Software developers face growing demands to deliver innovative new digital experiences faster, but those experiences are often based on a complex web of data, processes, services and APIs that need to be woven together. WSO2 is helping developers to streamline their efforts and increase productivity with the introduction of new capabilities for WSO2 API Manager, WSO2 API Platform for Kubernetes (WSO2 APK), and WSO2 Micro Integrator.
The advances include:
- A single, unified control plane manages both WSO2 API Manager and WSO2 APK data planes, bringing powerful API management to Kubernetes environments.
- New artificial intelligence (AI) based WSO2 AI Developer Assistant in the WSO2 API Manager control plane enhances search in the Developer Portal and adds natural language API testing.
- GraphQL support in WSO2 APK delivers precise data access capabilities to APK APIs to enable more efficient data retrieval.
- New WSO2 Micro Integrator extension for Microsoft Visual Studio Code (VS Code) offers an intuitive graphical interface with an AI MI Copilot to simplify developing integrations with natural language prompts.
“In the push for faster innovation, software development teams have embraced composable applications and microservices, but they also need greater ease and efficiency from their supporting API management and integration technologies,” said Christopher Davey, WSO2 vice president and general manager – API & integration software business unit. “With our new AI-based assistants, unified control plane for WSO2 API Manager and WSO2 APK, and WSO2 Micro Integrator for VS Code extension, we are enhancing these developers’ experiences by offering a more user-friendly, productive, and future-proof environment that aligns with their evolving needs.
Stronger, Streamlined API Management
WSO2 delivers two open-source software offerings to address the diverse API management requirements of organizations worldwide. WSO2 API Manager is WSO2’s comprehensive, industry-leading platform for full lifecycle API management, which executes more than 60 trillion transactions each year across the globe. WSO2 APK, which launched in September 2023, has been engineered from the ground up to leverage the inherent strengths of Kubernetes while optimizing API management practices and workflows. The latest product releases enable software development teams to leverage the strengths of WSO2 API Manager’s robust API management control plane features and WSO2 APK’s efficient, cloud-optimized data plane within a Kubernetes environment.
Unified Control Plane.The new WSO2 API Manager and WSO2 APK versions, generally available today, can be configured to enable both products’ data planes to be managed by the WSO2 API Manager control plane. Now APIs running in WSO2 APK gateways can benefit from the established management capabilities in WSO2 API Manager’s user interface (UI) and Developer Portal/Marketplace. As a result:
- Software developers get a streamlined development process with a container-native platform and strong API management.
- API architects can design comprehensive API strategies using a unified platform.
- API business owners can efficiently deploy large numbers of APIs in a scalable and cost-effective way.
WSO2 AI Developer Assistant. Through the control plane, users of WSO2 API Manager and WSO2 APK also gain access to the beta release of a new intelligent assistant that uses natural language-driven chat to enhance developer productivity. WSO2 AI Developer Assistant currently includes:
- AI-based search for the Developer Portal: Developers can simply describe what they need to do and quickly receive recommendations on the most relevant APIs.
- AI-based API testing: Developers can improve API testing speed, efficiency and accuracy via automatically generated test samples, suggestions on efficient testing paths, and pointers to the most relevant API resources for testing a specific scenario.
GraphQL Support for WSO2 APK. The newest WSO2 APK release supports the GraphQL query language, so developers and API consumers can request specific data they need from their services. The results are simplified development, improved code maintainability, higher efficiency, and greater flexibility.
Easier Integration Development
WSO2 Micro Integrator is a comprehensive, open-source integration product that streamlines connectivity across applications, services, data and the cloud using a low-code graphical designing experience while providing the flexibility to support both microservices and enterprise service bus (ESB) style deployments.
To provide a modern, intuitive and efficient development environment for WSO2 Micro Integrator, WSO2 is introducing the WSO2 Micro Integrator for VS Code extension, which will be available as a developer preview on May 7, 2024, the first day of WSO2Con. Designed to enhance the workflow and experience of working on integration projects, it lets developers take advantage of the popular, user-friendly VS Code Editor and integrates seamlessly with cloud platforms for interaction with cloud services and APIs.
The extension also features MI Copilot for AI-assisted development. MI Copilot allows developers to describe their integration problem in natural language and have MI Copilot automatically generate the required configurations. This significantly reduces set-up time, streamlines development, and empowers developers to become productive faster.
Availability and Support
WSO2 API Manager 4.3 and WSO2 APK 1.1 are generally available today as open-source products released under the Apache License 2.0. They are backed by WSO2 Subscription, which features access to WSO2 Update for continuous delivery of bug fixes, security updates, and performance enhancements, along with WSO2 Support for 24×7 support. Unified pricing means customers can simply buy a WSO2 Subscription and choose the hosting model—cloud, on-premises or hybrid—based on their preferences. Details on WSO2 Subscription are available at https://wso2.com/subscription; information on WSO2 Consulting Services can be found at https://wso2.com/consulting. The WSO2 Micro Integrator for VS Code extension will be available on May 7, 2024 as a developer preview here.