James Governor's Monkchips

IBM’s Cast Iron Fix for API Proliferation

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I hate it when that happens. Just came into the analyst general session and IBM WebSphere CTO Gennaro Cuomo reminded me of Redmonk’s own research agenda and how it relates to IBM’s decision to acquire Cast Iron Systems.

Here is the thing – one of Stephen’s predictions for 2010 was that API proliferation will become a real problem this year. Clearly it already is. I had to talked to Jerry at length about the need to take a registry/repository approach to Cloud-based APIs last year. Well it seems that’s the space Cast Iron is in. At first glance I was thinking about the deal in more traditional middleware terms- adapters and integration.

But in fact Cast Iron may be way more interesting that that. Its an API management platform – IBM will do the work to track all these APIs and help organisations build apps that target them. Unlike many web companies enterprises don’t really have time to concentrate on tracking API changes.

Holy crap. I just realised its also an amazing data play. Cast Iron effectively instruments the world of APIs. IBM is going to know exactly what’s going on in cloud development- what’s hot and what’s not. This really could be a transformative acquisition.

disclosure: IBM is a client.

18 comments

  1. James Governor’s Monkchips » IBM’s Cast Iron Fix for API Proliferation http://monk.ly/aehbPk
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  2. James Governor Take 2 on Cast Iron/IBM: “It’s an API management platform” and “amazing data play.” http://monk.ly/aehbPk
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  3. James, so is this write to our API and we’ll map into everyone elses? or is it write to theirs and will provide a simulation on ours ? If neither, then I don’t get the point…

    I know nothing of Cast Iron and am merely a casual observer on this cloud.

  4. mark – its about tracking all the cloud APIs out there… salesforce.com, rightnow, google, amazon, netsuite, etc

    cast iron generates adapters targeting these moving target APIs

  5. […] this one over with James Governor and Neil Ward-Dutton already (James has already blogged on this here and Neil here. I don’t have much to add to either Neil or James, but – never the […]

  6. I believe it’s actually a fairly shrewd move albeit one that may very well cause more brand confusion within big blue. The registry/repository approach seems to have lost all momentum which I suspect is due to much of the complexity associated with standing them up (my opinions, disclosure: I work for an IBM partner firm).

  7. @monkchip on Cast Iron acquisition: amazing data play.. IBM is going to know exactly what’s going on in cloud development http://ow.ly/1GzBg
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  8. pwoah! This ppl thinkn i WILL keep making progress! I think http://bit.ly/92H5cx (Instrumenting and it’s still going http://bit.ly/9gzlqp
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  9. […] new again. IBM’s acquisition of Cast Iron, as dissected well by colleagues Dana Gardner and James Governor, reflects the fact that after all these years of talking flattened architectures, especially using […]

  10. Complète l’article précédent : http://tinyurl.com/32xu256. La gestion des API devient cruciale et cette acquisition IBM couvre ce besoin.
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  11. IBM’s “Cast Iron” Fix for API Proliferation
    http://snipurl.com/vz7uy [feedproxy_google_com]
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  12. IBM’s Cast Iron Fix for API Proliferation http://bit.ly/9vOxIQ
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  13. […] new again. IBM’s acquisition of Cast Iron, as dissected well by colleagues Dana Gardner and James Governor, reflects the fact that after all these years of talking flattened architectures, especially using […]

  14. […] It’s not quite an Apple App Store thing but it’s that kind of idea.” On his blog, James said: Cast Iron may be way more interesting that that. Its an API management platform – IBM will do […]

  15. “IBM is going to know exactly what’s going on in cloud development- what’s hot and what’s not.” http://bit.ly/bnxCQs
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  16. IBM’s Cast Iron play was a result of API proliferation in the world? http://bit.ly/cJc0e6
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  17. […] buys Cast Iron Systems – James has two pieces covering it: here and here. then we talk about cloud integration and the brakes being put on complete cloud integration, […]

  18. IBM’s Cast Iron Fix for API Proliferation
    http://bit.ly/96xQlp
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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