Confluent Cloud Gets Apache Flink API
Confluent Cloud now has more tools for developers who want to do real-time data analysis on their data streams.
The company, Confluent, unrevealed these enhancements at its Current 2024 annual user conference, being held this week in Austin.
“We want to make sure every developer can use our product with their familiar tools,” said Jean-Sébastien Brunner, Confluent director of product management, explaining the new offerings in an interview with TNS.
Using Apache Kafka as a base, Confluent has long helped organizations move from batch data management, where data is stored in a database first, to processing data on the fly as it arrives.
The company has added Table API support for the Apache Flink, making it easier for Java and Python programs to interface with the service.
Flink provides a way to analyze data as though it were stateful data stored on a disk.
A number of additional features have also been added to safeguard data streams, such as Client-Side Field Level Encryption, to meet the mandates of regulated industries as well.
“By encrypting, you make sure that you can be very explicit about the application and the user who will have access to this data,” Brunner said.
The company has also provided an extension for Visual Studio Code, one of the most popular IDEs.
Apache Flink
“Managed Apache Flink solutions can eliminate the complexities of infrastructure management while saving time and resources,” said Stewart Bond, research vice president at IDC, in a statement.
“Businesses must look for a Flink solution that seamlessly integrates with the tools, programming languages, and data formats they’re already using for easy implementation into business workflows,” he elaborated.
New Tools
Confluent Cloud for Apache Flink has offered a SQL API to query the data. With table support, developers can manage their from directly within their applications, making development faster and debugging easier.
Confluent Cloud now provides private networking support for customers, which simplifies network management and adds a layer of security to operations.
Initially, private networking support is generally available on Amazon Web Services for Enterprise and Dedicated clusters. Additional cloud platforms will be added shortly.
Confluent will provide more information about these tools at the conference this week.
Disclosure: Confluent paid for the writer of this post to attend this conference.
