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The team at StrongLoop, Inc. helps companies succeed in connecting mobile, Internet of Things (IoT) and next-generation web applications with enterprise data and services in a hybrid cloud environment. Today, IBM announced that it acquired StrongLoop to help you accelerate your digital transformation.

What does this mean for you?

Like most of you, I’ve come to rely on a growing number of mobile devices. My go-to devices are my iPhone and iPad. These, and all the applications on them, keep me on time, on course, and engaged with my family, my clients and my IBM team.

As you may recall, the IBM MobileFirst team is working with Apple to deliver best-in-class iOS enterprise apps. These mobile apps major on simplicity and exceptional end-to-end experience for the user, but behind the scenes they can be quite complex. It’s not uncommon for mobile apps to have many application programming interfaces, or APIs, that connect to a variety of enterprise and cloud services. When you think of the explosive growth of mobile, IoT, and web apps, the number of APIs becomes staggering.

As enterprises strive to create new business models and deliver truly engaging customer experiences, APIs provide an efficient way to connect front-end mobile and web applications to your treasure trove of customer data and business logic. Node.js has emerged as one of the leading frameworks for APIs, and JavaScript is the top-ranked language, closely followed by Java, according to the June 2015 Redmonk Programming Language Rankings.

With this acquisition, IBM adds additional Node.js capabilities from StrongLoop to its existing Java, JavaScript and .Net capabilities as a one-stop shop for integration developers. Today, we launch StrongLoop ARC services integrated on IBM Bluemix, IBM’s cloud platform for innovation. IBM is also integrating StrongLoop Node.js with our WebSphere, DataPower, API Management and MobileFirst offerings.

Open by design

And all of these efforts are open by design with a strong commitment to the developer ecosystem. Like IBM, StrongLoop is a Node.js Foundation founder, bringing the technology into full open governance so enterprises can use Node.js with confidence. StrongLoop is also a dedicated contributor to Node.js, and it maintains more than 160 modules within Node Package Manager. Together, IBM will continue to promote, support and invest in this open community as it tackles new challenges. Plans include support for globalization contributions and further integration with Java and WebSphere technologies.

Why? Because using a core set of open technologies unlocks the true value of your enterprise architecture. From trusted, open API frameworks like Node.js to leading Apache projects, IBM is designing offerings you can count on to help meet your needs today and tomorrow.

Everyone is focused on digital transformation to personalize the client experience and unleash new business models. Connecting users with enterprise services is one step on that journey.

I encourage you to sign up for a free trial of Bluemix and explore how you can unleash your services through API best practices in the Bluemix Garage. As you think about your digital transformation—from systems to cloud to mobile to analytics—focusing on API management and an open technology architecture is key, because open tech is how we all will stay ahead of the innovation curve.

Finally, I invite you to watch this space. I am confident that IBM and StrongLoop are the winning combination that will help you unlock your potential. For more information about the StrongLoop announcement, take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions. Today’s announcement is just the beginning.

Marie Wieck is General Manager, IBM Middleware