How did software architecture evolve from traditional, monolithic applications to flexible, decoupled modules? This brief presentation journeys through the four main eras in the history of middleware, APIs, and microservices. Photon is the largest and fastest-growing provider of Mobile-First Omnichannel Experiences. We work with 34% of the Fortune 100 companies. Visit us at http:www.photon.in.

1. The Progression of
APIs & Microservices
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2. From proprietary, ad hoc solutions (EAI) to
open protocols (SOA & API), to increasingly
secure microservices, enjoy the four-phase
history of modular APIs—and the disruptive
companies that leveraged their potential.
Learn more about APIs at www.photon.in

3. Late ’90s
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)
Services and Models
Mid ’00s
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
and Best Practices
Early ’10s
API Platforms, SDKs, and
API Management
2015 to
Today
Microservice Architecture, Resilience,
Channel APIs, and Security

4. Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) Services and Models
Late ’90s
Launched by Photon’s founder in 1998
Key APIs in play:
1998
2002
2000
2004
acquires Infravio
Learn more about APIs at www.photon.in
Open
Architecture Era

5. Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) Services and Models
Late ’90s
EAI addressed early integration and transactional
challenges by using message-oriented middleware
Most platforms were integration hubs using “bus”
style methods to stitch apps together
Without open protocols, proprietary platforms, and
interfaces proliferated
Learn more about APIs at www.photon.in

6. Late ’90s
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)
Services and Models
Mid ’00s
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
and Best Practices
Early ’10s
API Platforms, SDKs, and
API Management
2015 to
Today
Microservice Architecture, Resilience,
Channel APIs, and Security

7. Mid ’00s
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Best Practices
2012
2006
2010
2008
Learn more about APIs at www.photon.in
Simplicity Era

8. SOA supports open protocols like SOAP and WSDL for
easier integration; EAI platforms begin to adopt them
Standardized registries like UDDI automate dynamic
discovery of application endpoints for consumers and
publishers
Economic challenges delay adoption of critical open
protocols for security, transactions, and stability
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Best Practices
Mid ’00s
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9. EAI platforms start to support much of the same open
standards suggested by SOA
Larger vendors like Oracle (Fusion) and SAP (PI)
support smaller EAI vendors who move to support
business process management
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Best Practices
Mid ’00s
Learn more about APIs at www.photon.in

10. Late ’90s
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)
Services and Models
Mid ’00s
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
and Best Practices
Early ’10s
API Platforms, SDKs, and
API Management
2015 to
Today
Microservice Architecture, Resilience,
Channel APIs, and Security

11. API Platforms, SDKs, and API Management
Early ’10s
2014
2012
2013
Google Fit
Google
CalDAV API
Apple Touch IDApple CloudKit
Learn more about APIs at www.photon.in
Mobility Era

12. REST and JSON become the mobile programming
model, the de facto standard to consume back-end data
New open protocols like OAuth support security features
for browser-based and native applications alike
API Platforms, SDKs, and API Management
Early ’10s
Learn more about APIs at www.photon.in

13. Compared to SOA architecture, this stack proves to be
light and agile while maintaining a similar feature set to
SOAP/XML standards
All three generations of these technologies co-exist today
in a comprehensive architecture for omnichannel digital
experiences
API Platforms, SDKs, and API Management
Early ’10s
Learn more about APIs at www.photon.in

14. Late ’90s
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)
Services and Models
Mid ’00s
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
and Best Practices
Early ’10s
API Platforms, SDKs, and
API Management
2015 to
Today
Microservice Architecture, Resilience,
Channel APIs, and Security

15. 2015
2017
2016
Apple Siri API
Microsoft Groove Service
Alexa Skills Kit
Facebook Messenger
Bot REST APIMasterCard Blockchain API
Learn more about APIs at www.photon.in
Microservice Architecture, Resilience, Channel APIs, and Security
2015 to Today
Independent
Control Era

16. The world is moving toward the next generation of HTTP,
forging strategies to create small, cross-platform
containers that host independent microservices
New technologies like Node and Spring work well in this
newer model, but advanced strategies like Docker provide
isolation for different services
Microservice Architecture, Resilience, Channel APIs, and Security
2015 to Today
Learn more about APIs at www.photon.in

17. Additional open source projects (like Hysterix for
Resilience Architecture and JSON Web Tokens for key
management) are filling in other pieces of the puzzle
HTTP/2 will supercharge the API economy by providing
multi-call payloads in a single connection, a nascent but
big move for REST technologies
Microservice Architecture, Resilience, Channel APIs, and Security
2015 to Today
Learn more about APIs at www.photon.in

18. Power great omnichannel
experiences with APIs and
Microservices
Learn More
www.photon.in