Kong and Solace announce partnership to unify API and real-time data and event streaming

Kong Inc. and Solace have announced a strategic partnership aimed at unifying how organisations manage APIs, real-time data, events, and AI-driven services. Under the agreement, Solace has joined Kong’s Premium Technology Partner Program, bringing the two platforms closer together to address governance, observability, and AI readiness across increasingly complex digital environments.

The partnership is positioned around the concept of a unified data fabric designed for what both companies describe as the agentic era. As enterprises deploy AI agents that act autonomously across systems, the ability to manage data flows consistently has become a growing concern. APIs, event streams, and AI services are often operated through separate tools, creating gaps in governance and visibility that can slow deployment and increase operational risk.

By aligning their platforms, Kong and Solace aim to reduce these silos. The combined offering is intended to provide a single control plane through which teams can oversee APIs, events, and AI services, while enforcing consistent policies across the full data lifecycle. This approach reflects a broader industry shift, where real-time data and APIs are no longer treated as distinct architectural layers but as interdependent components of modern digital infrastructure.

A single control plane for APIs, events, and AI services

At the technical level, the partnership brings together Solace’s capabilities in high-performance real-time data movement with Kong’s strengths in API and AI connectivity. Solace contributes event streaming, event governance, and orchestration for event-driven agentic AI systems, enabling data to move reliably and at scale across distributed environments. Kong, meanwhile, provides centralised API management, security enforcement, observability, and AI gateway functions.

Through this integration, teams are expected to manage APIs, event streams, large language models, and MCP servers through a unified interface. Policies covering authentication, access control, and lifecycle management can be applied consistently across the entire data path, from streaming events to REST APIs and AI service calls. The stated aim is to make all data interactions visible and governable within a single operational framework, rather than fragmented across multiple tools.

Ken Kim, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Kong Inc., said event-driven and API-driven architectures are increasingly intertwined. “Event-driven and API-driven architectures are no longer separate concerns,” he said. “By bringing Kong and Solace together under a unified control plane, customers gain centralized governance, consistent security policies, and end-to-end observability across every data interaction — from REST APIs to streaming events to AI agent calls. This is essential for organizations scaling in the agentic era.”

The emphasis on observability reflects growing enterprise demand for clearer insight into how data moves across systems, particularly when AI agents are involved. Without end-to-end visibility, organisations can struggle to diagnose issues, enforce compliance, or ensure that AI systems are operating within defined boundaries. The partnership positions observability not as an add-on, but as a core requirement for scaling AI-driven platforms.

Expanding the Kong ecosystem through the Premium Technology Partner Program

Solace’s inclusion in Kong’s Premium Technology Partner Program also highlights the commercial and ecosystem dimensions of the announcement. The programme is designed to bring validated integrations and plugins into the Kong ecosystem, focusing on compatibility with Kong Konnect and Kong Gateway Enterprise. Partners undergo validation against current commercial releases and receive engineering support to refine their integrations.

For enterprise customers, the programme is positioned as a way to access a curated set of integrations that meet Kong’s quality and support standards. This is intended to reduce the friction of adopting new technologies while maintaining confidence in security, performance, and long-term support. For partners such as Solace, participation offers closer collaboration with Kong’s engineering teams, earlier access to product features, and insight into product roadmaps.

Shawn McAllister, Chief Product Officer and Chief Technology Officer at Solace, framed the partnership around the role of real-time data in AI systems. “Real-time data is the lifeblood of modern, agentic AI,” he said. “Together with Kong, Solace is removing the silos between events, APIs, and AI services that slow down modern organizations, helping to accelerate innovation and empower teams to confidently scale their real-time, AI-ready platforms.”

The partnership reflects a broader trend in enterprise technology, where vendors are increasingly aligning around integrated platforms rather than standalone tools. As AI adoption accelerates, organisations are under pressure to move quickly without compromising governance or compliance. By focusing on unified control, consistent policy enforcement, and shared observability, Kong and Solace are positioning their combined offering as infrastructure for organisations seeking to operationalise AI at scale.