Confluent Launches OEM Program To Help ISV And MSP Partners Build Data Streaming Into Their Offerings

Confluent also discloses investments in two regional systems integration partners who are developing leading-edge data integration and migration expertise and practices.

Data streaming tech developer Confluent has launched an OEM channel program to recruit managed service providers, cloud service providers and independent software vendors to build the Confluent platform within their software and service offerings.

The new program provides MSPs, CSPs and ISVs with a license to globally redistribute or embed Confluent’s technology, along with offering design review and development assistance, product certification, technical support and other benefits.

Confluent also said today that it has invested in two regional systems integrators, Onibex and Psyncopate, that provide data integration and system migration services around the Confluent data streaming platform. The values of the investments were not disclosed.

“It’s a way of expanding the partnerships. We want to increase our joint pipeline,” said Confluent channel chief Paul Mac Farland, in an interview with CRN. “We cannot capture the $60 billion data streaming market alone.”

Confluent, founded in 2014 and headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., develops its data streaming platform based on the open-source Apache Kafka technology that was originally developed by Confluent’s founders. The company, which is holding its Current 2024 conference in Austin, Texas, this week, offers the Confluent software platform and the Confluent Cloud service.

Over the last year the company has been expanding its channel efforts including launching the Connect with Confluent program to help software partners integrate their products with the Confluent platform, the Accelerate with Confluent and Build with Confluent programs for systems integrator partners, and an initiative to enlist and assist partners who help customers upgrade from Kafka to Confluent.

This latest program is geared toward cloud service providers and MSPs that have been developing streaming services based on the open-source Apache Kafka, and ISVs developing software that embed either Kafka or Confluent’s free Community edition within their products.

But products and services based on open-source Kafka lack the scalability and clustering capabilities that many large businesses and organizations need today – especially with the growing wave of AI and generative AI applications increasing demand for real-time data for mission-critical applications, said Kamal Brar (pictured), Confluent senior vice president, Worldwide ISV and APAC, in an interview with CRN.

“When [businesses and organizations] scale these systems, they become challenged with the operational burden. They become challenged with the engineering complexity of truly building a cluster service that is going to scale across thousands and maybe tens of thousands of servers. The complexity of managing those services is difficult,” Brar said.

And the product update and security patching cycles for open-source products like Kafka may not be robust enough for many enterprise customers, Brar added. “All of those challenges make it very difficult to provide a true enterprise product that is going to be world class,” he said. “And so that's the big shift we're seeing on both on the CSP/MSP side and on the ISV side.”

A Program Of Their Own

Brar said Confluent already has a number of ISV partners whose software is integrated with the Confluent platform. But he said the company is launching this new program to meet the unique engineering needs of OEM and MSP partners.

“Over the last two years, we've seen that demand really accelerate, as we put some of those partnerships in place, and it's now come to a point where it's a significant part of our business,” Brar said. “I think that's why we've decided to create a separate team focused on this.”

One such partner is software developer Mindgate Solutions. "Processing over 7 billion real-time payment transactions per month for leading financial institutions worldwide comes with exceptional performance expectations,” said George Sam, Mindgate co-founder and business head, in a statement.

Sam said that by leveraging Confluent, “we ensure our RTP UPI [real-time payments unified payments interface] platform can handle the increasing demand for real-time transactions with unparalleled efficiency and reliability. Through this partnership, we reaffirm our dedication to delivering innovative, scalable, and resilient payment solutions to clients globally, highlighting our commitment to providing cutting-edge, robust solutions worldwide."

Through the new OEM program, which is now operational, partners can develop and bring to market real-time products and Kafka offerings to market more quickly and monetize demand for data streaming with limited risk, according to the company.

The program offers design review, development support and expertise to help partners build data streaming into their software and services. It also provides Confluent certifications that back the partners’ data streaming offerings, flexible commercial terms to match the way partners sell, and technical support to help partners with customer inquiries.

“II think there's a huge opportunity across the board for this market to continue to grow,” Brar said. In the press release the company cited data from ISG Software research that predicted that by 2026 more than three-quarters of standard IT infrastructure within enterprises will include streaming data and event processing.

Investments In Regional Systems Integrators

Confluent said its investments in Onibex and Psyncopate, both members of the Build with Confluent channel program, are designed to help meet rising demand for services around the Confluent data streaming platform – specifically data integration and legacy system migration projects.

Onibex, based in The Woodlands, Texas, provides its proprietary One Connect solution and related services that leverage the Confluent system to connect SAP system data with other operational systems in real time. Psyncopate, headquartered in Brea, Calif., provides services to migrate customers from TIBCO legacy messaging systems to the Confluent platform.

Mac Farland said SAP and TIBCO systems have some of the most valuable data sets in the world” and Onibex and Psyncopate have developed expertise and intellectual property to leverage those data assets. With the investments Confluent expects that both companies will continue to develop their intellectual property and use cases, make their offerings more repeatable, and scale up their real-time data practices.

“By connecting Confluent and SAP using ‘One Connect,’ organizations can easily adopt event-driven architectures to decouple system integration and democratize data across the enterprise, enabling real-time user experiences and decision-making,” said Gustavo Estrada, Onibex CEO and chief architect, in a statement. “Confluent’s investment will go toward expanding our 'One Connect' platform, making seamless data integration between SAP and Confluent Cloud within hours a reality.”

“As we help leading organizations modernize their legacy data infrastructure into real-time data streaming, we’ve strategically deepened our partnership with Confluent,” said Tony Giang, Psyncopate founder and principal technology strategist, also in a statement. “This funding will enable us to expand our pipeline of data streaming migration projects while continuing to deliver seamless integration services to our customers.”

Mac Farland said Confluent’s sales representatives are also expected to work with those at Onibex and Psyncopate to pursue joint opportunities.

The channel chief said he does not believe Confluent’s investment in the two system integrators creates channel conflict between the vendor and its partner base, noting that Onibex and Psyncopate offer very specific expertise that other partners, including larger systems integrators, could work with.

“We think it’s additive and beneficial to the broader partner community,” Mac Farland said. “It’s beneficial across the board – including to the customer.” He said Confluent wants “the bulk” of customer services to come from partners and that the vendor has no interest in growing a services practice.