October 6, 2023

Leveraging GraphQL for Next-Generation API Platforms

Phil Prasek

Phil Prasek

An Integrated Blueprint from Kong and Apollo

Not a day goes by where the tech press fails to mention industry advancements in AI, connected devices, or personalization. Consumers can now use AI to create anything from digital illustrations to vacation ideas. At the core of these initiatives is one tried-and-true constant – APIs. If an organization cannot safely and securely deliver service updates across any number of interfaces, these modernization initiatives will fail to gain traction.

APIs are more heterogeneous than ever though. An enterprise considering incorporating gRPC APIs may still have legacy SOAP APIs in the mix. A new feature could require data from 20 different services – all of which are managed by different teams at different cadences using varying protocols. If a Product Manager wants to incorporate data from legacy APIs as well as new options like ChatGPT, how can API platform teams provide a standardized means to iterate, secure access, and scale all of them? And then how do they ensure that client teams can get the data they need in a self-service fashion?

Kong and Apollo are industry leaders in the API space. Our customers come to us with these very real problems everyday. The API ecosystem often positions REST and GraphQL as competing technologies, but they are highly complementary and are instrumental in developing a modern API platform that accomplishes the goals above. Through a balanced exploration of Kong’s perspective on flexible, heterogeneous API ecosystems and Apollo’s expertise in GraphQL, we’ve captured the vendor-neutral best practices that combine API management and GraphQL into a unified reference architecture for building and operating a modern API platform.

Learn more with our joint paper and reference architecture that shows how to:

  1. Leverage GraphQL and a supergraph as a new layer in the stack atop existing microservices and API management.
  2. Streamline the developer experience in building and consuming APIs.
  3. Ensure secure, efficient runtime connectivity and implement robust governance mechanisms with API management best practices.

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Phil Prasek

Phil Prasek

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