IBM API Connect Reviews

I use IBM API Connect to configure and manage the APIs. I also used the product for transformations. I used the product for some of its functionalities, like caching and rate limiting, especially for the backend system. Configuring the backend APIs and API proxies and opening them to external services were some of the activities I did with the product.

The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it is very easy to use and is something that is easily configurable. The product actually provides a complete suite, consisting of the developer portal and management of the APIs, while giving access to a different set of users. The product also allows users to use API sandbox. Configuring the APIs with the backend systems is a valuable feature of the product. With IBM API Connect, I found everything to be very user-friendly, easy to use, and able to be developed quickly as well.

Regarding IBM API Connect, I have to think about what needs improvement in the future because there are a lot of products that have recently come into the market. The analytics part of the solution is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required.

The product's setup phase and its setup for the users in different environments, along with DevOps integration, are areas of concern where there is a need for improvement.

The product should be made available on a hybrid cloud.

I have been using IBM API Connect for four years.

It is a stable solution.

It is a scalable solution.

There are around 20,000 users of the solution for the project we are currently working on in our company.

I have experience with IBM API Connect.

Though I wasn't involved in the setup phase of the product, as it was taken care of by another team in our company, I feel that the product's setup process needs to be simplified.

The product's deployment has two parts. The first part of the deployment is about how you set it up, and the other part is to deploy your API for availability. If I talk about the part where the APIs are to be made available, then the deployment process doesn't take much time, and it is easy to make them available.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

A team of 20 people who were on the API management side were required to take care of the deployment and maintenance of the product. Initially, a team of 20 people was required to take care of the product's deployment and maintenance, but it was brought down to 15 people later.

There was a need to purchase an upfront license or a one-time license or upfront license, but I cannot remember the details about it clearly.

I would recommend the product to others, considering that IBM API Connect is one of the leading products in the market, but the concern is that it should reach the level of other products in the market, like Apigee and MuleSoft. The competition of IBM API Connect is with the leaders in the market, and to compete with them, API Connect should be a hybrid cloud-enabled product, and it has to offer a single pack to its users. If I talk about IBM API Connect, I should not be forced to purchase IBM App Connect or the other suites offered by IBM. I should be able to purchase the API Connect license easily.

I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.

We use it for API integration, particularly in conjunction with the One Link solution. One Link is a platform that comes into play during cross-channel communication within the banking sector. For instance, if a customer has an account with Bank A and wishes to withdraw funds from Bank B, it facilitates cross-selling communication between two distinct banks—Bank A and Bank B. Our primary focus is on enabling seamless transactions between different banks, and we also incorporate case and bundle links within our solution.

DataPower Gateway holds significant value for us as it serves as the cornerstone of our enterprise security controls. Even in the absence of published APIs, DataPower Gateway continues to maintain robust security measures. In the event of IBM API Connect experiencing downtime, users can still access APIs through DataPower Gateway, thereby minimizing downtime and ensuring continued service availability for users.

Understanding the architecture, deployment criteria, and communication methods of the installation can be time-consuming. The learning curve is noticeable, especially for new engineers.

We have been working with it for ten years.

I would rate its stability capabilities ten out of ten.

It is highly scalable. On a scale from one to ten, I would rate it between nine and ten.

When there's an open ticket with severity one, the IBM team consistently provides timely support. We are highly content with the support we receive from IBM. I would rate it nine out of ten.

Positive

The initial setup is relatively straightforward.

The initial installation phase may pose challenges as it requires some time to grasp the intricacies. The learning curve is significant, especially for people who don't have experience with it. While the installation may not be easy initially, users can acquire proficiency once they have a thorough understanding of the system. When deploying a new environment, the entire setup typically takes approximately one to two days. Assigning two individuals to manage the deployment process is more than sufficient. For ongoing maintenance of the solution, a single person is capable of handling all the necessary tasks efficiently.

Overall, I would rate it ten out of ten.

We use IBM API Connect primarily to expose APIs for various information systems in Terra and to integrate with our audit partners.

The main benefits of IBM API Connect for our API life cycle management are the core API functionalities, the developer's portal, and robust security capabilities.

IBM API Connect's security protocols enhance our data protection strategies by offering end-to-end security, mechanisms to counter common attacks like DDoS, and the ability to define policies for API groups to control traffic and prevent unwanted access to our systems.

We have encountered challenges with IBM API Connect, particularly during significant upgrades.

These upgrades demand substantial labour and financial resources, including consulting services from IBM.

I'd like to see increased flexibility, more frequent updates with new features, an efficient upgrade process, and additional AI capabilities for future releases.

I have been using IBM API Connect for the past five years.

