At Sonoa we completely agree with Jonathan’s assessment. As with all inflections points, we will only know after we have passed it, but it certainly fees like we have either reached or close to reaching a maturation/tipping point.

Sonoa provides visibility, control and scale for APIs, feeds and services. We provide this on premise and on demand. In addition to the technology discussions, increasingly we have two kinds of requests from our customers: 1. API strategy – what are the different phases of an API strategy, should I just make them available and see what happens, etc., and 2. API Development – what best practices does one use in order to have simple to use and scalable APIs. As Jonathan points out in his blog creative/media agencies will be of little help. Maybe there is an opportunity for boutique SI firms or for large consulting firms to start a practice.

So what can we learn from it, especially the enterprises that are thinking of adopting cloud computing? “Visibility” & “Control” are important. It’s incredibly difficult to control how people are using your cloud if you’re unable to see who, when and how people are accessing it. Once a “traffic jam” is visible, then you manage/limit/route traffic appropriately.

What do you see as the business benefits of APIs?

Just like every business has its own processes and revenue models, not all will benefit from APIs in the same way. One company is a content provider, basically a database to be searched. They may have a goal of selling raw access to that data to other companies or partnering to create new applications. Another company may want to use its API to facilitate application integration for its clients. The opportunities are as varied as the companies that deploy them.

Remember when XML was introduced into Web development? HTML was used in formatting the presentation layer and XML was used to serialize the data. By using Web services APIs you have the ability to abstract away the UI from the application. Now the UI can evolve or change to meet the client needs. Think about how you interact with Twitter – do you ever go to the Web site? Many do not because they have a much better experience using other client apps. If Twitter didn’t have an API, I don’t think they’d have the explosive growth that you see today. The API has become the tool that enables business agility.

Do you think APIs are for everyone, or do you think there are certain verticals and types of businesses better suited to extending services with APIs?

Like I mentioned before, business models will differ, but I can’t think of a vertical or business that would not want to have an API. I’m actually interested in the API first design principle. Perhaps by developing the API first, it would ensure consistency in the way the API and the Web application function. I’ve seen companies try to develop the API retroactively and have some trouble getting the same data as using the Web application. I read what Huddle.net is doing and I agree; you must be able to trust the API. It can’t be a second class citizen in the development priorities and backlog.

What do you see as the major concerns for companies opening up their services or content to the cloud with APIs?

There are a few concerns that I have talked about since my earlier days of exposing APIs. You must be able to control access. If you are a content provider, this is a major concern. You must protect yourself from misuse of the API; this means some sort of throttling. And remember, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. If you are going to open an API, make someone responsible for it and give them the tools to manage it.

How do you predict APIs will change the way we do business?

APIs create new business opportunities. VARs that used to deploy software on premise can now use APIs to do integrations of applications, along with developing tools for data migration. This is especially critical for SaaS and cloud computing. There really isn’t an opportunity for much customization of applications and VARs are now looking to provide more configuration and integrations in their offering. APIs will result in more strategic partnerships in business. A prevailing thought on my product team is to build less. If you focus on the problem that your product solves, and do that correctly, there will be other areas that you will partner. APIs can help make Best of Breed products into custom solutions to compete with software suites and really provide increased value for the consumer. But, APIs are not a panacea; there are things that are difficult to do even with an API.

So why do you need an API? For one thing, everyone else is diving into the API economy and your business needs to stay competitive. Yes, APIs let your company drive more revenue opportunities, but they also help you stay instep with, and often ahead of, the competition. There’s an awesome post by Kipp Bodnar on this subject and the API as the next marketing platform: http://digitalcapitalism.com/2009/04/api-marketing.

Now that you know that you need an API to expand business, you face certain issues with API development and deployment.

API Design: As always start with KISS (keep it simple stupid). You need simple design to address two basic principles: make your API easy to use and hard to misuse, and make it easy to extend. Joshua Bloch has written extensively on this subject.

API Deployment: lets start with visibility. As one of our customers says, “you need to see the needle to move the needle.” Next comes control: authentication, threat protection, rate limiting, etc. If you’re familiar with Sonoa, this is what we do – we’re helping people expose their APIs by giving them this visibility and control. It’s a great time to expand your services with an API – just be sure to cover your apps before jumping out there. API development and deployment is a critical subject that I’ll be writing more about in the weeks to come.

When consuming or producing cloud services from the enterprise point of view, companies need to make sure they can handle both the revenue and IT needs such as  access control, data masking, analytics, priority access, scalability, etc. The idea is to find a comprehensive approach for all these concerns.

While there was initially hesitation about SaaS as a new, untested technology, once an enterprise explored the easy of deployment and cost advantages, the move was a no brainer. The same is already happening for cloud computing. Though 10 of the 12 surveyed said the cloud is not part of their current cost cutting strategy, today’s economy will continue to make the ease and low cost of most cloud services more appealing, and will eventually lead more CIOs to migrate to the cloud.

Goldsmith highlights security as the main concern for CIOs. However, he does note that those surveyed do recognize the potential down the line. He writes, “Despite the comprehensive ‘no’ vote, some CIOs expect that the cloud will indeed play a part in their future tech plans. Ben Acheson, IT manager of PADS Printing and Commercial Stationery, believes cloud computing will become part of his strategy once the wrinkles have been ironed out.”

It really just boils down to early adopters and those who will jump into the cloud later on, once they feel more comfortable. Alistair Behenna, CIO at Harvey Nash, was in the minority of the survey, having recognized the opportunity for his current IT strategies. He noted that cloud computing “has to be a viable strand in any IT strategy fabric.” He also said that it is “certainly not the whole solution but it is undeniably useful for specific areas of the infrastructure and service delivery.”

It’s always valuable to hear the concerns of those making the IT decisions. Survey these same CIOs in a year and you will see many more saying that cloud computing has become part of their cost cutting IT strategy. Survey again in three years and cloud computing is sure to be ubiquitous. Once the early adopters see that that “wrinkles have been ironed out” there will be no question that cloud is to stay for quite some time.

Mid-sized companies are just trying to survive today’s shaky economic climate and they need the capability to scale with their needs quickly and economically. Agility is really the number one concern for mid-sized operations transitioning to the cloud. The cloud’s ability to scale is a key component of this agility that should drive them to cloud now and is closely tied to the economic benefit of cloud computing.

This is much like the days when Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) was just starting out and it was the mid-sized companies that were able to first adopt on-demand software. These mid-level companies and departments within larger corporations had the ability to, and the definite need for, on-demand computing models. Today, their agility needs will lead them to cloud compute.

David Linthicum recently wrote about conserving capital with cloud computing. Companies today need to have capital on hand in order to quickly respond to the restless economy. This concern is especially important for the mid-sized companies and departments that are in survival mode right now. David notes that cloud computing is a big part of conserving capital because of its pay-as-you-go model that doesn’t require businesses to buy hardware or software. He’s correct in noting business value as the primary reason businesses are jumping into the cloud, since the subscription model was a great motivator for companies adopting SaaS.

The implication here is that when a company needs to tighten the screws and scale back, it can change its cloud subscription to a lower cost model. The subscription provides the agility not found with hardware and software infrastructure, for which companies are still stuck with a bill when scaling back. Cloud computing’s ability to rapidly scale back or build out a business is especially critical today when companies cannot afford to either throw money away or quickly accommodate new business opportunities.