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EIDR, Reshuffle Share API Advances

At the recent Media & Entertainment Day event, Richard Kroon, director of technical operations for the Entertainment ID Registry (EIDR), and Reshuffle CEO Avner Braverman shared how to overcome the challenges of offering new content services by using so-called API “shims.”

The presentation — “Delivering New Services without Building New Services” — focused on how by adopting open-source, standards-based tools (such as Reshuffle’s API construction suite) allows the industry to work more efficiently without the long-term risks and costs associated with proprietary vendor lock-in, and how EIDR’s innovative approach to modernizing APIs allows for the combining of flexibility to quickly add new functionality, all without compromising the stability of existing APIs.

“We’re very sensitive to change, and we never want to break an existing integration,” Kroon said. “This makes us risk-averse, and inspires us to over-engineer.”

His presentation looked at how companies can leverage APIs for modular design and code-reuse, and perform complex tasks with a small amount of linking JavaScript. EIDR brought in the Reshuffle integration platform to expand EIDR ID resolution and query services to support JSON resolution, in addition to EIDR-native XML, Kroon said.

To date, EIDR has issued more than 21.4 million content IDs, and services 350 million API calls each year, with global M&E customers having integrated the EIDR API into mission-critical systems operating around the clock. To change the existing EIDR API would require senior-level architects and developers, extensive planning and testing prior to release, and essentially zero tolerance for risk or experimentation.

Instead, by expanding the EIDR API with Reshuffle, EIDR has been able to deliver new features (and fast to meet clients’ needs). In a short time, EIDR has delivered Resolve, Pass-Through (XPath) Query, and JSON Query APIs, integration with the EIDR Content ID, Video Service, and Party registries, support for all EIDR resolution types and JSON and TSV return options via type parameter/accept header via the same API.

Next, EIDR aims to integrate the new APIs into its own operations, add new resolution types and formats (EN 15907, RDF, ISAN), and transition EIDR from linked-data friendly to linked-data native support.

Click here to access the full video presentation. Click here to access the presentation slide deck.

M&E Day was sponsored by IBM Security, Microsoft Azure, SHIFT, Akamai, Cartesian, Chesapeake Systems, ContentArmor, Convergent Risks, Deluxe, Digital Nirvana, edgescan, EIDR, PK, Richey May Technology Solutions, STEGA, Synamedia and Signiant and was produced by MESA, in cooperation with NAB Show New York, and in association with the Content Delivery & Security Association (CDSA) and the Hollywood IT Society (HITS).