IBM Acquires StepZen to Assist Enterprises Get Extra Enterprise Worth from Their Knowledge and APIs

By Kareem Yusuf, Ph.D | Senior Vice President of Product Administration and Progress, IBM Software program

February 08, 2023

IBM is asserting the acquisition of StepZen Inc, which developed a GraphQL server with a singular structure that helps builders construct GraphQL APIs rapidly and with much less code.

Right now’s information marks IBM’s first acquisition of 2023. Since Arvind Krishna grew to become CEO in April 2020, IBM has acquired 30 firms to bolster its hybrid cloud and synthetic intelligence (AI) capabilities.

The rising adoption of hybrid cloud has resulted in knowledge saved all over the place – in several types of knowledge shops likes knowledge warehouses, lakes, and lakehouses in addition to throughout totally different clouds and on-premises environments. APIs function the important connector between totally different knowledge sources and functions, which signifies that companies are counting on and creating extra APIs than ever earlier than to get the information they should energy their functions and experiences.

GraphQL has quickly turn out to be a go-to question language for firms to work together with their knowledge and is rising as a brand new normal for APIs, layering upon the investments in REST APIs and knowledge programs. Take an e-commerce utility for instance. With a single name, GraphQL can merge knowledge that’s discovered in numerous subsystems, like buyer info, order numbers, and supply standing, and return it in an anticipated format. This simplicity is why the recognition and utilization of GraphQL is rising rapidly. A report from Gartner® predicted that by 2025, greater than 50 % of enterprises will use GraphQL in manufacturing, up from lower than 10 % in 2021¹. Whereas GraphQL APIs are considerably simpler for utility groups to make use of, they are often difficult for the groups tasked with creating them. 

Based in 2020, StepZen supplies a neater manner for builders to construct GraphQL APIs. StepZen takes a declarative programming method (describing WHAT this system does, with out explicitly specifying HOW), which leads to smaller and extra intuitive code, higher runtime efficiency, and quicker time to worth. StepZen was additionally designed to be extremely versatile. It’s suitable with different API approaches and is on the market as-a-Service (SaaS) whereas additionally supporting deployments in personal clouds and on-premises knowledge facilities.

StepZen was developed by a staff of trade veterans who’ve made key contributions to database know-how together with IBM Db2, PostgreSQL and Apache Derby, and have deep experience in APIs and cloud-scale deployments. The acquisition closed on February 6, 2023, and the StepZen staff and know-how will turn out to be a part of the IBM Software program unit. Monetary particulars of the deal weren’t disclosed.

StepZen is the most recent instance of how IBM is innovating by a mix of R&D and strategic acquisitions to ship the information, AI, and automation options that companies want within the hybrid cloud period. StepZen enhances IBM’s natural improvement in key areas together with integration, API administration, knowledge cloth, and knowledge administration. For instance, IBM delivered new AI testing capabilities for IBM API Join, which analyzes your APIs, generates check circumstances routinely, and reviews any errors that it observes, serving to enhance code high quality and developer productiveness. We consider StepZen’s modern know-how for GraphQL API creation enhances the improvements IBM is driving in API Hook up with allow companies to construct higher digital experiences for his or her purchasers.

Shoppers can be taught extra about StepZen by visiting https://stepzen.com/.

 

¹Supply: Gartner Analysis, “Predicts 2022: APIs Demand Improved Safety and Administration” [December 6, 2021]

GARTNER is a registered trademark and repair mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its associates within the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

 

Media Contact:

Sarah Murphy

IBM Communications

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