Somerford Associates Limited

Confluent Kafka - Real-time Data Stream Processing & Analytics, Data in Motion, Apache Flink

Kafka’s founders Confluent sets Organisations’ data in motion
Real-time/Digital Transformation/Edge/Citizen Data 360 View/Personalisation/Self-Service/Continuity/Data connectivity
Streamlining Defence/Central Agencies' Operational decisions
Cross-Departmental Data sharing
Smart Supply Chain/Logistics
Event-driven microservices, modernising legacy & connecting hybrid cloud systems
Delivering real-time usage/analytics, streaming ETL.
Flink/Stream processing
Available on AWS Marketplace

Features

• Available everywhere from multi-cloud, private cloud, on-premise and hybrid environments.
• ~200 connectors to integrate with popular data sources and sinks.
• Stream Governance to discover, understand and trust your data streams.
• ksqlDB to run continuous stream processing apps with lightweight SQL.
• Enterprise-grade security features to upload strict security and compliance requirements.
• Multi-language development support (including Java, C++, Python, Go, .NET).
• Extended Apache Kafka protocol support with MQTT and REST Proxies.
• Schema Registry to ensure data compatibility between producers and consumers.
• Complete Event Streaming Platform with unlimited data retention.
• Global resilience delivering highly available, consistent and durable platform anywhere.

Benefits

• Run at massive scale cost-effectively without the operational burden.
• Guaranteed 99.99% uptime SLA for multi-zone clusters.
• Zero downtime Kafka upgrades and bug fixes.
• Committer-driven expertise, with 24x7x365 support available from the Kafka experts.
• Deploy on bare-metal, virtual-machines, cloud-native Kubernetes or fully-managed service.
• Enable developers to build real-time apps quickly, reliably, and securely.
• Expert services and training to support your data maturity journey.
• Vibrant partner and community (60,000+) ecosystem.
• Lower total cost of ownership of platform vs open-source alternatives.
• Enterprise-ready platform proven in mission-critical production deployments at scale.

£8,264.46 a licence a year

• Free trial available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at penny.harrison@somerfordassociates.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

482290355048606

Contact

Penny Harrison
07897075103
penny.harrison@somerfordassociates.com

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: Yes, but can also be used as a standalone service
• What software services is the service an extension to: Founded by the developers of Apache Kafka, Confluent provides a truly cloud-native experience, completing Kafka with holistic enterprise-grade features to unleash developer productivity, operate efficiently at scale, and meet all of your architectural requirements. Underpinning the platform is our 99.99% uptime SLA and committer-driven expertise, support and services.
• Cloud deployment model:
  • Public cloud
  • Private cloud
  • Hybrid cloud
• Service constraints: No
• System requirements: No specific requirements

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Mon-Fri 9am-5:30pm excl bank holidays customers receive an initial response within one business hour
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: We provide support from priority 1 to priority 4 cases on any existing configuration or part of the platform that is in total or partial failure as well as not working as expected. We also provide configuration guidance and recommendations for use cases. Each customer receives their own Account Manager who works closely with Support and ensures that cases can be followed up. Somerford's Support Desk is available as a value added service in addition to the maintenance and support purchased alongside the license.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Confluent can provide (for an additional cost) on-site, off-site and online training.; Confluent provide comprehensive documentation on our website, including quick-start guides and API documentation.; Confluent provides demo applications to introduce the concepts of Apache Kafka, Stream Processing, KSQL and Streaming ETL.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • ODF
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: Users may use any open-source or Supported Kafka client to read all of their data from their managed clusters.; Users may also configure Connectors to sink data from their managed clusters into an external system (i.e. S3, GCS, RDBMS).
• End-of-contract process: In the run up to the end of a contract, Somerford and Confluent will consult with the customer. The purpose of this is to understand their level of satisfaction and desire to continue. The customer will be provided with a price to continue using the software for an additional term, e.g. 12 months. Prices for additional modules are also shared.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: No
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Description of service interface: Confluent Platform includes: Apache Kafka Brokers, Zookeeper, Schema Registry, Kafka Connect, ksqlDB, REST Proxy, Control Center, Confluent Server, Confluent for Kubernetes, Confluent Connectors.; ; Confluent platform requires highly trained, mathematically-oriented IT technologists and operators working at engineering offices and data centres. These users must be able to ascertain and respond to contextual information and alerts in real-time and therefore the intended users do not include the cognitively disabled or the blind.
• Accessibility standards: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Accessibility testing: Testing is based on general product knowledge.
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: The Confluent REST APIs provide a RESTful interface to a Confluent cluster, making it easy to produce and consume messages, view the state of the cluster, and perform administrative actions without using the native Kafka protocol or clients.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats:
  • Open API (also known as Swagger)
  • HTML
• API sandbox or test environment: Yes
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Users can customise the service with the following:; ; - Choice of Cloud Vendor (GCP/AWS/Azure),; - Deployment location (London/Dublin/etc.),; - Throughput and retention specifications,; - High availability requirements (single or multi-AZ),; - Networking options (e.g. Internet-facing, Private Link, Transit Gateway, VPC/VNet Peering).; - Buyers can decide these whenever they provision a cluster through the UI.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Confluent Cloud Dedicated Clusters are designed for critical production workloads with high traffic or private networking requirements and support single-tenant single-tenant deployments with a 99.95% uptime SLA for Single-Zone, and 99.99% for Multi-Zone architectures.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: Metrics in Confluent Cloud are available either through first-class integrations with third-party monitoring providers or by directly querying the Confluent Cloud Metrics API. Users who would like to monitor Confluent Cloud are encouraged to use an integration to reduce the operational burden of monitoring. The Confluent Cloud Metrics API supports a diverse set of querying patterns to support usage and performance analysis over time. A list of metrics is available in the Confluent Cloud Metrics API Metrics Reference.; ; Confluent Platform brokers and clients also report many internal metrics. You can deploy Confluent Control Center for out-of-the-box Kafka cluster monitoring.
• Reporting types:
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards

