Nordic APIs Digest - Analyzing API Uptime Patterns Across 215+ Services

AI-era microservices, reliability data across 215 APIs, MCP architecture tips, developer-led metrics, API monetization signals, and our AI policy. View this email in your browser 2026 | Issue #6 | Blog | Contribute Hello world, Are microservices still relevant in the age of AI? It's a provocative question — and one made for the API community to tackle head-on. In this post, Janet Wagner does a great job checking in with the experts. The consensus? AI arguably makes microservices more integral, as well-defined modular functions are ideal for AI consumability. We also take a look at emerging best practices around MCP server development. J Simpson highlights areas ranging from architectural separation to security requirements, tool design, monitoring, and more. Read it to know what elements separate low-effort MCP designs from production-grade, enterprise-ready servers. In this digest, we're excited to welcome a new contributor, Shibley Burnett, who analyzed uptime data from over 200 popular APIs. Check out the trends across the market on reliability, throughout major clouds, infrastructure providers, and developer tooling. Amid a recent string of major outages, finding out why they occur is becoming increasingly important. We also cover a couple of helpful business themes. Art Anthony explores a great talk from WSO2's Derric Gilling at Platform Summit 2025 on what metrics to focus on when driving developer-led product growth. Another piece from J Simpson considers how to determine when it's time to monetize internal APIs. Telltale signs include when APIs have large internal use, have proven value, are already well-managed, and when the user base is clear. Lastly, we're bringing awareness to the Nordic APIs generative AI policy. If you are an active member of our community, please give it a read. The policy supports our goals to support authentic trade discussion and retain content quality and integrity, which we feel our blog readers and event audience deserve. I think it strikes a fair balance between what's appropriate usage and what's not. That said, we're open to thoughts from the community. Thanks for reading, – Bill Doerrfeld, Editor in Chief, Nordic APIs Event Updates Platform Summit 2026 October 12–14, 2026 | Stockholm, Sweden Super Early Bird Registration is now open for this year’s Platform Summit and UnConference! Register now to get up to 30% off your ticket for either event or a bundle. New Blog Posts 8 Tips and Best Practices for MCP Server Development By: J Simpson Model Context Protocol (MCP) has been absolutely everywhere since it was first released in November 2024. Sometimes referred to as the “USB-C of AI,” MCP has come forward to help tame some of AI’s most glaring issues, namely a lack of standardization around integration as well as the context to understand what it’s accessing. Given … API Reliability Report 2026: Uptime Patterns Across 215+ Services By: Shibley Burnett If your application calls even one third-party API, its reliability ceiling is no longer yours to control. That is the uncomfortable truth behind the uptime numbers API Status Check has been tracking since late 2025 across more than 215 services spanning cloud infrastructure, AI, payments, developer tools, and communications. This is not a ranking exercise. … Are Microservices Still Relevant in the Age of AI? By: Janet Wagner If you build distributed applications, you’re likely already familiar with microservices. While the definition varies across the tech industry, I prefer the one from Sam Newman’s book Building Microservices. In it, he concisely describes microservices as “small, autonomous services that work together.” The concepts of microservices have been around for about fifteen years now. However, … The Key Metrics Behind Developer-Led API Growth By: Art Anthony Over the past decade or two, APIs have quietly shifted from behind-the-scenes infrastructure to fully-fledged products. And companies that treat them as such are making big bucks doing so. According to Postman’s 2025 State of the API Report, 65% of organizations now generate revenue from their API programs. And, among organizations that make money from … The Nordic APIs Generative AI Policy By: Bill Doerrfeld AI introduces many exciting developments in the software industry. However, the uncontrolled use of generative AI has the potential to undermine our mission to provide a platform for authentic voices in the API community. For this reason, we are clarifying our AI usage policy. This policy applies to anyone who contributes content to Nordic APIs, … 10 Signs Your Internal APIs Are Ready for Monetization By: J Simpson APIs are no longer just infrastructure holding organizations together. They’re business products in their own right. As Postman put it in the 2024 State of the API report, “62% of respondents report working with APIs that generate income. This signals the rise of the API-as-a-product model, where APIs are designed, developed, and marketed as strategic … Twitter LinkedIn YouTube nordicapis.com Email Bluesky Curity is an API security and identity and access management provider — purpose-built for the age of agentic AI. Learn more at Curity.io. Nordic APIs is an international community of API practitioners and enthusiasts. Would you like to contribute to our blog? Submit here. Would you like to speak at one of our events? Submit here. Copyright © 2026 Nordic APIs, All rights reserved. To manage your preferences, update your subscription settings. 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