Apigee Edge vs Apigee X: Key
Differences and Apigee X Migration Guide

Introduction

Is your API management strategy designed and developed for the future, or are you still relying on legacy systems slowing your business down? APIs ensure continuous communication and digital transformation by seamlessly connecting applications, services, and data. However, traditional API management platforms like Apigee Edge fail to keep up with growing technologies, scalability, security, and performance demands.

If your business still relies on Apigee Edge, then it’s time for Apigee X migration. Apigee X is the updated version of the Google Cloud API management platform. It is designed to enhance automation, improve security, and provide analytics to help businesses improve API efficiency.

Businesses are afraid to migrate to Apigee X due to the fear of losing data, system downtime and reconfiguration challenges. We help you accelerate the migration process of NeosAlpha Apigee Migration Accelerator. This blog will help you understand why you must opt for Apigee Edge to Apigee X migration to prove your API management strategy in the future.

Understanding Apigee Edge & Apigee X

What is Apigee Edge?

Apigee Edge is a comprehensive Google Cloud API management platform. It acts like an intermediary layer between your backend services and applications that consume API. It is designed to develop, secure, monitor, and scale your APIs. Instead of directly exposing your backend systems, you can create API proxies in Apigee Edge. 

Key Features of Apigee Edge:

• API Proxy Management
  Apigee Edge simplifies the challenges of backend services and makes APIs easily consumable. Businesses can create API proxies that abstract your backend services. Without disturbing API consumers, it allows you to evolve your backend system with features like traffic management, request/response transformations, and routing, which are central to this capability.

• Security Policies & Monitoring
  Protect your APIs with Apigee’s set of pre-built and customisable security policies. These policies include authentication, authorisation, threat protection, and traffic management. Businesses can proactively identify and resolve API issues by analysing insights into API traffic, performance, error rates, and developer consumption.

• On-premises, Cloud, and Hybrid Deployment
  Apigee Edge can be deployed in all environments—on-premise, cloud, and hybrid. It allows you to align your API management infrastructure with your IT strategy and regulatory requirements. 

What is Apigee X?

Apigee X is Google Cloud’s next-generation API management platform. It is specially designed to address the demands and needs of the modern digital landscape. Features like cloud-native architecture make it more evolved and reliable than its predecessor, Apigee Edge. Apigee X is a more agile and intelligent way to effectively manage APIs and connect with applications, partners, and customers. 

Advanced Features of Apigee X:

• Cloud-Native Architecture (Kubernetes-Powered)
  Apigee X is built on the scalable foundation of Kubernetes, which offers unmatched scalability and resilience. Your infrastructure is now ready to handle massive loads and fluctuating usage without relying on manual intervention.  

• Enhanced Security with Google Cloud Armor
  It allows you to protect your APIs from the largest DDoS attacks by using Cloud Armor’s rule sets and threat intelligence to block a wide range of vulnerabilities and threats. Apigee X allows you to centrally manage your API security policies within the Google Cloud ecosystem for a consistent approach to protecting your digital assets.

• Google Cloud Integration
  Unlock opportunities with Google Cloud services like Cloud Functions, Cloud Run, App Engine and various data storage solutions. Apigee X allows you to manage your API infrastructure and integrate with the Cloud’s identity and access management to enhance API control.
• Advanced Analytics with BigQuery & AI
  By leveraging Google Cloud’s BigQuery and AI/ML capabilities, Apigee X takes API analytics to the next level. Scalable data warehousing allows you to perform complex queries efficiently and analyse massive datasets.
  It even allows you to create custom reports and analyse API performance deeply. You can also leverage Google Cloud’s AI and ML capabilities to gain predictive insights, personalise API experiences, and automate responses.

Key Difference Between Apigee Edge and Apigee X

Apigee X is the advanced and more reliable Google Cloud API management platform. With its cloud-native architecture and flexibility, it allows businesses to scale without worrying about API control and data security. 

Why Migrate from Apigee Edge to Apigee X?

Apigee Edge has served as a robust API management platform for years, and now Apigee X is the new and modern face with the capabilities for the evolving technological landscape. Staying on Apigee Edge will limit your ability to scale and innovate based on market demands. 

Key Limitations of Apigee Edge

• Limited Support
  Google’s primary focus is migrating customers to Apigee X, and there is limited support available for Apigee Edge. There will be hardly any new features or significant enhancements, and the Apigee support portal has also changed. Even community support is shrinking, making finding an expert or relevant use case difficult.

• Outdated Architecture
  Apigee Edge relies more on traditional monolithic architecture, which makes scaling complex and resource-intensive. You need to scale the entire platform even if the load is increasing on specific parts, which increases operational costs.
  Development and deployment of new features on Apigee Edge are time-consuming and risky. Businesses need to work on multiple components to adapt to new technologies and integrate them with modern cloud applications on tightly coupled architectures.

• Limited Roadmap for Future Updates
  As Google Cloud focuses on Apigee X, there are hardly any new features and upgrades available for Apigee Edge. While Google keeps providing security patches and stability updates for some time, businesses relying on Apigee Edge might miss the following: Apigee Edge is not likely to keep up with technological changes like cloud services and AI/ML capabilities.
  Also, businesses using Apigee Edge face limitations in handling growing API traffic and demand.
• Challenges in Integrating Modern Cloud Services
  Apigee Edge does offer some level of cloud integration, but it is not architected for all modern cloud services and applications. Challenges of integrating modern cloud services using Apigee Edge:-
  – Required complex configuration and custom development to integrate Apigee Edge with modern technologies and services like serverless functions, data analytics platforms and AI/ML engines.
  – Poor performance when interacting with cloud-native applications and solutions. Additionally, due to integration limitations, businesses might miss out on leveraging the full potential of modern cloud innovations to enhance their API. 

Apigee X is the Future of API Management

Apigee X is the evolution of Google Cloud API management services. It is designed on cloud-native architecture, offering high scalability and resilience while deep integration with Google’s ecosystem to unleash advanced security, data analytics and the benefits of modern digital transformation. 

With Apigee X migration, businesses can future-proof their API strategy with minimum downtime and disruption. 

Strategic Importance of Adopting Apigee X

Google has made significant investments in Apigee X to make it the future API management platform and an essential Data and AI integration tool. Today, digital evolution is based on Artificial Intelligence, and businesses must harness its power. APIs leverage data and AI to drive value and enable monetisation. 

Businesses can generate revenue from their data and insights by adopting Apigee X’s robust and built-in monetisation capabilities. Google’s thought leadership and forward-thinking vision to provide the most updated API management platform are clearly visible in the Apigee X capabilities. 

Key Benefits of Apigee X

Apigee X is the most updated version of Google Cloud API management, with capabilities to scale your business and use advanced features like AI, ML, etc. 

• Future-Proof Your API Infrastructure for Unpredictable Growth
  Apigee X simplifies how your business scales and manages API traffic growth with unpredictable spikes. The cloud-native and Kubernetes architecture ensures quick scalability while maintaining performance and avoiding disruption to ongoing operations. Now, businesses can scale without worrying about investing in infrastructure and maintaining API management.

• Strengthen Your Security Posture Against Evolving Threats
  Enhance your API security and protection with Google Cloud Armor against sophisticated threats. Apigee X offers more robust and global security solutions to address all your concerns related to API vulnerabilities and the need to meet with security compliance.

• Unlock the Power of Your API Data
  Leverage vast data flowing through your APIs to gain in-depth business insights, provide personalised customer experiences, and predict future trends. Google Cloud’s AI, ML, and data analytics services with Apigee X make data insights more accessible.

• Accelerate Your Innovation Cycles and Improve Development Efficiency
  New API upgrades were quite a challenge in Apigee Edge. With Apigee X migration, organisations can quickly release new API-driven products and services. Also, Apigee X enhanced API lifecycle management and automation capabilities with advanced tools and features. This reduces time to market and fosters an agile approach to API development. 

Why Choose NeosAlpha for Apigee X Migration?

Apigee X migration can be a complex process. It depends on evaluating readiness, updating configuration, and ensuring minimum downtime and disruption. With years of expertise as Apigee Partner, we have built our Migration Accelerator to simplify and automate the migration process, providing a fast, reliable, and structured path to Apigee X.

• Expertise in Legacy Systems Integration
  Ensuring compatibility with the existing backend system is one of the most common challenges during migration. To address this, we conduct thorough assessments of your existing backend systems. This helps us identify potential compatibility issues and implement robust integration strategies.

