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Life Is But A Stream

Life Is But A Stream

By: Confluent
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 There’s a new divide in the data revolution—there are the organizations harnessing real-time data streaming for immediate impact, and there are those left in the dust. Life Is But A Stream is a web show for technology leaders who need to act the instant data is created. Every episode, technical leaders and industry pioneers share how they’re utilizing data streaming to enrich, analyze, and put real-time data to work across use cases that were once unimaginable. Host Joseph Morais and senior tech leaders break down winning strategies with real-world examples, teaching you how to accelerate decision-making, achieve measurable business impact, and turn your data into your biggest competitive advantage. Ready to lead the data streaming revolution? Join us on Life Is But A Stream. Powered by the data streaming experts at Confluent.Confluent Economics
Episodes
  • Ep 17 - 2026 Predictions: What's Next for Data Streaming and AI

    Ep 17 - 2026 Predictions: What's Next for Data Streaming and AI
    Jan 27 2026
    AI isn’t just evolving—it’s reshaping who your customers are, how systems operate, and what real time really means. From machines making purchase decisions to agents increasing query volume across databases, the realities of 2026 are forcing leaders to rethink data architecture and governance strategies at a fundamental level. In this episode, Joseph is joined by Will LaForest (Field CTO, Confluent), Adi Polak (Director of Developer Advocacy & Experience, Confluent), and independent analyst, Sanjeev Mohan, to break down critical insights from Confluent’s 2026 Predictions Report. Together, they explore how agentic AI will transform digital commerce, why Model Context Protocol is quickly becoming table stakes, and how context engineering is emerging as the next major unlock for AI systems. The conversation also dives into the acceleration of AI-enabled cybercrime, why enterprises can no longer dismiss data governance, how Apache Iceberg™ is quickly becoming the standard in cold data management, and much more.If you’re navigating AI and data streaming, this episode offers a grounded, opinionated take on what’s coming next—and how technologies like Apache Kafka® and Apache Flink® will shape what you need to do now. About the Guests:Will LaForestWill is Field CTO for Confluent. Will works with customers across a broad spectrum of industries and government, enabling them to realize the benefits of a data in motion architecture with event streaming. He is passionate about data technology innovation and has spent 26 years helping customers wrangle data at massive scale. His technical career spans diverse areas from software engineering, NoSQL, data science, cloud computing, machine learning, and building statistical visualization software but began with code slinging at DARPA as a teenager. Will holds degrees in mathematics and physics from the University of Virginia. Adi PolakAdi is the Director of Advocacy and Developer Experience Engineering at Confluent. For most of her professional life, she has worked with data and machine learning for operations and analytics. As a data practitioner, she developed algorithms to solve real-world problems using machine learning techniques and expertise in Apache Spark, Kafka, HDFS, and distributed large-scale systems.Adi has taught how to scale machine learning systems to thousands of practitioners, and is the author of successful books: Scaling Machine Learning with Spark and High Performance Spark 2nd Edition.Sanjeev MohanSanjeev is a recognized thought leader in cloud technologies, modern data architectures, analytics, and artificial intelligence. With a keen focus on emerging trends and technologies, Sanjeev hosts It Depends podcast and authors regular Medium blogs. He is also the author of Data Product for Dummies.Formerly a Vice President at Gartner, Sanjeev was renowned for his in-depth research and strategic insights, shaping the research agenda for data and analytics globally. Over the past three years, he has led SanjMo, a consultancy specializing in technical advisory services that elevate category and brand awareness for clients.Guest Highlights:“There was already an asymmetric relationship between attackers and defenders. This just increases that, because it’s easier to use AI to attack than it is to use it to defend.” — Will LaForest“We’re about to accidentally DDoS our software and databases, because we’re giving a tool to automate things without thinking if our systems are actually ready for it.” — Adi Polak“Your proprietary data is your only moat. Everything else—models, performance, tooling—will keep changing.” — Sanjeev MohanEpisode Timestamps: 03:40 – Predictions Report Overview05:05 – Prediction 1: The Rise of Agentic Commerce: Machines Are Your New Customers12:45 – Prediction 2: Leading Platforms Will Offer Model Context Protocol18:00 – Prediction 3: Context Engineering Is the Next AI Unlock24:15 – Prediction 4: AI Will Apply Increased Pressure to Existing Databases30:10 – Prediction 5: AI Will Drive Cyber Crime to Unprecedented Levels36:15 – Prediction 6: AI Will Accelerate Enterprise Investment in Data Governance43:25 – Prediction 7: Apache Iceberg™ Will Become the Standard for Cost-Effective Cold Data Management49:20 – Prediction 8: Your AI Strategy Will Need an Independent Data Plane to Avoid Overcommitting55:00 – Prediction 9: Early Adopters of Durable Execution Engines Will Gain a Competitive AI Edge1:00:01 – Prediction 10: Improvements in Generative AI Will Help Businesses Finally Address Legacy Tech DebtDive Deeper into Data Streaming:EP1—Stream On: Unleashing Innovation With Data Streaming | Life Is But A StreamEP2—Processing Without Pause: Continuous Stream Processing and Apache Flink® | Life Is But A StreamEP3—The Connective Tissue: Shift Left to Turn Data Chaos to Clarity | Life Is But A StreamLinks & Resources:Confluent’s 2026 Predictions Report...
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • Ep 16 - Infinite Scale, No Outages: How MarketAxess Modernized Trading Infrastructure With Confluent

