Confluent just announced a new managed service for Apache Flink to make it easier for users to create data streams.
Stream processing is a technology that allows data professionals to use data as it arrives instead of working on older data that has already been processed. It is needed for purposes such as fraud detection, predictive maintenance and real-time inventory and supply chain management, according to Confluent.
Flink is typically used to support stream processing workloads, but according to the company, getting started can mean facing challenges such as upfront costs, ongoing maintenance efforts, and the need to deal with the complexities associated with it.
Confluent Cloud for Apache Flink will allow customers to quickly get started with the added support of Confluent through integrated monitoring, security and management. It has a 99.999% uptime SLA and is currently available through AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.
“Stream Processing enables organizations to transform raw streams of data into powerful insights,” said Shaun Clowes, Chief Product Officer at Confluent. “Flink’s high performance, low latency and strong community make it the best choice for stream processing developers. With Kafka and Flink fully integrated into a single platform, Confluent removes the technical barriers and provides the necessary tools so organizations can focus on innovation instead of infrastructure management.”