Monthly Archives: May 2021

Cybersecurity, News

Experts Issue Warning as Global Chip Shortage Poses Massive Security Threat

Semiconductor shortage could weaken security across the UK with NHS/Healthcare, Education and Fintech Industries all at risk

Experts working in the field of access control and security have warned that the global chip shortage could soon hit the ID and security sector, potentially leaving big business, healthcare and education establishments insecure and liable to security breaches.

Until recently, the automotive industry has been the major casualty of the worldwide crisis, yet tech giants Apple and Samsung have recently flagged production issues and lost revenue. As the back-log mounts, the issue is likely to have a knock-on effect across multiple sectors – including physical security.

Digital ID – which supplies colleges, universities, NHS Trusts and large businesses with access control solutions – has begun to see a huge increase in orders as business leaders learn more about how the crisis could affect ID cards and security, with hundreds of large-scale organisations at risk of supply issues over the coming year.

Digital ID’s managing director and expert in his field, Jonathan Fell commented: “Panic does seem to be setting in, we’ve seen a 70% increase in orders this month. And in the last fortnight alone, we’ve had 150 individual orders totalling more than £250,000.

“Not only that, but we are also seeing companies ordering much more than usually required for a 12-month period, so they have ability to call them off as and when needed. I guess it’s the business version of stockpiling we saw at the beginning of the pandemic but there are some very serious consequences if things continue as they are.

“Right now, we are able to meet demand, but companies should plan ahead to later in the year as nobody can say right now if, come September, that will still be the case.”

“The biggest concern is around healthcare and in particular Digital ID’s NHS Trust customers, where staff use cards to access buildings and computers. Demand has also increased among colleges and universities – which regularly issue thousands of new cards in a single year. Industry experts are urging people to act now in order to avoid being caught short if the crisis deepens later in the year.

Currently experts predict the shortage could last for at least a year.

Jonathan continued: “Access control may not be the most obvious product that people think of where semiconductor microchips play a role. They are used in the production of card readers, the system modules and of course access control cards themselves.

“For establishments like hospitals and universities that operate thousands of cards, this could really prove to be a problem over the next 12 months. For lots of our customers, these cards are the only line of defence alongside a way of entry and exit.

And Jonathan also raised concerns about how the crisis could play out in the coming months:

“We already see lots of businesses using insecure forms of access control such as barcodes, something we certainly wouldn’t recommend should the shortage continue.

“In terms of how the market will be affected by the shortage, there is no doubt prices will rapidly increase as the seriousness of the shortage filters through.

“These cards are the front-line form of security for thousands of businesses and organisations across the country, and the crisis could see us take a huge step backwards in terms of security.”

“For companies planning their return to work, it’ll be yet another hurdle for them to overcome to ensure they can open safely and securely. There are some solutions out there, such as mobile credentials, but they can take a while to implement and the crisis is very much already here, so my advice would be for companies to act now.”

News

NAKIVO Releases v10.3 With New Features for Microsoft 365 and VMware Environments

The latest version of NAKIVO Backup & Replication delivers expanded functionality for Microsoft 365, VMware Cloud Director, HPE 3PAR devices and MSPs.

NAKIVO has released v10.3 of NAKIVO Backup & Replication. The latest release expands the backup scope for Microsoft 365 and VMware vSphere environments. The new features are designed to meet the ever-evolving needs of NAKIVO’s 18,000+ customer base and the company’s MSP partners.

Backup for Microsoft 365 Contacts and Calendars

Businesses that implement Microsoft 365 to plan out their daily workflows and communication can now successfully recover Exchange Online calendar and contact items with NAKIVO Backup & Replication. In cases of accidental data deletions, ransomware attacks or other types of data loss, Microsoft 365 contacts and calendars can be recovered to the original or a different mailbox. Thus, teams can continue to communicate and collaborate with minimum interruption to work processes.

