What is our primary use case?
Functional: Integrate Supply Chain automation; Financial System integrations
Technical: Expose API's to Trading Partners
How has it helped my organization?
It's provided a complete and architecturally sound solution for building publicly facing API's that can be consumed and invoked by client-side devices, such as mobile. Calling APIs from JavaScript sounds easy, but it must be secure and performance driven. Mulesoft allows for that.
Integrating cloud to cloud or SaaS to on premise has its considerations, and Mulesoft improves the development, design, and implementation of integrating federated systems and datastores across clouds, networks, and domains.
What is most valuable?
- Ability to create and test API "microservices" using RAML
- Develop policies that can be applied and re-used across API's and trading partners
- Strong security and integration to identity providers to protect public facing APIs
- Intuitive development tools based on fundamental computer science concepts, drag/drop
- Simple cloud and hybrid cloud deployment models. Good security by putting each application onto a separate VM in the cloud.
- Large set of connectors
- Innovative concept with "Connector Marketplace" which is similar to Salesforce.
- Solid integration with DevOps and continuous integration tools.
- Good build for its transformation, translation, and orchestration features. For example, visual mapping, an IDE for building visual flows, drag and drop connectors and templates.
What needs improvement?
- Mulesoft doesn't provide a complete stack. For example, it doesn't have BPM/Workflow, BAM, or Identity Management products.
- The User Interfaces on the Mulesoft tools aren't as nice as some of it's competitors.
- Improved business level analytics is currently on the roadmap.
- We created a framework for transaction management since one is not provided out of the box.
For how long have I used the solution?
Three to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There have been no stability issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Good scalability in AWS/EC2.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
10/10 - They have a very strong customer success and professional services team.
Technical Support:
9/10 - They're very quick to help with tickets and deploy fixes.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used Software AG webMethods and Oracle SOA Suite at other customers, but none have switched.
What about the implementation team?
I've implemented it both ways. Their vendor team is 10/10 for their RapidStart program to help customer with their initial use cases.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Consider cloud vs. on-premise. Have a good vision of your medium term needs so you can plan for growth. Develop an API/integration roadmap
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
For API we looked at Apigee, Axway, Mashery, and CA Layer 7.
For ESB/SOA we looked at SAG webMethods, and IBM.
What other advice do I have?
Our approach is to know your use cases (through workshops), and map them back to vendor capabilities to scorecard the platforms.
Which version of this solution are you currently using?
3.8