Integration market goes API‑first
Integration platform‑as‑a‑service is scaling fast — the market is projected at $17.3B (2025) with ~25% CAGR — and the 2026 narrative centers on API‑first, real‑time integration and security as the foundation for device‑to‑cloud systems. That shift matters for tying Apple devices, manufacturing systems, and cloud services into unified workflows. (openpr.com)
Gartner named MuleSoft (Salesforce) a Leader in the 2024 Magic Quadrant for iPaaS, marking MuleSoft’s ninth consecutive Leader placement in analyst coverage announced Feb. 22, 2024. (salesforce.com) Postman’s 2025 State of the API report found 82% of organizations run some form of API‑first development and 25% are fully API‑first, a 12 percentage‑point increase versus 2024. (voyager.postman.com) Salt Labs’ Q1 2025 State of API Security reported 99% of surveyed organizations experienced API security issues in the prior 12 months and only 20% had continuous API monitoring implemented. (salt.security) IBM completed its acquisition of Confluent (reported at roughly $11 billion), folding Confluent’s event‑streaming platform into IBM’s portfolio to make real‑time streaming a core integration layer for applications and AI agents. (ibm.com) Confluent and the broader Kafka ecosystem are now positioned as the backbone for event‑driven, low‑latency integration patterns that enterprises cite as essential for AI‑ready and operational real‑time use cases. (confluent.io) Industrial IoT platforms used in manufacturing—PTC ThingWorx, Siemens MindSphere and AWS IoT SiteWise among them—publish native connectors and integration guidance for PLCs, MES, ERP and historians to move shop‑floor signals into cloud workflows. (ptc.com) Apple’s “Apple at Work” manufacturing success stories cite iPad and iPhone deployments for inventory tracking and predictive maintenance on factory floors, illustrating vendor and device usage patterns that iPaaS and API‑first architectures must integrate. (apple.com)