VMware Cloud Director Backup

Large enterprises and managed service providers (MSPs) use VMware Cloud Director to manage VMs and need a data protection solution to protect business data. Version 10.3 adds backup and recovery functionality for VMware Cloud Director Backup to ensure that Cloud Director objects, such as vApps, individual VMs and vApp metadata are protected and easily recoverable.

Backup from Storage Snapshots

Backups can put a strain on the production environment. In v10.3, NAKIVO Backup & Replication addresses this issue for the organisations that have their VMware VM disks residing on HPE 3PAR storage. Now organisations can back up their systems from storage snapshots to reduce the impact of data protection activities on the production environment.

Direct Connect for MSPs

Managed service providers (MSPs) require an easy secure way to connect to the remote resources of their clients. Now MSPs can use the Direct Connect feature in NAKIVO Backup & Replication to connect to their clients’ environments via a secure single port without establishing a VPN connection.

Feature Availability

The 15-day Free Trial comes with full access to all NAKIVO Backup & Replication features, including Backup for Microsoft 365, VMware Cloud Director Backup, Backup from Storage Snapshots and Direct Connect for MSPs.

“At NAKIVO, we emphasise simplicity and reliability of data protection when developing new features for our customers. Our goal is to enable comprehensive backup strategies and streamline data protection activities,” says Bruce Talley, CEO of NAKIVO Inc.

Supporting Quote:

“With NAKIVO Backup & Replication, we saved 60% of our time spent on monitoring and maintaining the heterogeneous set of different backup applications. We are using the saved time to create more sophisticated backup and recovery strategies and have time to actually test VM recovery on a regular basis. NAKIVO Backup & Replication brought confidence in our backups to a new level,” says Fabian Schmitz, IT Manager at Genius.

RESOURCES

ABOUT NAKIVO

NAKIVO is a US-based corporation dedicated to delivering the ultimate backup and site recovery solution. With 21 consecutive quarters of double-digit growth, 5-star online community reviews, 98% customer satisfaction with support, and more than 18,000 paid customers worldwide, NAKIVO provides an unprecedented level of protection for virtual, physical, cloud and SaaS environments. As one of the fastest-growing data protection software vendors in the industry, NAKIVO provides a data protection solution for major companies such as Coca-Cola, Honda, Siemens and SpaceX, in addition to working with over 6,000 channel partners in 140 countries worldwide.

 

Visit us at: www.nakivo.com

Follow us on Twitter: @NAKIVO

Connect on Facebook: www.facebook.com/NakivoInc

Join us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/nakivo

NAKIVO Community Forum: forum.nakivo.com

 

News

Men are less likely to buy a product with a female mascot or brand name

Men devalue brands that use female names or mascots and are less likely to buy their products, finds new research from NEOMA Business School.

Nathalie Spielmann, Associate Professor of Marketing, alongside Susan Dobscha, Professor of Marketing from Bentley University, and Tina M. Lowrey, Professor of Marketing from HEC Paris, investigated how products are valued differently depending on how the ‘gender’ of the brand is represented.

In their first experiment, participants were asked to evaluate the original masculine branding for the Harvey & Sons tea brand as well as a feminine (Harvey & Daughters) and neutral (Harvey) branding. The second experiment had participants view the male and reimagined female mascot of the board game Monopoly before completing a test to measure their biases. In both experiments, men expressed a strong preference for male or neutral brands, regarding the female version as inferior.

Professor Spielmann also explains,

“This effect was stronger for men with conservative views of women’s social roles. This suggests that the mechanism driving this effect is gender bias, in particular the precarious manhood principle, whereby men feel gender role anxiety and will go to extra measures to maintain, preserve, and sustain their sense of masculinity. For women, gender of the brand had little to no effect on their purchasing intentions.”

In a third experiment, male participants were shown the original male or an imagined female mascot for Pringle’s potato chips. The mascot was shown alone or accompanied by agentic or communal messaging. Agentic messaging uses assertive, ‘masculine’ language such as “the brand is driven to be an assertive market player.” Communal messaging is more expressive and ‘feminine’ such as “the brand is driven by consumer well-being.” When only the mascot was shown, men strongly preferred the male brand, and including a communal description did not influence purchasing intentions. However, when the messaging was assertive, men were more likely to purchase the female brand.

