Why is API increasingly critical these days?
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We definitely increased the number of integrations through API. So we basically put API into everything now. In many cases, you don't even need an appliance because it collects all the telemetry data from whatever you have in your environment, whether it's a firewall, a switch, if you have Forescout, we pull data from any of these tools. That's really been helping our customers. It's a no brainer thing. Nvidia recently became a huge customer of ours, not on the security side, but on the asset management side, because all we did was plug into their firewall, we plugged into their CrowdStrike, their MDM tool, whatever. And then bam, you get one big inventory of everything right there in one place. It was a big advantage to all of our customers that way, rather than deploying any hardware or software or anything like that.
Yes. As a product person, every time I'm talking to folks, I have to say, "No, you can do whatever you want, but the security layer is so strong that don't forget that that's the bullseye. You can design whatever you want, but one mistake in that layer and you have created a challenge for everybody." So that's a big part of understanding that, when you're doing an enterprise product, this is a key, key requirement.
The API layer is becoming extremely critical now, because everybody wants to customize applications and usage data in a way that doesn't matter whether you are an SME, you're the most technical architect, or you're just somebody in HR, a generalist who may not be technical, however everyone needs to use the same tools. And how do we make it very simple, so that they can integrate and just get the work done? And more and more, you're seeing that when you're doing new hires, or when employees are leaving, or you're closing a sales deal, we just want to collaborate with a partner. And now there's so much data that's being shared, how do I make sure that a certain amount of data is shared in that collaboration tool, like Miro or whatever it is? At the same time, I'm also keeping that data just restricted to that partner, whether it's me and Cisco that's working, or it's Forescout and Cisco that's working. So all the security, but at the same time, that experience. So that's why the API layer now is becoming even more important to build quick and easy integrations, that makes it very easy for the customer.
Nivedita, what you just said is just so, so right. And big companies are just not, they're not geared to dealing with APIs yet.
Because more and more of what we do is moving data between systems. That’s impossible without APIs to help is connect the dots as it were.