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On  Implementing Real-time Analytics. Q&A with Chris Larsen

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Q1. The ability to use real-time data to make business decisions is critical in today’s world. What are the main practical challenges in implementing real-time analytics?

  • Real-time analytics bring several challenges:
    • Data Quality: Ensuring the accuracy and reliability of real-time data.
    • Infrastructure: Setting up and maintaining a performant and scalable infrastructure to handle data streams.
    • Latency: Achieving low latency in data processing and analysis for timely insights.
    • Integration: Integrating various data sources and tools to work seamlessly in real-time.
    • Complexity: Managing the intricacies of real-time data flow, transformation, and storage.
    • Operational Simplicity: Simplifying the deployment and management of real-time systems.

    Q2. What is most important, data volume or the speed at which we can process and analyze data effectively?

    • Both data volume and processing speed are crucial, but the balance depends on the use case. Redpanda was built from the ground up to support double-digit GB/s throughput and single-digil ms latency, optimizing for both processing speed and handling large data volumes effectively.

    Q3. What’s Redpanda?

    • Redpanda is a modern streaming data platform designed as a lightweight, high-performance, and simpler alternative to Apache Kafka®. It’s Apache Kafka-compatible and built to be faster and easier to operate. Redpanda features a single binary architecture, eliminating the need for ZooKeeper™ and JVMs, and includes a built-in Schema Registry and HTTP Proxy.

    Q4. Why is Redpanda a drop-in replacement for Apache Kafka®?

    • Apache Kafka was introduced more than a decade ago. Many teams find it to be overly complex, resource-intensive and unable to scale to their needs. Redpanda solves these issues by introducing a streaming data platform for today’s environments. It was engineered from scratch and written in C++ and with a thread-per-core design to extract the best performance out of every core, disk, memory chip and network byte. Redpanda is also fully compatible with the Kafka API, allowing existing Kafka users to seamlessly migrate their applications without rewriting application code, and for those new to streaming data to leverage the complete Kafka ecosystem right out of the box. 

    Q5. Tell us about Redpanda’s integration with SingleStoreDB. How does it work? And what is it useful for?

    • Redpanda integrates with SingleStoreDB by providing a stream of real-time data that can be ingested directly into SingleStoreDB for analysis and processing. This integration is useful for creating data pipelines that enable businesses to make informed decisions using the most up-to-date data. SingleStore’s Pipelines functionality makes this very easy and requires  no additional infrastructure, such as Kafka Connect. Pipelines is built into the SingleStore product and is easily configured with a SQL command.

    Q6. Practically how do you build a real-time analytics system using Redpanda and SingleStore?

    • Building a real-time analytics system involves these steps:
      • Deploy Redpanda nodes to receive and manage data streams.
      • Set up connectors/applications to stream data from various sources into Redpanda.
      • Configure SingleStoreDB to consume data from Redpanda using connectors or APIs. This is done inside of SingleStore using their Pipelines functionality
      • Design SQL queries and data processing logic in SingleStoreDB.
      • Visualize insights using dashboards or reporting tools connected to SingleStoreDB.

    Q7. Please tell us how SingleStore and Redpanda can work together to solve the operational complexity of global logistics.

    • SingleStore handles real-time data from Redpanda, enabling efficient storage and analysis of data such as shipment, inventory, and route information. Real-time data streams into Redpanda from IoT devices can be processed by SingleStore to optimize routes, predict delays, manage inventory, and provide real-time insights, simplifying the complex operational challenges in global logistics.

    Q8. Is it possible to try out SingleStore and Redpanda for free?

    • Yes, both SingleStore and Redpanda offer free options. Redpanda has a free (BSL) Community Edition as well as free trials for Redpanda Platform and Redpanda Cloud. SingleStore has free trial options to get started. 

    Qx. Anything else you’d like to add?

    • Streaming analytics is transforming how businesses operate, and platforms like Redpanda and SingleStore are at the forefront of this evolution. With Redpanda’s high performance, simplicity, and Kafka compatibility, paired with SingleStore’s real-time data management capabilities, businesses can unlock valuable insights from their data while simplifying the complexities of managing and analyzing large-scale data streams. Keep an eye on both platforms for updates and new features that can further enhance your streaming analytics capabilities.

    ……………………………………..

    Chris Larsen,  Director of Partnerships and Principal Solutions Architect, Redpanda.

    Sponsored by SingleStore.

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