If a female name or mascot is chosen for a brand, marketers should use competitive, self-confident slogans or brand descriptions to reduce gender bias and prevent men devaluing the brand. The political tendencies of consumers should also be considered as conservative attitudes towards women’s roles were strongly related to preferring male brands.

This research was published in Journal of the Association for Consumer Research.

https://neoma-bs.com/

News

What You Need To Consider If Your Contractor Goes Bust

As a result of the pandemic, we have seen, and advised on, numerous instances where main contractors have downed tools or closed sites. In some cases, this has been a temporary hiatus to construction works as we and our client employers have persuaded or assisted main contractors to return to site. However, we have unfortunately seen occasions where the contractor has gone bust and never returned to site.

If faced with contractor insolvency, we set out below what you need to consider and those matters with which you may need to deal:

 

  1. If you have a funding agreement, notify your funder of the contractor’s situation. Buy yourself some time with your funder to give you breathing space to work out how any outstanding works are to be completed.  Remember that most funding agreements will contain obligations requiring you to provide information (such as news of insolvency) to the funder in a timely fashion.

 

  1. Immediately secure the site and materials on it. Ascertain what you have paid for in full, what is part paid for and what are contractor or sub-contractor assets on site.

 

  1. Prepare a detailed valuation of the works and, if you have one, request the contract administrator to undertake a formal valuation. Ascertain the works to be completed (including any defects not yet rectified), revise any works programme (including ascertaining what is on the critical path), calculate the costs to finalise the works, whether extra funding will be required to finalise them and any disputes about the works already existing.

 

  1. Check insurance coverage and insure the site, the works and check the insurance position in respect of any third party assets to remain on site. The contractor will likely have carried public liability, employers liability, professional indemnity insurance (if providing design) and contractor’s all risk insurance.  These may come to an end with its insolvency or termination of the building contract (see below).  Decide what insurances you will need in place for the future of the project. Also check any insurances you have in place in respect of the project and whether they require you to inform your insurer of the main contractor’s insolvency.

 

  1. Check the contractual documentation:

 

  1. Be it a JCT contract, NEC form of contract or bespoke agreements, they should set out provisions for termination on insolvency of the main contractor. Follow the provisions of your contracts to the letter to formally bring your contract with the main contractor to an end, especially where you want to engage a new contractor to finish any works or oversee their completion yourself.
  2. Is there a parent company guarantee or performance bond you can claim under? Have the trigger events in such agreement occurred?
  3. Do you have any collateral warranties from subcontractors? These may assist you and give you step in rights to take over vital supply chain contracts.

 

  1. Make immediate checks to ensure that documentation for which the contractor was responsible can be located and is up to date (eg health and safety records, drawings, test certificates, manufacturers’ warranties etc).

 

  1. Unless commercially imperative, do not make any further payments to any party about the works until you know your full position.

 

  1. Decide how any outstanding works are to be completed after formal termination of the main contractor’s contract. Generally, the options will be a new main contractor or the employer or a construction manager to manage the existing or new sub-contractors. Agree a new contract with a new main contractor (likely to be on a cost plus basis) or with a construction manager.

 

  1. Take advice as to whether you have any claims against the main contractor and whether these are commercially worth pursuing.

 

The first days after a main contractor has entered into some form of insolvency procedure are critical and it will be an intensive time of information gathering and decision making. It is however hoped that you will have seen some of the warning signs that your main contractor may be in difficulty (eg less activity on site, slow or late deliveries, plant or equipment disappearing from site, requests for accelerated payments, programme issues, persistent rumours about the main contractor’s financial position including sub-contractors and suppliers not being paid, late filing or qualified accounts being filed at Companies House and a new evasiveness in communications) before they go bust and you have been able to undertake some pre-planning before their insolvency occurs.