    Ep 16 - Infinite Scale, No Outages: How MarketAxess Modernized Trading Infrastructure With Confluent
    Jan 13 2026

    Legacy systems don’t have to hold you back. In high-volume markets where milliseconds matter, MarketAxess—an electronic trading platform for institutional investors—needed a way to scale trade data reliably across on-prem systems and the cloud. That journey—from self-managed Apache Kafka® to MSK to Confluent Cloud—reshaped how their engineering teams build, scale, and govern real-time infrastructure.

    In this episode, Andy Steinmann, Software Engineering Manager at MarketAxess, breaks down how his team evolved from a monolithic, socket-driven architecture to a streaming-first platform. He shares why Kafka became the foundation of their 2.0 strategy, how Confluent Cloud eliminated operational drag during peak trading windows, and what it takes to modernize without disrupting a mission-critical financial ecosystem.

    You’ll learn:

    • How MarketAxess scaled real-time trade flows across on-prem and the cloud
    • How Confluent Cloud eliminated outages and operational bottlenecks
    • How to approach modernization through iterative “2.0” patterns and dark deployments

    If you’re ready to explore hybrid connectivity, governance, performance tuning, and the operational realities of scaling market-data workloads, this is the episode for you.

    About the Guest:
    Andy Steinmann, Software Engineering Manager at MarketAxess, is a seasoned software engineer with 20+ years of experience in web, mobile, and backend technologies delivering proven solutions to thousands of users. Andy has been the technical lead/architect on many teams and participated in implementing and adapting agile methodologies to improve productivity.

    Guest Highlights:
    “One of the big benefits of the partnership with Confluent has not only been the zero cluster outages—but the bigger side of it was really the access to the experts… Somebody to walk that journey with you as opposed to just starting with a Google search or a ChatGPT question.”

    Episode Timestamps:
    3:20 – Data Streaming Goodness
    20:20 – Beyond the Stream
    36:15 – Quick Bytes
    43:15 – Joseph’s Top Takeaways

    Dive Deeper into Data Streaming:

    • EP1—Stream On: Unleashing Innovation With Data Streaming | Life Is But A Stream
    • EP2—Processing Without Pause: Continuous Stream Processing and Apache Flink® | Life Is But A Stream
    • EP3—The Connective Tissue: Shift Left to Turn Data Chaos to Clarity | Life Is But A Stream

    Links & Resources:

    • Connect with Joseph: @thedatagiant
    • Joseph’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thedatagiant
    • Learn more at Confluent.io

    Our Sponsor:
    Your data shouldn’t be a problem to manage. It should be your superpower. The Confluent data streaming platform transforms organizations with trustworthy, real-time data that seamlessly spans your entire environment and powers innovation across every use case. Create smarter, deploy faster, and maximize efficiency with a true data streaming platform from the pioneers in data streaming. Learn more at confluent.io.


