Introducing Autonomous REST Connector: Instant SQL Over REST APIs

While REST APIs have become increasingly popular, it's never been easy for analytical tools to query against them. Until now. Codelessly connect any application to any API with our latest connector.

The advent of data access layer, SaaS and microservices has resulted in the abstraction of databases behind REST APIs. There has been no easy way, however, for analytical tools to query against these APIs. But not anymore! Our latest offering allows the easy integration of these APIs with analytical tools by codelessly translating REST APIs into a SQL layer.

The Journey from SQL to REST

In the beginning, the enterprise world consisted of a couple of major databases that applications needed to support. Since these were mission-critical apps, both business and IT were happy to run proprietary SQL queries to interact with these databases. Fast-forward a few years, there were a bunch of new databases in the market—namely Oracle, MySQL, PostGres, SQL Server, Informix, Greenplum, IBM DB2 and several more. It was no longer scalable to learn and implement all the different flavors of SQL.

This gave rise to the popular connectivity standards—ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) and JDBC (Java Database Connectivity). Over the last decade or so, enterprises have started abstracting the databases behind REST APIs for managing data access, additional security, data lineage and several other reasons. In the same time period, we also have seen an explosion in the number of enterprise SaaS, cloud and microservices apps that are accessible only through the REST APIs. So, today, IT is at another critical juncture of data integration where data is far more siloed and there is no easy way to query against these REST APIs.

REST is Almost Perfect. Almost!

REST (Representational State Transfer) is a web communication protocol used by systems to exchange information using HTTP, XML and JSON. Most developers like REST for three major reasons:

1. Separation between client and server makes it scalable.
2. REST is independent of platform or languages.
3. REST APIs are stateless, meaning each call can be made independent of any other call. That’s why we are seeing a huge rise in the number of REST APIs in the industry.

But, REST APIs, just like other APIs, disrupt the analytics side of the organization. Data developers such as BI analysts, data engineers and data scientists are used to looking at the data world in tabular, structural and SQL format. Analytical tools such as Tableau, R, Power BI, Cognos, OBIEE, Qlik, Informatica, TIBCO, Talend and others cannot integrate with all the REST APIs being generated across an enterprise and across the industry. These data tools and developers are most comfortable with SQL and the day to day analytical operations of the enterprise continue to get disrupted due to this gap between REST and SQL.

With Autonomous REST Connector You Finally Get SQL Over REST

Progress DataDirect is the pioneer in standards-based SQL connectivity. We are the co-founders of ODBC and a key member of the JDBC technical committee. Over the years, we have developed and maintained ODBC, JDBC drivers for SaaS/REST data sources such as Salesforce, Google Analytics, Dynamics CRM, VeevaCRM, Oracle Service Cloud and more.

However, new public and internal REST APIs keep popping up every week that no single enterprise app vendor can support. To solve this new connectivity challenge for our partners and customers, we have developed a smart, codeless SQL for REST solution called Autonomous REST Connector. Progress DataDirect Autonomous REST Connector delivers seamless, real-time connectivity between REST data and your ODBC/JDBC tools and applications. It rapidly decreases the amount of time required for applications to understand and consume REST APIs through its codeless configuration and intelligent sampling.

Autonomous REST Connector is an intelligent, customizable data connectivity solution enabling businesses to build and deploy enterprise-grade data connectors in minutes without coding.

Highlights of Autonomous REST Connector

1. Intelligent Sampling of REST APIs: No Code, No Hassle: Every REST API is unique and there is no standard way to consume them. This limits the ability of developers to seamlessly integrate the data silos within their organization. With Autonomous REST Connector’s intelligent sampling, developers could point to a REST API, OData endpoint or JSDO catalog and automatically create a configuration file that allows you to start working with the data immediately in standard SQL—no code, no hassle. Autonomous REST Connector makes it easy to connect to the data that you and your customers need to find insights, drive value and enrich your data assets.
2. Connect an enterprise app to any REST API: As data continues to get abstracted behind REST APIs, a large numbers of data sources are locked from business applications. On demand access to unique data sources is no longer just a good-to-have feature for an enterprise app, but a mandate to meet all the business needs of end-users. Autonomous REST Connector empowers your enterprise apps to easily connect with proprietary REST APIs with simple configurations.
3. Build new connectors in minutes not days: Thanks to cloud, SaaS, microservices, and other technological advancements, data continues to get more and more siloed. But power users will still expect a business app to offer in-built connectors for all the popular data silos. Building a new connector usually involves steep learning curve about the new REST API, multiple sprints to develop the connector, and millions of QA test cases– this can take weeks, if not months. But with our state-of-the-art Autonomous REST connector, you can easily unlock new data silos in just minutes. Our connector instantaneously samples the REST API on the fly and creates an enterprise-grade ODBC/JDBC driver that is easily consumable from the application stack.

Get Started with Autonomous REST Connector

Empowering you to access data for your application, cloud or platform is our passion at Progress DataDirect. Over the last 30 years, we have developed several world-class ODBC, JDBC drivers for relational, big data and cloud databases. 350+ ISVs, including 8 of the 9 BI vendors, and 10000+ enterprises rely on us for their connectivity needs.

And now, we are excited to launch yet another groundbreaking connectivity technology. If you or your customers have a unique REST API that needs to be accessed from a business application, then Autonomous REST Connector is for you. Why don't you go ahead and test drive the product? Let us know what you think.

Download Autonomous REST Connector