Please visit: www.conexuslaw.com

News

Royal seal of approval for Pave Away’s ‘premier’ build

A Shropshire building contractor has revealed its role in the build of a new £6m High Performance Training Centre for Premier League side Aston Villa.

 

Pave Aways Building Contractor completed the state-of-the-art extension for the Midlands side at its Bodymoor Heath Training Ground in December. The centre was

officially opened by HRH the Duke of Cambridge, a Villa supporter and president of the Football Association, yesterday (May 4).

 

Prince William was shown around the new facility built by Pave Aways which included a new high-performance gym and ancillary office accommodation to enhance the club’s existing facilities.

 

Managing Director Steven Owen said it had been a prestigious contract for Pave Aways. “Our team worked incredibly hard during a challenging period with the coronavirus pandemic to deliver this state-of-the-art building that has provided additional high quality training facilities for the team,” he said.

 

“To get the royal seal of approval with the Prince’s visit has been the icing on the cake. This was a build we are very proud of and we’re delighted that we can at last share this project with everyone.”

 

The Aston Villa contract saw Pave Aways working once again with Rugby based HB Architects following its partnership to deliver a luxury £10m spa at the Carden Park Hotel in Cheshire in 2019.

News

Social Links announces the launch of Gamayun for online open-source investigations

Social Links, a Netherlands-based IT company, providing OSINT solutions for law enforcement divisions, cybersecurity operations, and major corporations worldwide, is pleased to announce the launch of its new online platform for open-source investigations: Gamayun. Having successfully concluded the test period for the beta version of the solution, the full commercial version of the all-new Gamayun will finally become available to customers from May 5, 2021. 

This innovative platform has been specially developed as a highly convenient solution for conducting open-source investigations across a range of user types, being suitable not just for OSINT professionals, but also novices and independent investigators, for whom the use of OSINT technologies and tools needs to be simple and accessible.

Gamayun has been painstakingly designed to meet these requirements: featuring advanced data extraction technologies which deliver the most dynamic methods for conducting open-source investigations using a web-based format, which has been specifically optimized to simplify investigations, run quick analyses, gain relevant reports, and deliver a user-experience of maximum convenience and effectiveness.

The central features include the ability to extract specific information from social networks, analyze connections between people, and generate instant reports on all completed work, which provides useful investigative documentation, and summaries which trace the user’s OSINT activities. Other features are soon to be added, such as the ability to search for a subject by geolocation and visualize result data on timelines and maps.

“This product has been designed to celebrate the central ideas and values of OSINT. With the exponential growth of open data in recent years, the utility of open-source investigation has become increasingly apparent, encompassing a variety of fields and objectives, as well as an ever-broadening user-base including professionals as well as OSINT beginners and independent investigators. In developing Gamayun, we have distilled our extensive experience in developing commercial OSINT products with our profound and responsive attention to customer feedback and user experience, to create a solution that makes working with open data no more difficult than ordering pizza or using Uber.”

– Social Links CEO Andrey Kulikov. 

The Gamayun online platform will have great utility in areas such as human resources, corporate security, law enforcement, media and journalism, insurance, independent private investigations, and other fields which require verification and information extraction from open data. The product’s modern and intuitive web interface not only allows the user to work faster more effectively but also makes the product more universal, as it requires no special certificates or professional OSINT skills, representing a fulfillment of our mission with Gamayun: to make a sphere which is usually considered the exclusive domain of professionals, available for all. 

About Social Links

Social Links is a software developer dedicated to creating cutting-edge open-source intelligence tools for conducting investigations in a wide variety of publicly available sources, including social media and open platforms, public databases, darknet and deep web, blockchain networks, and many others. The solutions are packed with ML-powered models, allowing the user to make connections between individuals, companies, internet accounts, and activities. The company’s product line comprises the Maltego add-on – Social Links Pro, custom and private corporate solutions, the standalone enterprise-grade Social Links Box, and Gamayun – a web-based solution for instant digital investigations. All of these solutions are widely used by law enforcement agencies and corporations around the world.

