What is Developer Portal?

IBM webMethods Developer Portal is a web-based, self-service portal that enables an organization to securely expose APIs to external developers, partners, and other consumers for use in building their own applications on their platforms.

Organizations often lack the resources to support mobile Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), supply chain, or e-commerce initiatives. By opening a set of APIs to external developers, organizations can reduce costs, expand the reach of their products or services, and create new channels of revenue in the following ways:
  • Mobile application developers can create mashups and apps that satisfy a particular user niche and are optimized for specific mobile device types and platforms.
  • Enterprise application developers can use APIs to simplify integration with suppliers and B2B partners.
  • The involvement of external developers fosters innovation and collaboration throughout the development community. In return, the resulting developed applications offer the organization extra potential revenue as those applications reach new markets or customers in new ways

The APIs that an organization exposes contain core assets the organization want to protect. As with the services they support, these APIs have a lifecycle, need to be managed and governed, and require mediation and security at run time.

From an API provider's perspective, an API management tool is needed that enables the provider to do the following functions.

  • Maintain an inventory of APIs and their associated resources.
  • Publish, secure, and retire APIs according to defined service level agreements.
  • Onboard API developers and give those developers the ability to publish APIs on behalf of the organization.
  • Onboard API consumers who use the published APIs in their own applications.
  • Provide tiered access to APIs, for example according to authorization level.
  • Track key performance indicators (KPIs) to help monitor and interpret API use.

From an API consumer’s perspective, an API management tool must allow you to perform the following functions.

  • Browse a catalog of APIs and obtain details and code samples for a specific API.
  • Sign up to request and manage access tokens to download an API and its associated resources and documentation.
  • Test the functions of an API.
  • Collaborate with other API consumers by way of forums or integration with social media.