Rockset releases connector for Amazon MSK, optimizing real-time streaming analytics

Rockset has released a connector for Amazon MSK, enabling new speeds and depths for data stream analytics.

An abstract image representing data.
Image: iuriimotov/Stock Image

Rockset, the real-time analytics database company with a cloud focus, has recently released a native connector for Amazon MSK, AWS’s fully-managed Apache Kafka service. This is the latest in a collection of several native connectors Rockset has developed with top cloud companies, open-source databases and big data management companies.

SEE: Quick glossary: Business intelligence and analytics (TechRepublic Premium)

With the release of the Amazon MSK connector, AWS users can expect a number of new benefits, especially when it comes to leveraging real-time streaming data for new business use cases. Read on to learn about the release and other key facts about using Rockset and Amazon MSK.

Jump to:

What is Rockset?

Rockset is a company that offers real-time analytics solutions to users, primarily optimized for search and real-time data indexing in big data collections. Historically, Rockset has differentiated itself with its Converged Index product for automated record indexing at scale, a scalable approach to computing and data storage, serverless auto-scaling, and a strong focus on data encryption and single sign-on features.

SEE: Best encryption software (TechRepublic)

Rockset also specializes in SQL support for aggregations, filtering, windowing and joins; parameterized SQL queries; smart schemas for optimized data ingestion and querying of semi-structured data types; and data connectors for several data streams, databases and data lakes.

Rockset is not new to the connectors market and actually already offered a variety of native connectors prior to this MSK connector release. These are the connectors that Rockset offers to users now:

Rockset connectors for Amazon products and services

  • Amazon DynamoDB
  • Amazon Kinesis
  • Amazon S3
  • Amazon MSK

Rockset connectors for Microsoft products and services

  • Azure Blob Storage
  • Azure Service Bus
  • Microsoft SQL Server

Other Rockset connectors

  • Google Cloud Storage
  • Apache Kafka
  • MongoDB Atlas
  • MySQL
  • Oracle
  • PostgreSQL
  • Snowflake

What is Amazon MSK?

Amazon MSK is a fully managed version of Apache Kafka that runs on AWS. With this service, users can stream data with high availability, high security and outsourced AWS support.After creating an Apache Kafka cluster, users can connect the cluster with Amazon solutions like EC2 or AWS Lambda to run streaming applications.

Amazon MSK is most commonly used by AWS customers who want to process event stream logs, create and manage private data buses, or track and respond to digital transformations that are happening across their IT infrastructure in real time.

Rockset’s native connector for Amazon MSK

With Rockset’s native Amazon MSK connector release, current AWS customers can now use streaming data more quickly and efficiently. The product promises to make projects like logistics tracking, Internet of Things data analytics and personalized development simpler with real-time data ingestion and indexing natively available.

On its own, Amazon MSK is already a great collector and processor of streaming data. But, with the new Rockset connector, users have the added advantage of real-time, cloud-optimized analytics support for more niche MSK event streams.

SEE: AWS Cloud Essentials Course (TechRepublic Academy)

Venkat Venkataramani, co-founder and CEO of Rockset, believes this is a true value-add for organizations that have not been getting the quickest or most useful insights out of their data streams:

“Organizations are looking to do more with their streaming data as enterprises across the globe realize the value of operating their businesses in real-time,” said Venkataramani. “Rockset is committed to simplifying the process of running highly efficient real-time analytics in the cloud, and our native connector for MSK is part of a larger, strategic partnership with Amazon.”

Potential benefits of the MSK connector release

The Rockset-Amazon MSK connector offers data scientists and developers a number of potential new benefits. Although it’s still early in the release cycle, here is what users can expect to get out of this release:

  • Scalable real-time streaming and SQL analytics: This connector makes it possible to search, aggregate and join an enterprise’s streaming data in real time, even for much larger datasets.
  • Access to Rockset’s Converged Index: Rockset’s Converged Index tool makes automated, highly-scalable data indexing and analytics easier. This is especially useful for companies that want to make sense of large amounts of semi-structured data.
  • Quicker application development turnaround: This connection offers support for Avro, many JSON data formats and several other solutions that transform the building and releasing of data applications into a faster process.

This latest integration ensures Amazon MSK and Rockset data are continuously synced, which is especially important for streaming data, as high volumes of new data can enter the picture on a momentary basis. With the Rockset-Amazon MSK connection, users can plan to derive greater insights from their streaming data with lower latency, less manual labor and analysis on the part of developers and data scientists, and relatively lower costs.

Read next: Best predictive analytics tools and software (TechRepublic)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *