APIs - the Global Angle

 I'm writing this from Sydney Airport, having just rounded out our seven-city Axway API Workshop tour of Australia and New Zealand, and gearing up for the world's longest commercial flight (Sydney to Dallas).

If there was any doubt that APIs are a global phenomenon, just take a look at the attendances the Axway API Workshops over the past 10 days. At Wellington yesterday we had to commandeer a breakout room because of the large audience, who were treated to Ben Kepes and an API case study from the New Zealand Customs Service. I watched the excellent presentations from ANZ Bank and Infosys from the "standing room only" area, seeing many nodding heads and ipad note-takers in front of me. Here is Peter Jarman from Infosys explaining "Why an API Gateway":

This tour makes me cast my mind back to last month, when I spoke with Mark Boyd (an Aussie in Barcelona) about the global nature of APIs. One of the interesting things is that an API is particularly suitable for organizations which address a global market. In a global environment, you require an API Portal which enables developers to self-register at any time of the day or night. It is not acceptable anymore to say to a developer "we only support you in business hours in one timezone". As Mark Boyd put it:

For businesses in markets like Australia and New Zealand and in the Nordic countries, public APIs enable greater participation in a global business marketplace, removing the barrier of time differences that in the past created delays to global business partnerships.
http://blog.programmableweb.com/2014/02/21/private-partner-or-public-which-api-strategy-is-best-for-business/

This global nature is one of the great values of APIs, and something especially to think about after talking to so many API practitioners on this Axway API Workshop tour of Australia and New Zealand over the past 10 days. I will have plenty of time to think about it as I board my transpacific flight now.