The API (Application Programming Interface) ecosystem is growing at a rapid pace, with more and more companies adopting the API-first approach and publishing APIs to share their data and services with others. The increasing popularity of new technologies like GraphQL and AsyncAPI has put pressure on traditional API management vendors to keep up, leading many teams to look for specialized, dedicated API runtimes and gateways to get the job done.

API management refers to the process of creating, managing, and publishing APIs in a secure and efficient manner. To address the challenges faced by traditional API management vendors, AIM has taken a unique approach to API management, splitting it into two distinct components: the management plane and the data plane.

The management plane is focused on the APIs themselves, making them easy to access for consumers and developers. This component is responsible for determining which APIs are published, ensuring that access is limited to authorized partners, and providing visibility, governance, and security policies on a per-API basis.

The data plane, on the other hand, is built by existing API gateways and runtimes and is responsible for executing client requests quickly and efficiently. This component focuses on low-level operations such as bandwidth and memory management to ensure maximum throughput.

By dividing API management into these two components, AIM is able to offer a solution that strikes a balance between the wide variety of functionality offered by traditional API management vendors and the stability and efficiency of specialized runtimes. And with AIM's expertise in professional services and operations excellence, the company is able to offer customers a seamless experience from development to deployment, ensuring that APIs are managed in a secure and efficient manner.

In summary, AIM's innovative approach to API management provides customers with a solution that truly meets their needs and helps them stay ahead of the curve in this rapidly evolving field. By splitting API management into the management plane and data plane, AIM is able to offer a balanced solution that provides a great developer experience, stability, and efficiency, all while ensuring that APIs are managed in a secure and efficient manner.

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