what 100tb's api can do for you

The key to unlocking betteroperational e�ciency and agility

The 100TB API

API level has been done up until now, and we are

confident our API will enable users to exercise

far more network control than is allowed by any

other vendor.

We have a team of developers who work on our

API every day to make it an even more powerful

tool for our customers, and we have a number

of exciting new features in the pipeline this year.

A great example of the 100TB API in action is our

Service Management Platform: the 100TB

Console. Powered by the 100TB API, the Console

enables our customers to quickly carry out tasks

such as configuring existing services and provi-

sioning new ones. As always, our goal is to

enable and empower businesses to become

more e�cient and agile, so they can direct their

resources towards what matters most. Just as

we are determined to keep innovating around

our API, we know that ultimately our customers

need a tool that allows them to do the same

thing: focus on building the next generation of

services to meet the needs of their customers

and delivering it to the market faster than their

competitors.

INTRODUCTIONThe 100TB Application Programming Interface (API) is more than just a tool for building software

applications: it is the secret weapon we arm our customers with to help them reduce their time to

market, and increase their operational agility and e�ciency. Every day, businesses rely on us for their

infrastructure needs, and our API is a core component for ensuring developers can get exactly what

they need from our services. The key to making this happen lies in how our API wraps around our

products, encompassing every core element and service. Only by tying it all together can an API truly

help businesses run more e�ciently and ensure better customer experiences - that is what we are

here to help you achieve.

We are 100TB.com

100TB is a leading provider of innovative high performance business infrastructure solutions. We

operate on a global scale by storing and serving data from 23 locations around the world. We own and

operate five world-class data centers in Amsterdam, London, Los Angeles, New York City and Salt Lake

City. In partnership with SoftLayer, we are able to deliver a global reach with a further 18 data center

locations.

In this white paper we outline the innovative features of the 100TB API, and explain how the

easy-to-use interface lets programmers automate features and increase agility in a cost-e�ective

manner. Programmers will learn how the 100TB API can be used to improve their own systems for

better mobility and resiliency.

We will also take a moment to explain the basics, and where our o�erings fit into the big picture as APIs

have evolved in the recent past. While APIs are a relatively new technology, they have quickly become a

vital tool for increasing performance and productivity in a fast-changing business environment. Increasingly APIs are a must for any

forward-thinking and fast-growing business in

the digitally connected world.

What makes the 100TB API di�erent?

100TB’s API will do everything you expect from

a server API, but what makes our API really

interesting is how it works in relation to the

data center. The 100TB API will enable users to

exercise far more network control than what

has been the standard to date. We believe our

fresh approach is the future for how APIs will

be used in a cloud computing environment.

Take a typical data center with its network, racks of servers, and a number of additional layers such as

backup servers, disaster recovery and networked and software-based services: the key to 100TB’s API

is how it wraps around all these elements, enabling easy control and interaction between all the core

elements. This is where the di�erence comes in: every core infrastructure product and service is

accessible via the 100TB API as it encompasses every single service we o�er, be it network, hardware

or software.

What is an API?

Let us take a step back and look at what an API actually is. An Application Programming Interface is a

tool for building software applications. It is made up of a set of routines and protocols that determine

how components should interact, meaning a good API will make the job of programming easier by

providing a series of building blocks that help to reduce time to market by increasing productivity.

What are APIs used for?

APIs allow users to expand their capabilities beyond the basics. In the case of 100TB’s API, it lets our

customers expand beyond the server so they can also integrate third party applications and services.

Whether you take a popular web-based API like Google Maps or an API for operating systems such as

Windows, the principle is the same: programmers use the API to create applications that function

within those spaces. Twitter’s API enables other sites to embed tweets, for example, while the YouTube

API enables elements like analytics and live streaming. The 100TB API enables automated capacity

planning, application control and backup scheduling, to name but a few.

For businesses, the key benefits of an API is to automate processes to increase agility, mobility and

productivity. An API is the silent corner of most leading Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) businesses

as it is vital for enabling most large scale partnerships. An example of this is how many of the bigger

companies in our customer base use our API to automatically provision new services. They do this by

using triggers which have been predefined within their chosen monitoring platform.

This allows our clients to scale their services so they can deliver a better customer experience.

Three waves of APIs

Looking at the wider API universe, an API can exist in a number of technical incarnations, be it hardware,

Java or web. The latter encompasses most APIs we hear about today. The first web-based API was

revealed in 2000 during a Salesforce conference, where it was introduced as part of the company’s

Software-as-a-Service sales automation o�erings. eBay launched its own API later the same year,

followed by Amazon in 2002, in a move that meant developers could incorporate Amazon content into

their own websites.

