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MFT needs API

mft needs API

In large organization’s journey to digital, Managed File Transfer (MFT) owners are often left behind because they are not able to deal with new application development methods and architecture.

Even with a Center of Excellence and/or Shared Service for MFT that offers one-stop shopping, business application owners often remain reluctant to use MFT for their new projects and consider traditional MFT solutions too limiting for most DevOps initiatives.

Traditional MFT products have come with API support. Axway Transfer CFT, for instance, has for years used a web service interface and also API for Java, COBOL, and C, to mention a few. This was certainly useful but it couldn’t answer the problem described above. Today’s MFT solutions start with REST APIs.

Why are REST APIs helpful? There are several reasons:

  1. Today, everything communicates via REST APIs – they are light, efficient, and easy to use. They make everything else look old and obsolete.
  2. REST APIs are easy to expose, understand, and update through the swagger interface.
  3. API Management tools allow information to be centralized and can act as a repository to access and consume MFT services.

But this only addresses the usability of the API. What can we improve using the API? Here are two examples:

1.  Use APIs to configure and provision file transfers.

2.  Use APIs to integrate applications.

Providing these two levels of APIs at both the design and run phase makes MFT an important part of modern IT.

Learn more about what a Digital MFT Shared Service can do for you here.

Be sure not to miss the other side of the story: API needs MFT

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