Apache Kafka as an integration platform and technology

I came across Apache Kafka when I was searching the web for middleware integration platform. I discovered that many people are giving good comments about Apache Kafka as a high performant publish subscribe messaging platform. Below is a sample scenario/diagram that I could think of if i am to use it to integrate different systems in an organization.

One can imagine Kafka as a highway that connects all the systems in the application, whereby in traditional design, we use many small routes to connect to different systems from a system. Kafka also serves as a component that promote the standardisation of software integration by using similar connector and message protocol.

Use Cases Of Kafka

1. Fraud detection - one can monitor the events generated in Kafka and create different use cases to detect anomaly, possible frauds before a transaction is completed.

2. Microservices - Kafka can be the backbone of the microservice architecture and even for legacy applications when the right connector is used. Event driven design and architecture has become a norm for enterprise application development and that will rely heavily on a event streaming platform.

3. Capture Web Site User Behavior - Every mouse clicks that a user does can be tracked and is useful for behavioral analysis.