Resellers

• Supplier type: Reseller providing extra features and support
• Organisation whose services are being resold: Confluent

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Up to Developed Vetting (DV)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations:
  • United Kingdom
  • Other locations
• User control over data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Penetration testing approach: Another external penetration testing organisation
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Other
• Other data at rest protection approach: Physical access controls are inherited from the underlying Cloud Vendor hosting Confluent Cloud (I.e. AWS, GCP, Azure)
• Data sanitisation process: No
• Equipment disposal approach: A third-party destruction service

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: Users may use any open-source or Supported Kafka client to read all of their data from their managed clusters.; Users may also configure Connectors to sink data from their managed clusters into an external system (i.e. S3, GCS, RDBMS).
• Data export formats: Other
• Other data export formats: Any format of their choosing.
• Data import formats: Other
• Other data import formats: Any format of their choosing.

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • Other
• Other protection between networks: Confluent Cloud supports public internet connectivity and private networking solutions. You can access Confluent Cloud Dedicated clusters through secure internet endpoints, Private Link connections, VPC/VNet peering, or AWS Transit Gateway. All Basic and Standard clusters are accessible through secure internet endpoints. All connections to Confluent Cloud are encrypted with TLS and require authentication using API keys.; ; Confluent Cloud clusters with internet endpoints are protected by a proxy layer that prevents some types of DoS, DDoS, syn flooding, and other network-level attacks. Confluent Cloud clusters using VPC peering, AWS PrivateLink, or AWS Transit Gateway are not accessible from the public internet.
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Confluent provides an uptime SLA of 99.95% for Single-Zone and 99.99% for Multi-Zone Standard and Dedicated Clusters. If Confluent does not meet the Service Level, the Customer will be eligible to receive a Service Credit as described in the Confluent Cloud Service Level Agreement.
• Approach to resilience: Confluent Cloud ensures a minimum of 3* replica copies of each message are stored. Where specified, we deploy across 3 AZs in a region to ensure that even in the loss of an AZ that no data is lost and that the service continues to be available. We can provide further information on our overall architecture and designs for resiliency upon request.
• Outage reporting: Email alerts and a public dashboard.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Management interfaces are restricted to the VPC to which the service is peered. Support access is limited to those individuals to whom an invitation for support access has been sent via email. Customers decide who in their organisation has access to the support portal.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication:
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: User-defined
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: User-defined
• How long system logs are stored for: User-defined

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: Cadence Assurance, LLC
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: June 30th 2020
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: Services offered outside of the scope of Confluent Cloud.; Statement of Applicability available on request.
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: Yes
• CSA STAR accreditation date: 17/09/2019
• CSA STAR certification level: Level 1: CSA STAR Self-Assessment
• What the CSA STAR doesn’t cover: Services offered outside of the scope of Confluent Cloud.
• PCI certification: Yes
• Who accredited the PCI DSS certification: The Cadence Group
• PCI DSS accreditation date: 30/04/2020
• What the PCI DSS doesn’t cover: The scope of the assessment was modelled off of SAQ-A for an environment that did not have access to cardholder data.
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications:
  • SOC-2 Type I, II, III
  • HIPAA
  • PCI Level 1

