What is Apache Flink?

Apache Flink® is a powerful, open-source platform designed for both batch and streaming data processing. It provides a unified programming model for handling both types of data, allowing developers to build scalable and fault-tolerant applications. Flink's core capabilities include:

• Stream Processing: Processing continuous, unbounded streams of data in real-time.
• Batch Processing: Processing large, static datasets efficiently.
• State Management: Managing stateful computations, such as sessionization, windowing, and timeouts.
• Fault Tolerance: Ensuring data consistency and reliability in case of failures.

Flink originated from the Stratosphere research project. A collaboration of the Technical University of Berlin, the Humboldt University of Berlin, and the Hasso Plattner Institute) and became an Apache Incubator project.

Flink is a versatile framework for building data pipelines that can handle both batch and streaming data. It automates low-level tasks such as task scheduling and resource allocation, allowing developers to focus on the core logic of their data processing applications. This simplifies the development of complex data pipelines and enables efficient processing of large datasets.

Flink excels at stream processing, where it efficiently processes data from message queues like Apache Kafka or Apache Pulsar. By handling data in a sequential manner, Flink can identify patterns and trends in real-time, enabling timely insights and decision-making.

Who Companies Use Apache Flink?

Flink is used by numerous companies across many industries. A few of the well-established companies that leverage Flink include Amazon, CapitalOne, Comcast, eBay, ING, Netflix, Uber and Yelp.