Data is essential in this information age, without which many businesses will struggle to thrive. Therefore, companies seek to integrate software solutions into their operations to make the most out of cloud-native applications, Big Data, and so on. Software development of this type and scale is advanced and requires experienced specialists using scalable tools.

Apache Kafka is a response to this need for efficient data storage. It’s an open-source streaming platform that builds real-time data pipelines and streaming applications in a publish-subscribe way. Due to its infrastructure, Apache Kafka delivers scalable, in-order persistent messages.

Real-time Data Processing

Several modern businesses as well as the stock market, require near-instant reactions to data. It's therefore crucial that any available data can be processed in seconds or milliseconds. Many IoT devices often don't have this real-time data processing capacity, necessitating platforms like Apache Kafka. This platform can transmit data from producers to data handlers and storage. If you're asking the question "What is Apache Kafka?" and you're trying to understand the practical opportunities it presents to your businesses, then TIBCO has all the answers. This reputable brand is worth considering to harness the many real-time Apache Kafka data processing possibilities applicable to your business.

TIBCO is an enterprise-level software company offering many solutions to modern-day data-centric businesses. They provide "connected intelligence," allowing you to make faster and smarter decisions based on real-time data. This connected intelligence rests on three foundational pillars; Connect, Unify, and Predict.

TIBCO connects any application, data source, or device through a seamless integration process. This connection allows easy access and activation of your data to unlock your business value and potential. They also allow you to manage a broad range of data kinds with logical governance and consistency. As such, you can unify data intelligently for better access, control, and trust.

With real-time data, you can also predict confidently using analytics to optimize your business processes and customer experience. This trusted brand has unlocked the full potential of several modern enterprises. What's more, they’re widely recognized as an experienced industry leader in Integration, Data Management, and Analytics. 

Tracking Application Activity

From the outset, Apache Kafka was originally developed as an application activity tracking platform for use in LinkedIn. Every event happening in the application is published to the dedicated Kafka topic as one topic per activity type. For example, let's assume you wear your Fitbit to engage in running and other hobbies that make you smarter.

Apache Kafka can track you and other users' activities to create topics. All website and app activity like page views, searches, user clicks, registrations, orders, etc., can be sent to Kafka's topics. Other consumers can then subscribe to these topics and process received data. This data is available for subscription for several different use cases, including personalization, analysis, news feeds, etc.

Logging or Monitoring

Apache Kafka is also used for monitoring and logging purposes. Log aggregation collects physical files off servers and transfers them to a central place like a file server or HDFS for processing. Kafka then abstracts the file details and gives a cleaner abstraction of event data or logs as a stream of messages. As such, there’s lower-latency processing, more manageable, and better support for many data sources.

Compared to log-centric systems like Flume, Apache Kafka offers lower end-to-end latency and an overall equally good performance. Kafka also provides more robust durability guarantees due to replication. Special system components dedicated to monitoring and alerting can benefit from Apache Kafka; these monitoring applications can read data from Kafka topics, making Kafka an invaluable tool especially in real-time data monitoring and automation

Event Sourcing

You can collect vast amounts of log data using Apache Kafka, making it a vital component for any Event Management System including Security Information Event Management (SIEM). Kafka’s an excellent back end for application building because it can handle vast amounts of log data. 

Apache Kafka is a potent streaming tool that is ideal for many web-scale enterprises' problems. However, Kafka is not a "one size fits all" solution to these problems, so consider using Kafka for the appropriate purposes for the best results.