 

Website: https://sociallinks.io 

About Gamayun https://sociallinks.io/products/gamayun

 

 

Awards, Business, News

Caribbean Blinds enables latest BBC Apprentice Winner to offer outdoor dining at her Dough Artisan Bakehouse

 

Award winning manufacturer of external shading systems, Caribbean Blinds, has just completed its sweetest project to date for Lord Sugar’s 2019 business partner Carina Lepore for her bakery business, Dough Artisan Bakehouse.

 

Providing the Beckenham High Street bakery with one of their state-of-the-art fabric Puerto Rico Pergola awnings, which are perfect for large terraces, Caribbean Blinds answered Lepore’s brief to install an all-weather, waterproof cover for the courtyard area at the back of the shop and to remove the piece of tarp that was being used as a temporary cover!

 

Lepore required flexibility from the product so as to allow the full benefit of the sun but to be able to fully cover and protect the garden from rain at the push of a button.

 

Stuart Dantzic, Managing Director of Caribbean Blinds, explained, ‘Carina was looking for a stylish, easy to use, permanent and waterproof solution to protect against the weather to enable her to open the bakery’s ‘Secret Garden’ to her customers. She had seen our installations on social media and messaged us for advice and ideas. We soon struck up a rapport, sent her our ideas and got started. It has been a pleasure to work with her and we are thrilled that one of our products is the reason she can keep an outdoor dining area open all year round.’

 

Carina Lepore added: ‘When we chose the Beckenham location, we always planned to improve the garden area for outdoor dining and hospitality as we knew it would bring added value to the business. The pandemic restrictions definitely gave me that push I needed to get this done and made me far more focused about finding the perfect, all year-round outdoor covering.

 

When I saw the quality of the Caribbean Blinds products and started to deal with them as a business, I realised that I didn’t need to look any further because they had everything I needed. The team was really professional and could answer all my questions and convinced me that I should go ahead with the installation and the value it would bring to my business. They weren’t wrong!

 

The install was really quick and easy, it only took two days from start to finish. The awning design is stylish, modern and so easy to operate. We’re really happy with it and we now have the most amazing space for our customers to enjoy our coffee, cakes and bakes while adhering to the strict social distancing guidelines.’

 

 

 

 

Full sun, partial shade or complete shelter, the Puerto Rico Pergola awning gives you complete flexibility and freedom over your outdoor space. The slimline pergola framework features a sliding fabric roof that can be adjusted to any position and when fully extended, the integrated guttering built within the leadrail ensures effective water drainage from the fabric into and out of the post uprights.

 

The hospitality sector has been doing all it can to welcome customers back with open arms, whilst still adhering to the most recent set of rules and regulations.

 

Open to the elements 24/7, all outdoor social and dining spaces should be fully weather proofed with high-quality structures such as canopies, awnings and pergolas to allow customers to not only feel safe, but comfortable too and for this reason, outdoor terrace coverings can no longer simply be a piece of fabric – they need to incorporate a number of features including ambient lighting, instant heating and side screens to create a pleasant atmosphere and essentially provide the comfort of indoors, outdoors.

 

Since it was founded in 1987, Caribbean Blinds has been exclusively designing, manufacturing and supplying the very finest external shading products that transform the use, functionality, and enjoyment of all types of spaces and has a solution to every problem.

Please visit: www.cbsolarshading.co.uk/

News

Tech accessories brand, juice®, shortlisted at Mobile Industry Awards 2021

Mobile phone accessories manufacturer, juice®, has been shortlisted in the ‘Accessory Manufacturer of the Year’ category at the Mobile Industry Awards (MIAs) 2021.

 

This is exciting news for the fast-growing and dynamic brand which, earlier this year, was named the UK market leader in both Apple Lightning and Type C cable sales (according to the January 2021 GfK Market Update).

