Businesses today increasingly face the challenge of connecting applications, data and devices both on-premises and the cloud. While this brings business agility, it also increases complexity which can be addressed with an Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) and full life-cycle API management solution such as the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform. A lot of time and effort is spent on integration which when devoted to innovation can provide immense benefits to the organization. This is where MuleSoft Anypoint Platform comes in.
As a middleware, the MuleSoft AnyPoint Platform creates communication layers between different systems helping retrieve and store data from various sources including devices and applications whether stored on the cloud or locally. Its set of out-of-the-box connectors can be easily configured with very little coding eliminating the cost and constraints of point-to-point connections. For optimization of end-to-end lifecycle of APIs, the Anypoint platform can be exceptionally helpful in further addressing integration challenges that many businesses face.
As a single and unified solution for full life-cycle API management, an enterprise Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) consists of several components
Anypoint Design Center
Anypoint Design Center is a web-based development environment consisting of tools like API Designer and Flow Designer. With API Designer, MuleSoft developers can create API specifications in modelling languages and create RAMPL API fragments which can then be published in Anypoint Exchange for testing and approval by business and other teams. After approval, the specification can be put in the implementation phase. With Flow Designer developers can build applications to integrate systems into workflows.
Anypoint Exchange
Anypoint Exchange is used to discover, share and use resources and assets in applications. The Exchange is a marketplace for reusable assets including APIs, API specifications or fragments, API groups, templates, connectors, and more. It can also be used for testing and viewing APIs and simulating how they work.
Anypoint Security
Anypoint Enterprise Security is a multi-layered security feature to protect APIs, integrations and applications from external attacks. Global policies and security features ensure that valuable information is protected from unauthorized users as well as external threat actors.
Anypoint Studio
To implement APIs after the specifications have been approved, MuleSoft provides Anypoint Studio, a desktop-based robust integrated development environment with prebuilt modules for common integration requirements. This boosts developer productivity and reduces potential errors.
Anypoint Management Center
Management Center provides a centralized web-based interface for managing applications and APIs wherever they are deployed. It can also be used to monitor SLAs, analyze traffic and fix integration flows. Anypoint Management Center comprises of three key components.
Runtime Manager – This helps deploy, manage and monitor applications from one central location regardless of whether the applications are deployed in the cloud or on-premises.
API Manager – Manages, analyzes and secures APIs from a central location. With a flexible API gateway, services can be unlocked and managed securely.
Anypoint Monitoring – All APIs, integrations and microservices can be monitored in real-time from one location. With customizable dashboards, alerts and access to historic data logs, issues can be proactively identified and resolved.
Runtime Engine
At the core of the Anypoint Platform is the Mule runtime engine where data is processed, and APIs are launched.
Conclusion
The MuleSoft Anytime Platform offers businesses numerous benefits such as accelerated delivery, increased security, resilient operations and the flexibility to adapt to changing requirements. It has been recognized by Gartner as a leader in Enterprise Integrated Platform as Service (iPaaS) and Full Life Cycle API Management.