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    46 mins
  • Best of 2025: Everything You Missed in 15 Minutes

    Best of 2025: Everything You Missed in 15 Minutes
    Dec 16 2025

    In 2025, real-time data moved from important to mission-critical. From billion-event pipelines to AI agents reasoning over fresh data streams, the conversations this year revealed just how fast organizations are rethinking their data infrastructure and what’s possible when data streaming becomes the foundation.

    In this episode, Joseph Morais curates standout moments from the year: the stakes of real-time data, the architectural decisions behind enterprise-grade streaming, and how AI strategy is shifting toward agentic, event-driven systems. You’ll hear leaders discuss architectures designed for zero data loss, solid governance, multi-agent orchestration, and why organizations choose Confluent as the data streaming platform for data streaming at scale.

    You’ll learn:

    • How enterprises use Apache Kafka® and Apache Flink® to meet mission-critical guarantees like reliability and data integrity
    • Why real-time pipelines matter for agentic AI and fresh-signal reasoning
    • What leaders evaluate when choosing a data streaming platform
    • How to prepare architectures for multi-agent systems and 2026 AI roadmaps

    The Guests:

    • Cosmo Wolfe, CTO, Metronome
    • Chris Kapp, Software Architect, HS1 (Henry Schein One)
    • Alex Haugland , Cursor Engineer, Anysphere
    • Steffen Hoellinger, Co-Founder & CEO, Airy
    • Ethan Chan, Co-Founder & CEO, Allium
    • Joe Pardi, Sr. Director of Global Data Engineering, Covetrus
    • Rami Al Lolah, Lead Architect - Integration Center of Excellence, Swedbank
    • Sean Falconer, Sr. Director, Product Management - AI Strategy, Confluent
    • Jeffrey Jonathan Jennings (J3), Founder, signalRoom
    • Todd Smitala, Lead Engineer, Association of Professional Flight Attendants

    Guest Highlights:
    “We are processing events on a second-level latency end-to-end… it'll show up on your end customer's invoice in sub-seconds, and you're cutting users off for fraud, all done exactly once.” — Cosmo Wolfe, Metronome

    “Security loves us, right? Because everything is immutable. We know who did everything and we know who can access what and who has been accessing what.” — Chris Kapp, HS1 (Henry Schein One)

    “These are not dashboards… If you want to transform your business and take a proactive approach, reacting to signals as they’re happening, you need to shift your mindset and move data responsibilities left.” — Sean Falconer, Confluent

    Episode Timestamps:
    *(00:00) - Looking Back at Data Streaming in 2025
    *(00:38) -  Segment 1: Unique Streaming Use Cases
    *(06:05) - Segment 2: The Power of Partnerships
    *(11:23) - Segment 3: Data Streaming and Real-Time AI

    Dive Deeper into Data Streaming:

    • EP1—Stream On: Unleashing Innovation with Data Streaming | Life Is But A Stream
    • EP2—Processing Without Pause: Continuous Stream Processing and Apache Flink® | Life Is But A Stream
    • EP3—The Connective Tissue: Shift Left to turn Data Chaos to Clarity | Life Is But A Stream

    Links & Resources:

    • Connect with Joseph: @thedatagiant
    • Joseph’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thedatagiant
    • Learn more at Confluent.io

    Our Sponsor:
    Your data shouldn’t be a problem to manage. It should be your superpower. The Confluent data streaming platform transforms organizations with trustworthy, real-time data that seamlessly spans your entire environment and powers innovation across every use case. Create smarter, deploy faster, and maximize efficiency with a true data streaming platform from the pioneers in data streaming. Learn more at confluent.io.


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    18 mins
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