AT&T opens an API marketplace for communication apps

AT&T has opened an application programming interface (API) marketplace to help businesses quickly build collaboration apps for their voice, text and other communications services.

The new AT&T API Marketplace provides businesses with prepackaged API software code. It is built on Ribbon Communications’ Kandy platform. Kandy uses the open source WebRTC software to provide web browsers and mobile applications with real-time communications via simple APIs.

With the APIs, businesses can quickly add or upgrade services to their websites, such as click-to-connect voice, video, and text as well as 2-factor authentication, conferencing, and virtual directories. For example, businesses could use an app to embed a click-to-chat button on their website to connect with a customer support representative. Or a customized app could help banks reduce fraud by enabling automatic 2-factor authentication of users via text messages.

The API Marketplace offers turnkey applications for businesses to embed into their websites. The marketplace also offers self-service APIs for an enterprise’s developers to create custom applications. AT&T also offers support for more customized integration. This includes developer-for-hire services to build tailored software applications. The AT&T API Marketplace is available now to businesses and developers in the U.S.

KPN also jumps into APIs

In addition to working with AT&T, Ribbon Communications is working with the Netherlands-based service provider KPN, which is also using its Kandy platform for a new API store. The key focus areas of KPN’s API store are communication, authentication, and security. The API store offers both KPN and KPN partners' APIs.

Similar to AT&T, KPN’s API store give enterprises the option of deploying prebuilt applications, or its APIs can be used to quickly build custom apps.