 

Now in its 18th year, the MIAs represent the gold standard of excellence across the entire industry, celebrating the best and brightest manufacturers, retailers, networks, distributors and dealers that the UK mobile sector has to offer, attracting high calibre sponsors such as Sky Mobile, Music Magpie, OPPO and Xiaomi.

 

CEO of juice® and ambitious entrepreneur, Jolyon Bennett, commented: “When I founded juice® in 2012, I wanted to make life’s everyday electronic essentials that little bit more interesting, so I made it my mission to create mobile phone accessories that were quirky and vibrant but also of a superior technical quality – something that the market massively lacked at the time.

 

“Fast-forward nine years and we can now officially say that we are the UK market leader in the manufacture and supply of mobile phone accessories…which still feels so surreal! Being shortlisted for this award means that juice® is being recognised for its achievements and we couldn’t be prouder. We are super excited for what’s to come, and of course we will be keeping our fingers crossed for the finalist’s announcement later on this year.”

 

After taking place virtually last year due to the global pandemic, the 2021 Mobile Industry Awards ceremony will be going ahead in the flesh at the stunning Royal Lancaster London on Wednesday 29th September 2021, where all winners will be announced.

 

This award shortlisting is yet another accomplishment for juice®, with the last few months proving extremely successful for the Banbury based firm. Shortly after removing all single-use plastic from its packaging and vowing only to use 100% recyclable materials going forwards, the company’s market share doubled within a year (December 2019 – December 2020).

 

In January 2021, juice® collaborated with global fashion and lifestyle brand Hype to create an exclusive 15-piece collection (currently available in selected UK Hype stores and online) and most recently received the Which? ‘Best Buy’ accolade for their 20,000mAh Portable Power Bank Max.

For more information visit: www.juice.co.uk

Healthcare News, Healthcare Tech, News, Science

BBI Solutions facilitating fast action to tackle legionella risk

BBI Solutions has created a bespoke mobile solution for the world’s first and quickest on-site Legionella test.

The rapid Hydrosense test comes at a critical time as many buildings such as offices, schools and commercial properties reopen in accordance with the easing of restrictions.

Using its patented Novarum™ technology, BBI Solutions has developed a mobile app-based test reader and customisable data storage system solution for Hydrosense Ltd, a pioneer in the rapid testing industry committed to making widely available, fast, easy to use, accurate testing for Legionella SG1, the most dangerous strain of Legionella bacteria.

Legionnaires’ disease is a potentially deadly lung infection caused by the inhalation of Legionella contaminated water droplets. A growing problem in the built environment, Europe and the USA have seen more and more cases of Legionnaires’ disease every year since 2013.

Long term closures have encouraged system stagnation and low flow on a mass scale, leading to factors which promote the growth of Legionella bacteria in water systems, such as biofilm formation and thermal gain, as well as the resuscitation of Legionella bacteria in its dormant state.

BBI Solutions’ tailored mobile solution, built on Hydrosense’s existing test technology, is an accurate rapid platform which can be used as part of a superior facilities water management program or in a small scale or domestic setting.

The pioneering Novarum™️ technology transforms a smartphone into a highly functional test reader, allowing users to read, store and share results quickly with minimal training. The Hydrosense test can be conducted and interpreted in 25 minutes, ensuring that spaces are safe for employees and customers to return or prompting action where necessary.

Dr Neil Polwart, Head of Mobile at BBI, said: “Creating this bespoke platform to support Hydrosense’s ground-breaking Legionella test was an exciting opportunity. We’re delighted to have delivered this effective, holistic solution.

“Novarum creates innovative, tailored solutions to support individual clients’ needs; every app we create is unique – delivering effective, intuitive mobile eco-systems that enable complex tests to be easily and accurately read with results shared from any location.”

Greg Rankin, CEO at Hydrosense, said: “Our test is the fastest in the world, with results in as little as 25 minutes. We have ensured that we have the fastest possible solution to get information into the hands of duty holders who can decide to shut or clean facilities to protect people immediately, minimising exposure to potentially deadly bacteria and the risk of disease.

