* By Jose Larrucea
The use of APIs and SDKs has a history and for those who work with technology, these are familiar and commonly used words. In parallel, the technology of Telecom 5G networks and Artificial Intelligence (AI for friends) are more recent and perhaps, in the current context, they are being used more frequently.
As we have all seen, 2020 was a year in which technology played a leading role in helping to control the pandemic and in reducing the risks of contamination, through the development of applications and processes that eliminated the need for touch, video analytics detecting approach and agglomeration of people, generating alarms when individuals did not wear masks, thus maintaining public and private environments operating within the standards required by WHO.
It also showed that it is necessary more than ever to develop live, agile and open software and systems so that they can deliver excellence, even with reduced infrastructure. Therefore, in several places in the world, the race to adapt the systems, adding functionalities capable of managing the protocols for the functioning of essential services was only possible, in addition to the collective effort of people and processes, thanks to the existence of APIs and SDKs.
Every day, trillions of gigabytes of data are developed that need to be compatible with different technologies, servers, devices, and that are able to be shared, safely and quickly, with each other. Flexible technologies that allow you to unlock a wide variety of resources and that add intelligence to existing systems.
In 2020, APIs and SDKs were protagonists behind the scenes in the world of technology: they reduced the time to launch essential features and transformed data into actions capable of increasing security and mitigating the spread of Covid-19.
APIs and SDKs, with the help of artificial intelligence, made it possible to quickly adapt and develop non-modest systems and solutions. It was possible to add functionality to other software, adapting it in the most convenient way for its users. Some sectors, for example, managed to manage people avoiding agglomerations, in addition to reducing the bureaucracy of operations, making them work faster and without queues. Others managed to keep employees working in factories and offices with hands-free entry and exit and completely touchless. There were also those who managed to be more situationally aware of the public who used common spaces, detecting who wore or not wearing masks and identifying the percentage of people who were part of the age group corresponding to risk groups.
The complex, adverse and unprecedented scenario of the pandemic has, of necessity, left us a rich legacy of learning. We need to be agile and flexible in both the physical and digital worlds. These two worlds must even work in unison creating this environment phygital. Bringing the experience of the digital ecosystem to the physical is totally possible, after all, technology is there for the benefit of social well-being, the development of the economy and the generation of positive impacts on society. And the race never stops. All these features, quickly launched, left the world of codes and programming thanks to the integration of systems and commands compiled in what today is summarized in simple acronyms: APIs and SDKs.
What you gain from using APIs, SDKs and 5G
In Japan, where 5G is already a reality, the main cell phone company in the country set a beautiful example of how to add one more ingredient to this conversation: it created an employee authentication solution that allows access control using a smartphone.
The technology uses the 5G and SDK of a non-contact facial recognition system, compatible with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the prevention and control of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has high precision authentication, enabling high-resolution and high-speed data processing, bringing excellence in the recognition of employees with a mask, with high levels of precision and low latency communication.
In other words, just like in Japan, when 5G arrives in Brazil, it will allow us to take computer vision to levels never explored. With the use of APIs and SDKs, the possibilities are endless, from the creation of highly efficient digital points for KYC (Know Your Customer) services to the guidance of multiple flows such as entrances to hospitals, schools, transport; retail payments and use in various IoTs and wearables.
In fact, 5G will open doors to bring our reality closer to ever faster applications. Additionally, with the use of APIs, SDKs and AI, we will have convenient applications, much faster and much more intelligent.
*Jose Larrucea is RealNetworks International Sales SVP for Latam and EMEA
Notice: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies
EN 
PT 
