The Right Time For Streaming

 

I had the great pleasure to join the DM Radio show, aired today, with quite the cast of experts. I was joined on Eric’s program by Shawn Rogers from Tibco, and Justin Reock from Perforce Software. They were all on their games today, offering very helpful perspectives.

 

The subject was “streaming.”

 

Eric says we should think about it like the Interstate highway system. Streaming expedites everything, as long as you get your on-ramps and off-ramps right. Enter open-source tech such as Kafka to make it all easier.

 

But leave it to Shawn to set the right hook addressing my personal pet peeve: value. Streaming is cool, they say. But how valuable? Should we actually spend money and resources on it? He offered, rather casually, “Streaming lets you take action at the speed of your business.” There. Simple. But *exactly* the point of it all.

 

I shared an observation, grounded in our customer’s testimony, that a streaming backbone enables different data consumers to capture and process data as they each need it. It defines streaming not as a point-to-point solution, but rather a series of unique, parallel connections. Streaming’s application – its very relevance – is defined by serving a heterogenous audience, and differing needs for downstream data processing. What is “real time” for each consumer? Answer: Different in each case. Real time is about the right time.

 

“We’re no longer constrained by the plumbing, and the size of our pipes,” offers Eric. The backbone, as we used to call it, is now flexible. It’s data management in an invertebrate paradigm.

 

It is also shrewd to consider how technologies such as Eightwire and Manta help build the practical solutions for what I call, “the grout between the tiles,” for a complete solution for data modernization. It all fits. It all matters.

 

But make no mistake. Streaming is here to stay.

 

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