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Jumpstart your journey into modern data engineering with Factor House Local. Explore pre-configured Docker environments for Kafka, Flink, Spark, and Iceberg, enhanced with enterprise-grade tools like Kpow and Flex. Our hands-on labs guide you step-by-step, from building your first Kafka client to creating a complete data lakehouse and real-time analytics system. It's the fastest way to learn, prototype, and build sophisticated data platforms.

Kpow's 94.3 release is here, transforming how you work with Kafka. Instantly query topics using plain English with our new AI-powered filtering, automatically decode any message format without manual setup, and leverage powerful new enhancements to our kJQ language. This update makes inspecting Kafka data more intuitive and powerful than ever before.

Kpow 94.3 now integrates with Google Cloud's managed Schema Registry, enabling native OAuth authentication. This guide walks through the complete process of configuring authentication and using Kpow to create, manage, and inspect data validated against Avro schemas.

This minor hotfix release from Factor House resolves a bug when using Auto SerDes without Data policies, and adds support for UTF-8 String Auto SerDes inference.

This minor release from Factor House introduces BYO AI model support, topic data inference, and major enhancements to data inspect—such as AI-powered filtering, new UI elements, and AVRO date formatting. It also adds integration with GCP Managed Kafka Schema Registry, improved webhook support, updated policy handling, and several UI and error-handling improvements.

The real-time ecosystem has outgrown Kafka alone. At Current London 2025, the transition from Kafka Summit was more than a name change — it marked a shift toward streaming-first AI, system-level control, and production-ready Flink. Here's what Factor House saw and learned on the ground.

The EU Data Act takes effect in September 2025, introducing major implications for teams running Kafka. This article explores what the Act means for data streaming engineers, and how Kpow can help ensure compliance — from user data access to audit logging and secure interoperability.

Learn how to integrate Bufstream—a Kafka-compatible streaming platform—with Kpow to enable streamlined, schema-aware development for Kafka-compatible streaming platforms.

A comprehensive, step-by-step guide to integrating Kpow with the Redpanda platform, covering the complete configuration needed to monitor the Kafka-compatible broker and manage schemas through its built-in schema registry.

This guide demonstrates how to address the operational complexity of managing multiple Kafka schema registries. We integrate Confluent-compatible registries—Confluent Schema Registry, Apicurio Registry, and Karapace—and manage them all through a single pane of glass using Kpow.