Currently, around ten to fifteen people in our company are using IBM API Connect, and we plan to increase automation in the future to reduce manual effort.

My experience with IBM's technical support has been challenging. Accessing support and navigating their processes has limited flexibility. However, after successfully complying with their procedures and exercising patience, they know how to handle issues efficiently.

Neutral

Before using IBM API Connect, we worked with similar integration products, particularly an ESB from IBM, which was crucial in creating system integrations.

Setting up IBM API Connect initially was challenging, as expected, due to its complexity.

Compared to some other products on the market, implementation took about six months.

IBM API Connect has provided significant financial and operational benefits for our organisation.

It has facilitated integration across systems and enabled cross-organisational processes. As for the time it took to record a return on investment, we started seeing tangible benefits within approximately two years.

IBM API Connect has dramatically aided our AI-driven projects by increasing developer productivity and facilitating the development process using AI tools. It helped us automate sub-processes and perform thorough analysis for operations and security.

I would suggest considering IBM API Connect for enterprises focused on security and enhanced functionality, especially if they need rapid implementation. If they're looking for more advanced capabilities or a broader solution, I recommend exploring options like Google Apigee or MuleSoft Anypoint Platform. Each product has its strengths and focuses, so aligning with the organization's specific needs and priorities is essential.

Overall, I'd rate IBM API Connect an eight out of ten.

One valuable feature of IBM API Connect is its role differentiation between API publishers and consumers. Publishers can easily identify, create, and publish APIs on the developer portal, defining plans, packages, and potentially billing rules. Consumers, interested in specific API packages, can subscribe, and use the APIs, and the platform tracks usage meticulously, allowing accurate billing applications for API consumers based on their usage patterns.

The platform’s integration with the payment gateway needs enhancement. The setup process and support services could be improved.

We have been using IBM API Connect for three to five years.

It is a stable product. I rate the stability an eight out of ten.

It is a scalable product. I rate the scalability an eight out of ten.

We encounter challenges related to the availability of local support and time zones.

Neutral

We used another product for API management. However, there were several areas of improvement related to the availability of a knowledgeable and skilled support team.

The initial setup is complicated for container deployment. It is easy to maintain. I rate the process an eight out of ten.

We use the platform’s analytics feature for extracting reporting for billing purposes. It is a good feature. It offers a sandbox environment where users, such as developers or testers, can interact with and test various APIs.

In the subscription process, EVOFRO (Evaluate, Offer, Verify, Fulfill, Render, Operate) is involved, specifically during the consumer's subscription attempt. It triggers a flow that includes reviewing and approving the subscription. It helps us achieve 80% compliance with regulations for our company.

I advise customers to identify the use cases before purchasing the product. I rate it an eight out of ten.

My company used to work with IBM API Connect for a customer in Greece to run a public sector company from whom we developed a new architecture based on API management last year for the logistics or transportation domains. For the aforementioned project, my company designed a solution based on IBM API Management for the logistics sector of a company all over Greece.

The most valuable feature of the solution stems from its ability in the area of message transformation, meaning it is very easy when you have to transform a message to XML or transfer it automatically from JSON and vice versa. The solution is very scalable. The solution works very well even if you have a small number of users. Our company also tested its use with a large number of users, consisting of more than 2,000 users, and it was very nice to use. The tool is very robust.

The administration of the user interface and the technical documentation are areas of concern in the solution where improvements are required. The solution's technical documentation should be a little bit easier to understand, and it is a traditional problem with all IBM products. The technical documentation is a bit too difficult to understand, and it is also not easy to read.

I have been using IBM API Connect for three years. I operate as an independent consultant.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

It is a very scalable solution.

The meaning of the size of the companies in Greece is very different from what it is in other parts of the world, like the UK or Germany. The tool has around 2,000 users. I don't know if 2,000 users are found in small, medium, or large enterprises, but in the UK, it is a number to describe a small business, while in Greece, it is considered a large-sized company.

I rate the technical support a six out of ten.

Neutral

I rate the product's initial setup phase a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is a difficult process, and ten is an easy phase.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model. The client with whom I work operates only on an on-premises infrastructure. My client is very demanding when it comes to operating on an on-premises infrastructure. My client is adamant on having on-premises infrastructure owing to security concerns.

I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price.

I rate the overall tool a seven out of ten.

We have implemented this product in different domains, such as insurance and banking. 

It's quite flexible and easy to deploy, especially for beginners. It has almost all the features that an API gateway should have.

The only disadvantage I can see is that it requires heavy hardware support, which can be considered quite expensive.

In terms of new functionality, I think the analytics can be improved in V10. The analytics feature was better in the older version, 2.18. But in V10, it's not as flexible. When exporting analytics as KSP or JSON, it's not well formatted. They can work on enhancing the analytics part. Additionally, they can focus on reducing the hardware cost.

