Systems | Development | Analytics | API | Testing

This post will walk through the creation of a realtime chat application with Next.js and deploying it to Netlify.

Based on a sample of data from ~1,000 agencies and 14,000 clients, we estimate that agencies lose about 38% of their clients every year. Based on my 1,000s of conversations with agencies over the years, I think I know one of the big reasons why. Most agencies have been stuck in the same pattern for years: Do good work, report on it, wait for feedback, hope for renewal. They start strong—engaged with the client’s leadership, aligned on strategy and goals, excited to build.

Earlier this year, SmartBear acquired QMetry, a move that’s more than just a strategic acquisition. This move reflects a deeper commitment to enterprise customers – helping teams: As Product leader of Test Management at SmartBear, I’ve had the opportunity to help define our roadmap. Our vision for QA teams is clear: empower them to deliver better quality and build confidence – and consistently hit release deadlines.

Peanut butter has jam. Wine has cheese. Great Britain has pubs. The world is filled with things that are great alone, but that together, create an even greater – dare I say, legendary – combination. Now it comes to the world of data platform management. Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. You see, a few months back I predicted 2025 was going to be a big year for data platforms. One such solution being Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform One (VSP One).

As software systems get increasingly complex every day, the challenges of effective testing also escalate. Software testing involves handling large datasets, complex workflows, and shorter release cycles.

We have all seen the frenzy of Devin AI—teams racing to spin up models, orchestrate data flows, and automate every possible touchpoint. But beyond the hype, two architectural patterns quietly power next-generation pipelines: Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent-to-Agent (A2A). Below is the roadmap for our deep dive into MCP (Model Context Protocol) and A2A (Agent-to-Agent).

Upgrading to SAP S/4HANA is more than a technology refresh—it’s a strategic business transformation. With its real-time data processing, simplified architecture, and enhanced user experience, SAP S/4HANA promises agility and innovation. But realising that promise requires more than just a successful migration—it demands a rock-solid Quality Assurance (QA) foundation.

We're excited to announce the release of the next generation of Control Center for Confluent Platform, which delivers higher partition limits, faster spin-up time, metrics freshness, and simpler operational overhead. Confluent introduced Confluent Control Center in 2016 as part of Confluent Platform, simplifying Apache Kafka operations and delivering end-to-end visibility into data pipelines.

We’re excited to announce the General Availability (GA) of the Confluent fully managed V2 connector for Apache Kafka for Azure Cosmos DB! This release marks a major milestone in our mission to simplify real-time data streaming from and to Azure Cosmos DB using Apache Kafka. The V2 connector is now production-ready and available directly from the Confluent Cloud connector catalog.

Your teams want the immediate insights of stream processing with the scale and historical context of batch processing—but traditional data infrastructure forces you to resort to disparate tooling or manual workarounds to bridge that gap. This quarter’s release, coming to you live from Current London, brings new features in Confluent Cloud that fundamentally change this dynamic by seamlessly unifying stream and batch processing.