST/JSON

SOA is internal, APIs are
external

While the open model of APIs make it more
suited for external consumption, they could
each be used in either scenarios


The relationship between APIs and SOA


The 3-Tiers of APIs and SOA Lifecycle

Business
Foundation/
Functional
Tier
Service Arch.
Lifecycle
Data Arch.
API Design

NonFunctional
Tier

Security,
Mediation,
Orchestration,
QoS, Analytics


Protocol
Tier

Publishing,
OAuth, Portal,
WSDL Swagger
,etc.

APIs vs. SOA
• APIs are a superset of Web Services – it is a business differentiation,
not a technical one
– Business, product focus
– APIs are open, easy to consume

• Documentation
– APIs
•
•

Pro : Human readable
Con : Change management is subjective

– Web Services primarily use WSDL and WS-Policy
•
•

Pro : Change management is explicit
Con : Difficult to understand

• Security
– APIs typically leverage OAuth or HTTP request signing mechanisms for
security
•

Transport-based (HTTP)

– SOA leverages WS-S, SAML, WS-Trust, etc
•

Message-based


The Need for Both
• Simplify Documentation
– Document generation
– Code generation

• APIs may need to be SOAP as well as JSON/REST
• Security mediation between web standards and WS-* standards is
critical
• A deep understanding of the different standards and policies is
required, including:
–
–
–
–
–
–

OAuth 1.0a/2.0
Header-based signature mechanisms
SAML
WS-Security
XACML
OpenID/Connect


Are API and SOA Converging?

SOA, in its focus on machine to machine integration and
standardization, forgot about the human in the equation.
APIs, in their focus on ease of use, have forgotten about
management, lifecycle and control.
You need both


API and SOA Resources
• Resource Center
– http://resource.soa.com/

• Webinar Recording
– http://resource.soa.com/resource/webinars

• Follow us on:

www.facebook.com/soasoftware
www.linkedin.com/company/soasoftware

@soasoftwareinc


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