Systems | Development | Analytics | API | Testing

Last year, we introduced Freight clusters, a new, cost-effective Confluent Cloud cluster type—purpose-built for high-throughput, latency-insensitive workloads—such as observability data, batch pipelines, and AI/ML data ingestion. Since then we've been working with early access customers to take their workloads to production, and in doing so, have helped them achieve 90% lower infrastructure costs, while maintaining the reliability we all know and expect from Confluent Cloud.

In the ever-evolving landscape of data streaming and processing, securing and efficiently connecting services has become paramount as it ensures the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of data amidst increasing threats and complexity in cyber environments. Effective security measures must protect against data breaches and losses, fostering trust among stakeholders and complying with legal and regulatory standards.

Real-time data has become an essential asset for today’s businesses, and the Asia-Pacific market is no exception. Across competitive industries like finance, travel, and more, data streams and event-driven architectures have become table stakes for leading organizations in the region.

We’re excited to announce the Create Embeddings Action, the newest member of Confluent Cloud for Apache Flink Actions suite and the first step in our journey toward no-code AI workflows. This no-code feature enables you to generate vector embeddings in real time, from any model, to any vector database, across any cloud platform. It’s the easiest way to create a live semantic layer for your AI workflows—ensuring fresher, more accurate data for better-performing systems.

Blockchains enable individuals and organizations to record and verify transactions as part of a secure, transparent, and decentralized system. They form the basis of most cryptocurrencies, and are used as the foundation of many other applications—smart contracts, supply chain management, and digital identity verification, to name but a few.

It’s a truism that global supply chains are complex. The process of sourcing raw materials, transforming them into finished products, and distributing them to customers encompasses numerous systems (e.g., ERPs, WMSs, and TMSs). All systems within “the supply chain” are trending in the same direction; they’re aiming to be more efficient, resilient, and agile. Various technological developments have facilitated this directional trend.

This post was originally published on Medium on Nov. 20, 2024. The rise of agentic AI has fueled excitement around agents that autonomously perform tasks, make recommendations, and execute complex workflows blending AI with traditional computing. But creating such agents in real-world, product-driven environments presents challenges that go beyond the AI itself.

As we step into the new year, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the exciting advancements Confluent made in 2024. Our Q4 launch wrapped up the year with a host of powerful features paving the way for even more innovation in 2025. This launch is all about delivering private networking and enhanced security across the data streaming platform.

This article was originally published on The New Stack on Dec. 19, 2024. Imagine driving a car with a headset that only updates your view every five minutes instead of providing a continuous video stream. How long would it take before you crashed? While this type of batch processing clearly doesn’t work in the real world, it's how many systems operate today. Batch processing, born out of outdated technology constraints, forces applications to rely on static, delayed data.

In building the next generation of web agents, we need the simplest, fastest way to extract web data at scale for production use cases. And for every new generative AI (GenAI) application, developers and businesses need reliable data to power the underlying models. But getting that data in a usable, trustworthy format? That’s where things get complicated.