This first wave of APIs was a good start but the big surge came later, driven largely by the big social

networks. A landmark in the second wave was when Facebook launched its first API and Development

Platform in 2006, giving developers access to information in its Social Graph, including friends, photos,

events and profile information. Soon after, Twitter launched its own API, partially in response to the

fact that third-parties had started creating rudimentary APIs to extend the social network’s capabili-

ties; the need was certainly obvious.

But web APIs really came into their own with the arrival of cloud computing. Thanks to this third wave

of APIs, businesses could deploy global infrastructure at scale to meet customers’ rapidly changing

needs. The technology is not just about “fun” social sites anymore. Instead, APIs are a viable tool for

running an entire business with greater agility, resiliency and e�ciency. We are now in this third wave

of APIs, incorporating every vital element: operating systems, business software, mapping, digital

marketing tools, Software-as-a-Service, scalable cloud infrastructure - and much more.

ABOUT THE 100TB API

Our API is the key to making 100TB a platform

where our customers can extract what they

want from it, in whatever way is most useful for

them to run their businesses more e�ectively.

Let’s take a look at the particular advantages of

the 100TB API:

Automation

The wraparound API is a chance to transform a

business's relationship with a vendor as it

enables a company to automate more of its

processes to drive agility and e�ciency.

Take an IaaS provider like 100TB: this is usually

something that businesses want to keep in the

background and not have to think about too

much. Our API is here to help with exactly that

by making it easier to get things done, and

freeing you up to increase productivity and

drive value for your customers by focusing on

the things that matter to your business.

Regardless of which orchestration platform

your business might use, or whatever

monitoring software you’ve deployed to keep

tabs on your infrastructure, the 100TB API

makes it possible to manage this platform

automatically. Systems administrators rarely need to look at how your platform is performing, saving

time and improving resiliency as the monitoring is done automatically. Alerts will pop up only when

action needs to be taken.

An example of this in action is how a reseller can integrate our API into their third-party billing

platform, which is managed through the API in the company’s software. The API lets resellers order

services automatically, meaning that when an order is placed the API will simply execute it, eliminating

the need for a person to reach out to order from the vendor. A reseller can also use the API to manage

its whole environment from the control panel without having to do anything extra from the point of

view of support.

Operational savings

Automating services will often lead to increased agility, productivity and resiliency by speeding things

along, enabling processes to be completed faster and with fewer mistakes. Client satisfaction

increases with smoother customer service management, better insights and automated ordering

improves the customer experience by freeing up team members to focus on the more complicated

customer queries. But resellers can also save on operational costs by doing specific things, like

integrating the 100TB API into their third-party systems.

Businesses with high bandwidth requirements can use the API to monitor their usage, and enjoy cost

savings as the API adds or removes servers from their clusters as their bandwidth requirements vary.

The rise of video streaming, especially over-the-top content services and big data processing, has

made the latter a significant issue in the high performance hosting and infrastructure space.

Capacity

We are seeing high demand for elastic and highly flexible infrastructure. This is all available with an API

command, which also takes over the task of purchasing, provisioning and managing any third-party

software the customer may have.

For example, take a company that is running an edge network. A content delivery network (CDN) may

have assets located all around the world, such as images or other download files. 100TB provides 23

data center locations globally, enabling CDN users to download identical files from a server that is local

to them. The benefit of the API comes in when the CDN experiences too much load in one location, and

more servers are required to support customers in that area. The demand may require ten more

servers to be added, in which case these will be automatically integrated into the platform.

The same would be the case with any kind of monitored high-performing network of services, as the

API can quickly determine when the load is too high, and automatically take steps to remedy the

problem if required by the customer.

Ease of use

The 100TB API is designed to be very easy for developers to use, regardless of how much experience

they may have. We encourage developers to play around with our API and see for themselves - how it

is intuitive it is to use. To kick things o�, we have provided some code examples: take a look by entering

your API key into the console [https://cp.100tb.com/rest-api/docs/] - you can access working examples

of each call. This also makes it easy also for junior developers to get up to speed, and start adding value

to your business. We built our API not as a prescriptive model, but as a tool for developers who are

looking for a service that will help them build the exact infrastructure solution they require.

WHAT’S NEXT?

At 100TB we are uncompromising in our pursuit of

better customer outcomes. We enjoy pushing

boundaries and love to challenge the status quo in our

industry. This is why we took a fresh approach: instead

of just referencing parts of a company’s operations,

our API wraps around all elements of our data centers.

We believe this is a key part of the future of the data

center as businesses look to drive greater value as

well as increased agility and mobility. Our perspective

challenges how software-based networking on the

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THE 100TB API




other vendor.




















competitors.









We are 100TB.com





locations.
























or software.

What is an API?



















Three waves of APIs






their own websites.













ABOUT THE 100TB API






the 100TB API:

Automation


























view of support.

Operational savings











Capacity













Ease of use








WHAT’S NEXT?












THE 100TB API

W W W . 1 0 0 T B . C O M

what 100tb's api can do for you

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