Instaclustr, offering scalable open source technologies delivered as completely managed solutions, today announced the immediate availability of its new Apache Kafka managed service. The release follows an Early Access Program that saw a handful of Instaclustr customers successfully deploy the Kafka-as-a-Service solution to manage high volume data streams in real-time.
Apache Kafka is an open source project providing powerful distributed processing of continuous data streams – and is currently trusted in production by thousands of enterprises. With the addition of Kafka to the suite of solutions available through Instaclustr’s Open Source-as-a-Service platform, organizations using Instaclustr-managed Kafka are selecting an experienced provider distinguished by more than 20 million node hours under management and available technical teams that bring deep Kafka-specific expertise.
The managed Kafka offering follows the robust provisioning and management patterns used to deliver other leading open source technologies provided through the Instaclustr platform – including Apache Cassandra, Apache Spark, Apache Lucene, and Elassandra. The Kafka platform itself is also backed by advanced data technologies designed to deliver easy scalability, high performance, and uninterrupted availability. Additionally, Instaclustr provides customers with a SOC2-certified Kafka managed service, further ensuring secure data management and safeguarding client privacy.
Kafka can be run as a standalone managed service or integrated with the other open source data management technologies that Instaclustr provides. It is available within a choice of cloud environments, including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and IBM Cloud.
Additional key features of Instaclustr’s Kafka-as-a-Service include:
- High Throughput and High Availability – Customers benefit from high throughput and high availability due to a distributed cluster of servers.
- Integrations – The service allows for integrations with external stream processing layers, such as Spark Streaming.
- Zero Downtime – Because the managed service uses load balancing and data replication to allow failure or planned maintenance of individual nodes without downtime, there are no service interruptions.
- Built-in Monitoring – The service is run as a cluster on one or more servers, with Instaclustr’s management console providing immediate access to the monitoring statistics required to understand customer data streams in real-time.
- Intuitive and Flexible API – Kafka uses distributed technology and a Java codebase similar to Apache Cassandra. At the same time, Instaclustr’s managed Kafka leverages the robust provisioning and management patterns Instaclustr already uses in deploying and managing other open source technologies.
- Choice of Cloud Provider Account – Customers can use managed Kafka within Instaclustr’s cloud account or their own.
“We believe providing Kafka-as-a-Service will be uniquely beneficial to enterprises looking to take advantage of this powerful data streaming technology,” said Peter Nichol, CEO, Instaclustr. “Our expertise with Kafka combined with our 20 million node hours under management make Instaclustr the most trusted and experienced Kafka service provider in the market. We’re excited to invite all customers and interested organizations to get the most out of what Kafka has to offer by leveraging our newest managed service.”
“We see Apache Kafka as a core capability for our architectural strategy as we scale our business,” said Glen McRae, CTO of Lendi, a home loan platform using Instaclustr’s Kafka-as-a-Service during the Early Access Program. “Getting set up with Instaclustr’s Kafka service was easy and significantly accelerated our timelines. Instaclustr consulting services were also instrumental in helping us understand how to properly use Kafka in our architecture.”
“As very happy users of Instaclustr’s Cassandra and Spark managed services, we’re excited about the new Apache Kafka managed service,” said Mike Rogers, CTO of SiteMinder, a cloud platform for hotels. “Instaclustr quickly got us up and running with Kafka and provided the support we needed throughout the process.”
