News

Mobile Back-End Service Goes API Route

• By David Ramel
• August 18, 2015

AnyPresence Inc. today said it's going beyond its Mobile-Back-End-as-a-Service (MBaaS) roots in a new release of its platform that adds an API-driven approach to facilitate Internet of Things (IoT) and other development.

Key to the enterprise mobility platform is a JustAPIs component, a browser-based, declarative API builder using JavaScript that the company is also releasing as a free standalone tool. The company said it "enables developers to easily and quickly create modern APIs that run on virtually any infrastructure and operating system, including IoT microcomputers like the Raspberry Pi," company CEO Anirban Chakrabarti said in a blog post today. "JustAPIs now supports connectivity to databases for data persistence and includes a built-in console to rapidly test and debug your business logic workflow."

Along with the enhanced JustAPIs component, the platform now generates "smart SDKs" that let mobile developers bypass back-end servers and directly connect to REST-based Web services. "This functionality is critical when an API management gateway is used between the mobile app and back-end server," the company said in a statement. "In traditional MBaaS solutions, the SDKs are tightly coupled to a back-end server rendering them useless when working with an API gateway. AnyPresence enables developers to leverage the benefits of client-side SDK accelerants by connecting directly to any API gateway, which can then pass the call on to the AnyPresence back-end server as required."

The new release also features pre-configured integration kits for specific functionality such as connecting to an IoT hub, along with quick-connect adapters for SOAP or HTTP that can turn legacy or custom Web services into RESTful APIs through declarative configuration. It also includes custom HTTP-Authentication adapters and expanded support for database connectivity, including IBM DB2.

"Many enterprises are skeptical about adding new layers to their IT stacks," the company quoted 451 Research analyst Chris Marsh as saying. "Yet what AnyPresence is offering fills a gap: it is more than MBaaS; different than traditional API management; and not offered by most mobile application platforms."