Using Java to Prime the API Economy Engine

As the new CEO of Restlet, a provider of a cloud service that can be used design, build and deploy application programming interfaces (APIs) written in Java, Paul Doscher is making the case for using Java rather than the more ubiquitous forms of JavaScript, to drive integration across enterprise applications. At the same time, Restlet is now also extending the scope of those services to include API discovery, testing and debugging by moving to acquire DHC.

While JavaScript most notably in the form of Node.js is clearly the most widely used framework for building APIs, it’s clear that inside the enterprise the most dominant programming language is still Java. Rather than ask all those enterprise developers to master a new language to build APIs, Restlet has been one of the leading proponents of using Java to build REST APIs.

As the new CEO, Doscher says Restlet will be looking more to third-party vendor and channel partnerships to help drive that agenda. Previously, Doscher has served as CEO of LucidWorks, Exalead, and JasperSoft. He was also the executive vice president of worldwide sales of Thor Technology, acquired by Oracle, as well as the executive vice president of field operations at VMware, executive vice president of worldwide marketing channel as Entrust, and general Manager for Business Objects Americas, and vice president of alliances for Oracle Americas.

A big part of that partnership strategy said Doscher is making it simpler for integrators and developers to create those APIs using a simple wizard-driven process that can be invoked via the cloud. Rather than writing a lot of low level code using IT infrastructure running on premise, Restlet is making it simpler to not only generate more APIs, but also now test them.

The fundamental challenge facing integrators these days is that demand for APIs that are a core enabling technology for building a digital enterprise is outstripping the number of developers that have the skills needed to build those APIs. At the same time, Doscher noted that most enterprise IT organizations are looking for a way to extend the reach of their existing applications into the realm of the API Economy that all these digital enterprise are now trying to tap into. For the most part that translates into finding a way to create APIs for those applications that enables them to interact with a new generation of applications based on a microservices architecture. In that context, and existing application may need multiple APIs to expose specific subsets of functionality.

It’s not likely that Java will supplant JavaScript as the dominant programming model for developing a microservices-based application. But the ability to create APIs using Java means that at the very least Java as a programming language is likely to remain extremely relevant inside the enterprise for a few more decades to come.