DataPower

DataPower is a family of security and integration appliances and virtual appliances developed by IBM for securing, accelerating, and mediating web services and APIs in enterprise environments. The line originated with DataPower Corporation, founded to produce purpose-built XML security and integration devices, and was acquired by IBM in 2005. Since then IBM has expanded the family to include hardware appliances and virtual deployments that run dedicated DataPower firmware, suitable for on-premises, virtual, and cloud contexts.

Key capabilities include API gateway and security features such as mutual TLS, OAuth, SAML, and WS-Security; authentication and authorization; encryption and SSL termination; content inspection; and policy enforcement. DataPower devices provide message-level security for SOAP and REST, XML and JSON threat protection, digital signatures, and data loss prevention. They also offer protocol bridging, message transformation and routing using XSLT and XQuery, as well as caching and load balancing to improve performance. In deployment, they can act as reverse proxies, gateways, and service gateways, sitting at the network edge or within data centers, and in virtual form for cloud integration.

Use cases commonly include securing and accelerating interactions between on-premises systems and cloud services, enforcing consistent security policies across APIs and services, enabling partner integrations, and delivering API management at the edge. They typically integrate with IBM’s broader integration and API platforms, such as IBM App Connect and IBM API Connect, and with identity and access management infrastructures.

The DataPower line continues to receive firmware updates and supports virtual appliance deployments, reflecting IBM’s emphasis on secure, enterprise-grade integration for hybrid environments.