As mobile operators invest in dense networks, a mass of devices from M2M to wearables, and applications that harness location and presence, they will need to make sense of all the data produced by this mass of equipment. There is, therefore, rising interest in big data analytics platforms and services, adapted for the needs of carriers. One of the companies in the forefront of this effort, API developer Apigee, has raised a further $60m in funding to help boost its big data platform.
The company has raised $171m to date and has attracted new investors Pine River Capital Management and Wellington Management Company, alongside existing backers Norwest Venture Partners, Bay Partners, Third Point, SAP Ventures, and funds managed by BlackRock, Focus Ventures and Accenture.
Earlier this month the company upgraded its big data analytics platform for telcos and enterprises, incorporating some of the predictive capabilities it recently acquired with InsightOne. It says predictive analytics enable firms to increase customer satisfaction by adapting to their needs as they arise. Apigee Insights lets its users apply predictive analytics on fine-grained data and then proactively act on those insights in real time to deliver personalized services through predictive apps.
The InsightOne purchase has allowed Apigee to wrap a layer of analytics around the masses of data it can track, crossing the network at API level. CEO Chet Kapoor said: ‘Predictive is clearly the killer app of big data.”
Apigee is most famous in the mobile world for taking over the technology underpinning WAC (Wholesale Application Community), a failed initiative by a group of cellcos to establish a common developer base around their key network APIs, in a bid to wrongfoot over-the-top platforms. The deal helped bolster Apigee’s own platform, which powers Telefonica’s API platform for linking third party developers into its network. Most recently, Apigee was hired by a division of Telecom New Zealand to power Qrious, a big data and analytics platform which the telco will offer to enterprises as a service.
It has also moved into software defined networking (SDN), another hot telco topic and an area where APIs come into their own. It upgraded its platform last year to support embeddable API management software for providers of SDN controllers, making these easier to program and manage; as well as a platform for SDN management, integration and analytics. Kapoor said: “Software defined networking is creating an important new era of networking innovation that will be defined and driven by APIs. The ecosystem of apps being built around SDN ‘ everything from simple task automation to advanced control logic and network management ‘ will create more agile, efficient, flexible, and robust networking configurations.’