A new API developer platform arrives this week in the shape of SOA Software Open. Intended to bring application developers together with those publishing APIs, the platform integrates with on-premise enterprise API platforms and with SOA governance products across what is said to be "all stages" of the code development lifecycle.

Companies can deploy the platform to manage their APIs for either private or public developer communities.

"Our combination of API management capabilities with a social community makes it easy for developers to collaborate in building apps with scalable APIs," said Alistair Farquharson, CTO of SOA Software. "We are offering an open, free-of-charge playground where developers can come together to create innovate apps around open and private APIs."

SOA Software Open enables developers to join a community of developers to build apps, ask questions, search discussions and tickets, follow users, APIs, apps or groups, form new groups, or… even just quietly lurk.

Programmers can also document their API via a dynamic framework to create interactive documents, or by uploading their own documents. They can then monitor API or app performance and see where traffic is coming from via a real-time dashboard, historic charts, and reports. Programmers can also debug to identify and track issues and fix problems before they impact customers.