“Thanks to our innovative test and our partnership with BBI, Hydrosense has been able to help fast track the reopening of the economy safely when our susceptibility to Legionella is actually at an all-time high.”

News

WSO2 API Manager 4.0 Adds Support for Streaming and Event-Driven Architectures; Unites API Management with API-Centric Integration

New open-source WSO2 API Manager release enables EDA deployments with industry-first full AsyncAPI spec support, streaming APIs, and integrations, and webhook APIs; includes all WSO2 Enterprise Integrator functionality; and adds Service Catalog and API Revisioning

Competition for customer loyalty, a desire for new revenue streams, and demand for supply chain resiliency are just three of the drivers behind enterprises accelerating their digital initiatives. APIs now serve as the primary building blocks for these efforts—assembling data, events, and services from within the organisation, throughout ecosystems, and across devices. But integrated legacy systems and support for new event-driven architectures also play critical roles in enabling timely, meaningful digital interactions in response to customer actions. To support these demands, WSO2 has added significant new capabilities to WSO2 API Manager 4.0, available today.

Some 18.2 trillion API calls run through WSO2 API Manager each year. The latest release of WSO2’s industry-leading, cloud-native open-source API management platform:
Facilitates streaming integration and event-driven architecture (EDA) implementations via support for streaming APIs, asynchronous WebSocket APIs, the Server-Sent Events (SSE) messaging protocol, and webhooks.
Provides the first generally available, full implementation of the AsyncAPI specification, the open standard API format for event-driven APIs.
Incorporates all WSO2 Enterprise Integrator functionality to provide a single, comprehensive solution for API management and API-first integration.
Adds a new Service Catalog that enables developers to discover a given service and create a managed API with a single click.
Adds a new API Revisioning feature that enables developers to revise and test an API or API product without affecting current deployments.
Offers rich new cloud-based analytics to let users see how their APIs and applications are being used by consumers.

“Consumers have high expectations for their online interactions at home and at work, making it more important than ever for enterprises to more effectively create and manage APIs that access the data so critical to great digital experiences,” said WSO2 CTO Eric Newcomer. “WSO2 API Manager 4.0 takes API management to the next level, especially for the event-driven architectures that are underpinning next-gen apps. We are proud to be the first vendor to ship full support for the new AsyncAPI specification standard, which is emerging as a significant enabler for reacting quickly to business state changes.”

Facilitating Event-Driven Architectures

WSO2 API Manager 4.0 adds new capabilities that facilitate the implementation of streaming and event-driven architectures, including support in five key areas: the AsyncAPI specification, streaming APIs, Server-Sent Events protocol, WebSocket APIs, and webhook APIs.

AsyncAPI Specification. Starting as an adaptation of the OpenAPI specification, the AsyncAPI specification defines a standard API format for event-driven APIs that is compatible with any event-driven protocol, representing a major advance in the world of API standardisation. With Version 4.0, WSO2 API Manager is the first to provide full out-of-the-box AsyncAPI support for WebSockets, webhooks, and SSE. AsyncAPI support for additional protocols is available via WSO2’s adapters for Kafka, RabbitMQ, ActiveMQ, and others.

Streaming APIs. In Version 4.0, a developer can expose an event stream as a managed API, and all quality-of-service aspects, such as security, access control, and throttling can be applied on top of the streaming APIs.

Server-Sent Events Protocol. Through support for the SSE messaging protocol in the API Gateway, Version 4.0 enables developers to integrate an SSE backend with an API in order to receive events from it. Now API developers can manage their SSE backend for monetisation, security, and access control, and more.

WebSocket API. WebSocket APIs provide the ability to send events (messages) continuously in a full-duplex manner over a channel that is established once, making it possible to receive event-driven messages without having to poll the server for a reply.

