2021: A Year of Momentum, Innovation, and DATA

2021 is coming to a close, and it’s been a busy year! Thank you for your continued trust and partnership. Below are a few thoughts from 2021, and a perspective into the year ahead.

DataStax unleashes the data that matters 

You’ve probably heard me say this before … all enterprises are on the digital transformation journey. The first phase started with “mobile.” The second was focused on cloud computing. And today it’s all about data - this is the most important phase of digital transformation.

But the requirements for data-driven businesses are evolving. We have to move fast, remove data silos, and solve for fragmentation in order to deliver value. Today’s winning enterprises—who generate revenue with their data—are doing this with ALL of their data. They have to activate the real-time data that flows in their applications and drives customer experiences. This is the data that runs the business.

Over the last year, we’ve combined our NoSQL scale-out leadership with app development and cloud experience to deliver the next-generation, open data stack that is: 

• Kubernetes-based for cloud-native agility 
• Developer-ready with APIs to reduce time to market 
• Cloud-delivered to simplify operations and reduce TCO
• Built around open source technologies, like Apache Cassandra and Apache Pulsar, to support data at rest and data in motion
• All with global availability and scalability

The database of the future 

Another HUGE highlight of 2021 was the release of Apache Cassandra 4.0! It is the best release yet, with unmatched quality, scalability, and reliability. We are so grateful to the Cassandra community for all of their work to make this happen. 

Everything we see in the market tells us that Cassandra is THE database of the future. NoSQL is growing at a 5-year CAGR of 30%. And everyday experiences like jamming out to your favorite songs on Spotify, binge-watching a new show on Netflix, or calling an Uber to your favorite restaurant are all powered by Cassandra. We are so excited to keep growing the ecosystem around Cassandra while driving innovation.

Supporting your journey to the cloud 

We do not think the world needs another database. Rather, the world needs a way to standardize fragmented data environments and a stack that can harness all real-time data, both in motion and at rest. We’ve invested in lots of awesome product innovations so we can meet you at any stage of your journey to the cloud.

• Astra DB: The first Cassandra Database-as-a-Service of its kind. You can run it on any public cloud and it has multi-region capabilities. Astra is helping enterprises bend the TCO curve by reducing data costs. It’s giving developers freedom of choice and ease of development with APIs and Stargate.  
• Streaming: We delivered a streaming product powered by Apache Pulsar with the acquisition of Kesque and the launch of Astra Streaming. A recent study by GigaOm shows that Pulsar has up to 81% cost savings compared to Kafka and 35% higher performance.
• Stargate: We added GraphQL and gRPC APIs to help with developer agility. 
• K8ssandra: Our open source distribution of Apache Cassandra on Kubernetes. It now runs on Amazon, Google, Azure, and is available on the VMware Marketplace.
• Luna DB: Open source Cassandra support to customers that would like to continue self-managing their data.
• Datastax Enterprise: For customers who need enterprise functionality and support for their mission-critical infrastructure beyond just using Cassandra.

Looking ahead

Our goals for 2022 remain the same: partner with you to unlock the data that runs your business. We will continue to deliver products that developers love and that change the trajectory of the enterprises they work for.