• Automated Configuration Migration
  Apigee Edge accumulates many configurations over time, and manually transferring them to Apigee X is time-consuming and prone to errors. We automate the transfer of your Apigee Edge configuration, minimize the risk of errors, and accelerate the migration process. Our tool intelligently transforms your API proxies, policies, and configurations.

• Zero Downtime Migration Strategies
  Downtime during migration can be a nightmare for businesses relying on APIs for their critical operations and revenue systems. Our migration approach will ensure minimal downtime by focusing on phased rollouts and comprehensive testing in parallel environments. While transitioning to Apigee X, we maintain the stability of your Apigee Edge setup.

Key Features of NeosAlpha’s Apigee Migration Accelerator

Our  Apigee Migration Accelerator features to ensure that Apigee X migration is done without disrupting ongoing operations with minimal downtime. 

1. Automated Migration Process

Automating the key migration process, Migration Accelerator reduces the dependency on manual efforts while minimizing the risk of errors. This approach ensures an effortless transition of policies, configuration, and sources directly to Apigee X. 

2. RAG Report for Migration Assessment 

The RAG report assesses an organization’s readiness to migrate from Apigee Edge. This report helps to understand the time, resources and support required during migration. Businesses can proactively identify potential issues and resolve them to avoid downtime. RAG report includes

• Red – Areas that required modifications before migration
• Amber – Components that can be fixed with minor adjustments
• Green – Workflows that are ready for migration without any changes

3. Customizable Migration Pathway

Our Apigee Migration Accelerator is built to address an organization’s unique needs and requirements. It can easily handle specific policies and custom configurations and meet the enterprise’s needs during migration.

4. Expert Support and Guidance

We offer comprehensive support during the migration. From the initial RAG assessment to post-migration testing, we guide you through every stage and ensure that each migration is aligned with best practices and compliance requirements and optimized.  

Conclusion

Shifting from Apigee Edge to Apigee X is an upgrade of your existing API management platform and a strategic move towards scalability, security and innovation. Businesses are adopting cloud-native technologies and infrastructure, and staying on legacy API can limit your growth among competitors.

Apigee X ensures that you are future-ready with the latest API management platform, with its advanced analytics, AI-driven insights, and deep integration with Google Cloud services.

Downtime, disruption, and data loss can be a business’s primary concerns while migrating to Apigee X. However, the right approach can ensure a seamless transition, zero downtime, automated configuration, and support from experts at each stage.

FAQs

1. Why should my business migrate from Apigee Edge to Apigee X?

A—Apigee Edge is a robust API management solution that fails to meet growing demand and scale with growing businesses. Apigee X is built on Google Cloud with a cloud-native architecture designed to scale with advanced analytics for better API insights. Apigee Edge requires manual scaling and infrastructure management, whereas Apigee X can be scaled automatically natively with Google Cloud. Apigee X migration will save you costs, enhance security and ensure long-term reliability. 

2. How long does migrating from Apigee Edge to Apigee X take?

A—There is no fixed timeline, as migration to Apigee X depends on multiple factors, such as the compatibility of your existing API ecosystem, the number of APIs, custom configurations, and the need for automation. Small-scale migration might take a few weeks, and for larger enterprises, it might take several months. However, our Apigee Migration Accelerator significantly reduces migration time by streamlining API reconfiguration and testing.

3. What are the costs associated with migrating to Apigee X?

A—The cost of migrating from Apigee Edge to X depends on the scale of operations, the number of APIs, data transfer volumes, and the requirement for tailored integration. We provide a cost-effective migration with minimum downtime, automation and post-migration fixes. By designing and developing customized solutions for you, we ensure that you only pay for the required services. To get a cost-effective solution, talk to our experts. 

4. How does Apigee X help businesses monetize APIs?

A—Apigee X offers tailored API pricing models, subscription plans, and usage-based billing to monetize your APIs. To manage API consumption, you can define API access tyres, apply rate limits, and track API usage in real time. Moreover, using detailed API analytics, organizations can identify high-value APIs to optimize pricing strategies and create new revenue streams. 

5. How to reduce downtime during the migration process?

A – To ensure minimal downtime during migration, businesses should adopt a phased approach by running Apigee Edge and Apigee X parallel. It is best to take proactive measures to identify issues, resolve them and implement traffic management techniques to prevent disruptions. Our Migration Accelerator automates API reconfiguration and testing to speed up migration.