APIs in Action

Thanks to the rise of microservices, the spread

of single page web apps and the continued dominance

of native mobile apps, APIs are the unsung heroes of

the modern web.

Early on, APIs proved a way for businesses to

differentiate themselves and integrate with other

systems, but some argue that they didn’t become

completely mainstream until the rise of social media.

As social media networks grew and gained more

consumer users, businesses began building and

leveraging APIs to allow users to share and embed

content into streams of social media interactions.

Today we use APIs to connect between multiple

social media platforms — for example, posting from

Instagram to Facebook or Twitter — or to connect to

sets of data, such as pinning our location on a map

so that we can check in or hail a ride. Many web and

mobile apps that we use today are built on top of other

APIs, such that they’re tightly dependent on those

APIs performing and returning data correctly, quickly,

securely and reliably.

Because APIs drive modern applications and

infrastructure, it’s critical that we monitor APIs

for performance.

In this white paper we’ll help you understand the basic

functions of APIs, why it’s important to monitor APIs,

and what types of features you should look for when