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards:
  • ISO/IEC 27001
  • Other
• Other security governance standards: SOC-2 Type I, II, III and HIPAA
• Information security policies and processes: Confluent has an information security committee that is made up of members of both the technical teams and management teams including Board and CTO. Policies are set and reviewed by this board and implemented by the various teams. There are a number of tools that log, enforce and report on any violations. We review process in line with ISO 27001.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: Code changes follow the Confluent agile development process. Changes are initiated, tracked and reviewed by product or area teams. JIRA tickets are used to track significant planned changes, for features/bug fixes. Sprintplanning by each team/team lead or manager determine which major changes are executed in the next sprint. The change is submitted via GitHub and must be reviewed by another team member and quality control testing before the change is applied. Changes from external contributors (to OS) are submitted via GitHub and have the same review policy. Post implementation reviews are performed to monitor any issues introduced by the change.
• Vulnerability management type: Undisclosed
• Vulnerability management approach: Risks are identified whenever both planned (i.e. environment changes) or unplanned e.g. vulnerability identified in software used. The CIST team identifies the risk associated with the vulnerability and documents a plan with the appropriate steps to remedy this. The CIST team reviews a number of sources to identify potential threats.
• Protective monitoring type: Undisclosed
• Protective monitoring approach: Security Incidents are handled by The Confluent Incident Response Team. This triages the incident to understand the size, scale, affected systems if any and potential losses of any data. The appropriate response is then formulated according to this. This is all tracked and logged according to formal processes.
• Incident management type: Undisclosed
• Incident management approach: Security Incidents are handled by Confluent staff in either our IT/Facilities department (for physical security incidents) or in our Customer Operations / Support department (for software, computer, and network security incidents). Please review our SOC 2 report for further details related to our security controls environment. Users report security issues by either raising a support ticket, and / or escalating through the escalation process to the Confluent Manager or Director of Customer Operations.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Covid-19 recovery
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  As an organisation that works closely with the public sector, Somerford is keen to demonstrate our commitment to supporting the achievement of the Net Zero target of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.; ; Management and staff at Somerford have been conscious of our impact upon the environment even before the Climate Change Act was introduced, and we’ve adopted environmentally friendly practices as the business has grown. Consequently, Somerford ‘s business already has a reasonably low carbon footprint, and will continue to strive for further reductions wherever possible because this is beneficial for our business, our stakeholders and the environment.; ; We will use our influence as a value added reseller of leading edge software products and supporting professional services to select supplier-partners whose own carbon reduction philosophy and plans are aligned with ours, and who can show commitment to the Net Zero target. In practical terms, this means we participate in a carbon-net-zero supply chain in the delivery of the solutions from our supplier-partners to our customers.; ; For further details, please see our Carbon Reduction Plan online at https://www.somerfordassociates.com/carbon-reduction-policy-and-plan/

  Covid-19 recovery

  During the Covid-19 pandemic, our robust business continuity measures, prudent fiscal policy, and the benefits of a highly flexible team, meant we were well prepared for the difficulties ahead. ; ; Staff wellbeing has been at the forefront of our Covid-19 recovery plans, taking care of their physical and mental health, including;; ; * home working to avoid unnecessary exposure to the virus; * providing safe office space where staff personal circumstances dictated; * regular contact, albeit remotely, to prevent isolation; * organised e-based social events to maintain interaction; ; ; As a result we have been able to:; ; * give uninterrupted service to our customers; * move our staff to home working; * avoid compulsory redundancies and minimised furlough; * in 2020, gain an 11% increase in revenues; * continue to grow the workforce by over 10% in the same year; * take on new partners to enhance our solutions portfolio; * invest in staff education to meet future customer needs. ; ; Changes in business practices due to Covid-19 have shown that flexible work patterns can be very effective, and we’re unlikely to fully return to our previous style of working. ; ; Our solutions have also helped customers to cope with their changing work patterns too - supporting their Covid recovery by providing the infrastructure, tooling and monitoring to support their own remote, flexible and sustainable ways of working.

  Tackling economic inequality

  Somerford is a healthily growing business, and actively strives to create employment opportunities that are inclusive of all socio-economic groups. For example:; ; * 47% of our staff joined us as junior.; * 17 of our team have joined us as apprentices or graduated from our in house technical academy; * We actively participate in the Armed Forces Covenant Scheme and help to redeploy and reskill leavers from the Armed Forces. So far, 18 staff have joined us in this way;; ; Strong technical skills are key to the delivery of services to our customers, so we’ve invested heavily in staff training, as is demonstrated by 47% of our staff starting with us as juniors.

  Equal opportunity

  Somerford is an equal opportunities employer and does not discriminate on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, gender reassignment, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief or age.; ; We do not discriminate on the grounds of disability. We take particular care to respect the rights of those with disabilities, throughout all stages of recruitment and employment. We make reasonable adjustments to ensure those with disabilities are not disadvantaged in the workplace, eg. adjusting working hours or providing special equipment to help to do their job.

  Wellbeing

  Somerford is committed to promoting and supporting the wellbeing of all of its staff. We aim to create a culture which focuses on prevention of issues in the workplace that can adversely affect staff health and wellbeing, and where issues are identified, they are managed promptly before they can have a detrimental impact.; ; This includes:; * providing staff with clarity and purpose regarding their job role;; * ensuring staff have the capability, training, support and encouragement to conduct their role confidently and effectively;; * providing a physical working environment that is suitable for the work to be carried out effectively;; * encouraging staff to maintain a sensible work-life balance;; * minimising the stressful impacts of work;; * ensuring bullying and harassment have no place in the working environment;; * managing sickness and absence effectively;; * considering requests for career breaks and sabbaticals;; * providing medical assistance to staff;; * encouraging employee fitness;; * promoting dignity at work.

Pricing

• Price: £8,264.46 a licence a year
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: A developer license allows full use of Confluent Platform features free of charge for an indefinite duration. However, the license is limited to a single broker configuration per cluster. The developer license gives developers the freedom to try the Confluent Platform commercial features available in a non-production setting.
• Link to free trial: https://docs.confluent.io/platform/current/installation/license.html

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at penny.harrison@somerfordassociates.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.