Granting API access to mobile device users--creating a doorway through which outside software applications gain access to your company's services--is becoming available via a hosted service and as an embeddable part of the internal network.

Vancouver-based Layer 7 Technologies is offering a get-started API management system as a hosted service from its own data center, while Palo Alto, Calif.-based Apigee is adapting its API management platform to the enterprise's new software-defined network. Both moves may draw more mobile device users to businesses that implement public-facing APIs.

API management is an art that has sprung out of Google making Google Maps available through its public API and Netflix making films downloadable to PCs and mobile devices. Enterprises can build on the example, opening an API gateway that lets outside developers build applications that invoke a service or business process inside the company.