The new year will hold special significance for the many users of ICE Mortgage Technology’s iconic Encompass loan origination system (LOS): The company will begin sunsetting its long-standing software development kit (SDK) in 2025, prodding the majority of the mortgage industry to transition to the more efficient and accurate Encompass Partner Connect (EPC) ecosystem that leverages the up-to-date application programming interface (API).
Many companies have seen the change coming for years. After all, ICE’s SDK has been in use for two decades.
Following its $11.9 billion acquisition of Black Knight, ICE now commands a roughly 70% share of the mortgage technology market, so whatever it does affects the entire industry. There’s nowhere for Luddites to hide. In late October, ICE announced a grace period for those who are slower to adapt to the change: It will begin Nov. 1, 2025, and, come May 1, 2026, those who insist on clinging to the SDK will do so under a modest monthly fee schedule.
No wonder vendors and lenders who are happy with the SDK are nervous about making the switch. It feels ominous.
But it isn’t.
Part of the problem is the mystery that surrounds SDKs and APIs. To help explain this, as with everything, the best analogy is a rock analogy.
Think of an SDK as a classic rock band—typically four or five musicians, each specializing in a particular instrument for a specific genre: There’s a drummer, a bass player, a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist, and sometimes a keyboard player—someone usually doubles as lead vocalist.
The Beatles and the Rolling Stones fit this model. Both are iconic, and there are no real complaints about their fabulous music. They’ve been a part of the cultural landscape for over half a century.
But consider the prog-rock band Rush, a three-person powerhouse that changed music forever. How did Rush do so much with less? Mainly because of Geddy Lee, a multi-instrumentalist and creative genius. He’s the reason Rush has always sounded as big as bigger bands.
Geddy Lee was Rush’s API. He seamlessly connected drums and vocals through a mosaic of keys, bass, and guitar.
Put in much drier terms, an SDK is a collection of tools, libraries, and code samples built for a specific platform, while an API is a set of rules and protocols that allows different software apps to talk to each other.
SDK-customized functionality has enabled the mortgage industry in revolutionary ways, but APIs can do more with less. Five people on a stage means a lot of cables, and that means a lot can go wrong. Similarly, sometimes, a single SDK can add tens or even hundreds of third-party code dependencies, meaning anyone using the code takes on those various third-party security risks.
In recent years, across all industry tech, there’s been a trend of using an SDK that also has an API or more than one API, plus a bevy of plugins intended to cover any gaps between the legacy SDK (which was originally a customized solution) and the API. However, now, a well-written web-based API can work without an SDK, minimizing security risks while offering all of the functionality of an SDK.
Troy Tomas, ICE’s chief engineer, said as much in a recent interview with HousingWire: “It’s technically easier to resolve and respond to the proactive maintenance of an API because it’s in the modern tech stack.”
Better maintenance means better security. It also means faster processing—something lenders have been demanding for a long time.
As lenders remove SDK plugins and switch to an API approach, not only will they gain more capabilities and flexibility—they’ll see major speed improvements.
API code doesn’t run every time a loan is opened or saved like an SDK-based plugin does, which makes the Encompass Smart Client experience much faster.
There are other advantages as well, including:
- Simplified overall installation and account activation;
- Rapid deployment of new features;
- A unified experience across Smart Client and other browser-based tools; and
- Automated service ordering out-of-the-box.
However, is ICE “forcing” the mortgage community to use the API as so many SDK loyalists have claimed? No.
The introduction of a modest fee schedule for those who want to use the SDK after May 1, 2026, makes it clear that ICE knows some of its clients are more change-averse than others.
Besides, most Encompass users will likely find themselves using both the web app and the desktop app rather than moving entirely to the web—a situation familiar to all of us as we pivot to meet our clients’ various needs.
So, what should mortgage technologists do between now and Nov. 1, 2025?
- Keep up to date on guidance from ICE Mortgage Technology
- Catalog SDK usage in your environment
- Use Encompass Home -> Customization Reporting
- Categorize each application according to how mission-critical it is
- Work with your trusted vendors to learn their migration plans
Don’t worry. Everything will still work—just better.
Patrick O’Brien is CEO of LenderLogix.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners.
To contact the editor responsible for this piece: [email protected].
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