I have been working on IBM API Connect for the last six years. I am using V10. 

It's very stable. Previous versions were not as stable, but now, starting from 2018, I can see that the product is very stable. I would rate it a ten out of ten.

It is scalable. I would rate it a ten out of ten. Any number of users can utilize the solution. All of our clients are enterprise clients.

So far, whatever the PMR I have raised, IBM has given a solution that may be complicated, and it might take time, but in the end, we got the correct solution. The response time can be improved. 

Positive

I also have experience with Red Hat 3scale API gateway.

IBM API Connect is much much better. In terms of features, there are some limitations with 3scale. Additionally, the support for Red Hat 3scale is not as good. Even the documentation provided by Red Hat is not as comprehensive as IBM's strong documentation. If you're a beginner developer and referring to the IBM Knowledge Center, you can easily develop your API, but that's not the case with Red Hat. Red Hat's documentation is still not as mature as IBM's.

The initial setup is quite easy. The deployment of the environment and the solution itself is quite easy. The deployment itself can be done in a few minutes. Let's say 30 minutes for deployment and 30 more minutes for configuration. Within one hour, your environment is ready.

One person is more than enough for the deployment.

The pricing for 3scale is definitely cheaper. However, for enterprise-level projects, we don't recommend 3scale. If the client is medium or small and requires a basic API proxy or minimal transformation, we propose Red Hat. But for big, mature clients with complex solutions, we recommend IBM API Connect.

The pricing for us on a yearly basis. But currently, IBM API Connect also provides it as a cloud service, where you pay as you use it. That provision is also available. Only the license is covered. There are no hidden costs or extra charges.

I would suggest that if you're looking for stability and excellent performance for your API gateway, you should definitely choose IBM API Connect.

Overall, I would rate it as a ten.

We're trying to make our business available on the net so that partners can connect, and distributors can use our services.

Its speed and performance are valuable.

It's based on a little bit dated architecture. A lot of evolution has happened after that. It's an evolving field. Kong is a Kubernetes-based platform. Kong runs on Kubernetes, but all the other ones are in microservices. So, there's a lot of improvement that can be done.

I've been using it for three years.

It's stable.

It's good. There are a lot of other good products also.

We didn't access their support much.

It's pretty much straightforward. We just downloaded and installed it.

I'd rate it a six out of ten.

We are a regulation entity dealing with many sensitive services. We carry out supervision and regulation for FinTech companies and other financial institutions. We are partners with IBM and I'm the project delivery director.

In general, this is a powerful system. We're currently only using one or two functionalities from API Connect. One of them is consulting WSRR to get the endpoints which is a powerful component. Each API management has a Gateway located on the DMZ that can be exposed to external networks and does the authentication, authorization, some security functionality as filtering, checking the security aspects such as decrypting, encrypting or service transformation and other functions. The development portal is good and can be used by external developers who can develop it at their site.

One issue we have with this solution is its complexity. In addition, it doesn't handle large volumes of traffic very well. 

I've been using this solution for several months. 

The stability is good. 

Scalability is reasonable but not great. 

Customer service takes a while to respond. They also want a lot of information and this adds to the time involved in getting a response. 

The initial setup is not easy, similar to other IBM products. It's quite complex even with a system integrator and the deployment took some time. We have around 15-20 users on the development side. We plan to increase that in the future. 

All IBM products are expensive and API Connect is no exception. The license includes everything such as a per BVU charge along with other integration components plus OpenShift for microservices and DevOps and others. You can purchase a better BVU and then you can use any features or components under this license. They have the Cloud Pak for Automation package which includes BAW Business Automation. They also have something called Aspera for file transfers. 

We evaluated API Connect and Apigee. API is designed to be a comprehensive solution for building and managing API with features for designing, development, and distinct publishing APIs, as well as for managing the life cycle of API and enforcing security. Apigee on the other hand is designed primarily as an API management platform while focused on securing and scaling APIs for use by extended developers. Ultimately, the best platform will be the one suited to your specific needs and use cases. 

API Connect is a standalone platform, which means it may require additional integration with other tools in order to support the range of API developments. API Connect is designed to support the management of large numbers of APIs but may struggle to handle large volumes of traffic or very complex APIs.

It's helpful to have a suitable in-house team and to work hand-in-hand with the system integrator. You also need powerful infrastructure and hardware. If you're exposed externally, you have to apply security standards either on the Gateway or F5, or the Load Balancer. It requires the capabilities for good enterprise or solution architecture and sufficient experience on the integration side in order to have the right solution design and system architecture.

I rate this solution eight out of 10.