Webhook APIs. With the webhook API support in Version 4.0, API developers can create events for API management capabilities, such as monetisation, monitoring, security, and access control. API consumers can then register for the topics they prefer in order to receive event notifications via the registered callback URL.

One Platform for API Management, Integration, and Event-Driven Architecture

WSO2 API Manager delivers a seamless, end-to-end API management experience while addressing all the requirements of API creators, product managers, and consumers. In Version 4.0, WSO2 API Manager also inherits all the capabilities of WSO2 Enterprise Integrator, the open-source hybrid integration platform that provides a graphical drag-and-drop flow designer and a configuration-driven approach to building low-code integration solutions for cloud- and container-native projects. It is supported by more than 150 connectors in WSO2’s Connector Store and makes it easy to add integrations to APIs.

With the recognition that different disciplines require different capabilities and workflows, WSO2 API Manager 4.0 offers three distinct profiles:
API Management covers all the full API management life cycle capabilities traditionally provided by WSO2 API Manager.
Micro Integrator supports the many enterprises that need flexibility in how they implement integrations. It enables newer microservices-style architectural approaches to integration. Additionally, it supports traditional centralised (ESB-style) integration architectures.
Streaming Integrator is used to implement streaming extract, transform load (ETL), and change data capture (CDC), as well as process large files and real-time APIs. It can also connect to and enable event-driven architectures with distributed streaming systems, such as Kafka and Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS).

The new Service Catalog in WSO2 API Manager 4.0 publishes services created using Micro Integrator or Streaming Integrator along with other services. By going to the Service Catalog, an API developer can easily discover all the available services and create a managed API with one click of a button. Multiple APIs can be created from a single service, and the API developer can choose to keep APIs up to date with any changes made to the underlying services.

Applying CI/CD to API Versions

As enterprises monetise their APIs and API products, more IT organisations are seeking to apply continuous development and continuous delivery (CI/CD) for deploying new versions. The API Revisioning feature in WSO2 API Manager 4.0 enables API developers to create and test a new version of an existing API or API product without affecting current API deployments. The API runtime-related artefacts are stored separately and then deployed for the specified API revision in a test environment in order to validate any changes before publishing them and providing access to API consumers.

Cloud-based Analytics

WSO2 API Manager 4.0 adds rich new cloud-based analytics to let developers and managers see how their APIs and applications are being used by consumers. Users can simply create an account in the WSO2 Cloud and connect to the analytics to view application request volumes, latency breakdowns, access patterns, error behaviours, and other metrics. Additionally, enterprises can continue to take advantage of out-of-the-box support for Google Analytics provided by WSO2 API Manager, as well as plug-in third-party analytics systems.

Enhancing Deployments and Security

In addition to the new features, WSO2 API Manager 4.0 extends support for widely adopted architectures for modern applications, including serverless computing, containers, and microservices. Existing capabilities that have been enhanced in the newest release include WSO2 API Microgateway; support for gRPC, GraphQL, and native Kubernetes; among others.

Because API security is critical to protecting digital businesses, their customers, and their partners, WSO2 also has enhanced the robust policy-based controls for authentication and authorisation in WSO2 API Manager 4.0. These capabilities are based on the technologies that power the WSO2 Identity Server, which enterprises can optionally add to gain full, developer-focused identity and access management (IAM). WSO2 also offers open-source extensions that enable enterprises to take advantage of the artificial intelligence (AI) powered API cybersecurity of PingIntelligence for APIs and 42Crunch API Security Audit for API definitions.

Availability and Support

WSO2 API Manager 4.0 is available today as an open-source product released under the Apache License 2.0. The product is backed by WSO2 Subscription, which features access to WSO2 Update for continuous delivery of bug fixes, security updates, and performance enhancements, along with WSO2 Support for 24×7 support. Unified pricing means customers can simply buy a WSO2 Subscription and choose the hosting model—cloud, on-premises, or hybrid—based on their preferences. Details on WSO2 Subscription are available at https://wso2.com/subscription; information on WSO2 Consulting Services can be found at https://wso2.com/consulting.