Kafka for mission-critical applications

Axual Streaming: Performance Optimized Kafka

Axual Streaming is enterprise Kafka with the governance and resilience required for mission-critical data flows. Built on proven open source foundations with European data sovereignty by design.

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Streaming

Core capabilities that prevent future complexity

On-premise streaming
Security & access control
Connectors
Bi-directional Distributor

On-premise streaming

Deploy Axual Streaming where your data needs to be: on-premises, cloud, or hybrid environments. While major cloud providers push cloud-only streaming services, many organizations require on-premises capabilities for data sovereignty, regulatory compliance, or latency requirements. Axual delivers enterprise-grade Kafka with integrated schema registry on-premises. Giving you modern streaming infrastructure without forcing architectural compromises.

Security & access control

Secure multi-tenant access control with mTLS, SASL, and OAuth authentication. While basic Kafka provides security primitives, Axual delivers enterprise-grade access control that scales across teams and environments without compromising performance. Cloud platforms often simplify this complexity away, but enterprise architects need granular control over who accesses what data streams.

Connector ecosystem

Axual provides production-proven connectors for your enterprise systems through managed Kafka Connect. Integrate with databases, message queues, cloud storage, search platforms, and enterprise applications. All tested and validated in mission-critical deployments. Unlike cloud services that restrict connector choices, Axual supports the connectors you actually need while handling the operational complexity of deployment and scaling.

Bi-directional Distributor

Ensure data integrity across clusters with near-real-time replication. The Axual Distributor synchronizes messages, schemas, and consumer offsets between Kafka clusters.
This enables both active-active setups for resilience and one-way replication for migrations. Move from DIY Kafka to Axual, between cloud providers, or across versions without disrupting production workloads.

Resilient data streaming

Kafka that scales beyond day one

Axual Streaming delivers a high-performance streaming backbone that maintains reliability at scale without sacrificing control. While DIY Kafka implementations often succeed initially, they fail when the requirements evolve. Our platform provides the operational stability, governance, and performance that enterprise architects demand from day one.

High availability architecture

Geo-distributed clusters with continuous data synchronization. Automatic failover with RPO near-zero and RTO measured in seconds, not minutes.

Predictable performance

Tested configurations that maintain consistent latency under variable loads. Proven in production environments handling billions of daily events.

Dynamic resource management

Scale compute and storage independently based on workload demands. Automated rebalancing ensures optimal resource utilization without manual intervention.

Standards-based implementation

Apache Kafka compatibility with enterprise orchestration through Strimzi. No proprietary protocols or APIs that create technical debt.

Multi-tenancy with isolation

Logical separation of teams and projects with shared infrastructure. Resource quotas ensure one team’s streaming workload doesn’t impact another’s performance.

De Volksbank Axual all-in-one-kafka platform for real-time data streamingrabobank Axual all-in-one-kafka platform for real-time data streaming

“We were at a crossroads, with legacy technology preventing a solid digital transformation, and an ambitious strategy for customer centricity underlining requirements for becoming data-driven. We really needed the Axual platform to allow us to make the leap.”

Roger Stoffers
Volksbank

"Data governance is critical at Rabobank. With Axual, we’re able to see who has permission, who owns the data, or if the owner has given permission and what the structure of the messages are.”

Vincent Oostindië
Rabobank

Axual has a clear focus on making Kafka usuable as a self-service platform. It enables teams to do their own thing in a controlled way. At the same time they provide a manageable platform on the infra side so that we can run it on-prem.

Joleen Breij
Eneco
Our Architecture
European data sovereignty

Deploy streaming infrastructure that meets European regulatory requirements without performance penalties. While US cloud providers treat data sovereignty as an optional feature, Axual's architecture recognizes that GDPR, and other sector-specific compliance are fundamental requirements. This ensures your streaming data remains under your control and jurisdiction.

Instant disaster recovery

When a datacenter fails, your streaming continues. Automated failover with synchronized consumer offsets means applications resume exactly where they left off: no data loss, no manual recovery procedures. The Distributor’s continuous replication ensures your backup clusters are always current, turning disaster recovery from a complex orchestration into automatic continuity.

Future-proof streaming architecture

Open standards protect your streaming infrastructure through technology cycles. Apache Kafka at the core means not proprietary lock-in and no forced migrations when architectural patterns shift. Your producers and consumers continue to work whether you are running on-premise today or multi-cloud tomorrow. The same event streams that power your monoliths now will feed your microservices later.

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Answers to your questions about Axual’s All-in-one Kafka Platform

Are you curious about our All-in-one Kafka platform? Dive into our FAQs for all the details you need, and find the answers to your burning questions.

How does the Distributor differ from standard Kafka MirrorMaker?

The Axual Distributor provides true bi-directional replication with consumer offset synchronization, unlike MirrorMaker's unidirectional approach. This means when your primary datacenter in Frankfurt fails, applications connecting to your Amsterdam cluster resume processing exactly where they left off. No duplicate processing, no gaps in the event stream. The Distributor continuously replicates in both directions with sub-second lag, making active-active architectures practical rather than theoretical.

What specific access control capabilities does Axual provide beyond basic Kafka ACLs?

While Kafka provides topic-level ACLs, Axual implements multi-layered access control that maps to enterprise authorization models. Beyond mTLS and SASL authentication, we integrate with your existing identity providers through OAuth/OIDC, enabling role-based access that spans from topic ownership to granular produce/consume permissions. The platform enforces these controls at both the governance layer and the broker level, ensuring no bypass routes exist even for privileged users.

How does on-premise Axual Streaming handle the operational complexity that makes DIY Kafka implementations fail?

DIY Kafka succeeds in proof-of-concepts but fails when compliance auditors arrive or when you need to upgrade brokers without downtime. Axual packages production Kafka experience into automated operations: rolling upgrades, partition rebalancing, and security patching happen without service interruption.

How does Axual handle integration with legacy on-premise systems through Kafka Connect?

Axual provides production-tested connectors that cover the full Kafka Connect spectrum, not the curated subset that cloud providers offer. This includes connectors for mainframe systems, legacy databases, and industry-specific protocols. While cloud platforms limit you to modern integrations, we recognize that mission-critical data often lives in systems deployed decades ago. These legacy connectors determine whether streaming is viable for your entire data landscape or just the convenient parts.

What does "European data sovereignty by design" mean in practice for streaming infrastructure?

Data sovereignty in Axual means your event streams never leave your specified jurisdiction. Not for processing, not for management, not even for support. While US cloud providers treat data residency as a deployment option, we architect every component to respect European regulatory boundaries.

Why does Apache Kafka compatibility matter when evaluating managed streaming platforms?

Pure Kafka compatibility ensures your streaming infrastructure survives technology cycles and organizational changes. Proprietary streaming services require rewriting producers and consumers when you change vendors or deployment models. With Axual, the same client code works whether you're on-premise today or multi-cloud tomorrow. This protection becomes critical when regulations force data repatriation or when merger activities require infrastructure consolidation. Your investment in streaming applications remains valid regardless of where or how you deploy the underlying platform.