confluent

Confluent is an English term used as an adjective and noun to describe things that flow together or merge. It derives from the Latin confluere, meaning to flow together. In geography, confluent describes streams or rivers that join to form a larger river; the point of joining is a confluence, and the resulting channel may be described as confluent downstream.

In science and mathematics, confluent is used in several contexts. A notable example is the confluent hypergeometric function, a special function that arises as a limit case of the Gauss hypergeometric function and appears in differential equations and physics. The term can also describe paths, signals, or processes that converge or merge.

In technology, Confluent, Inc. is a software company that provides a streaming data platform built around Apache Kafka. It was founded in 2014 by Jay Kreps, Neha Narkhede, and Jun Rao, the original creators of Kafka, to commercialize real-time data streaming. The company offers the Confluent Platform for on-premises use and Confluent Cloud as a managed cloud service. It went public in 2021 on the Nasdaq under the ticker CFLT and has grown to serve a range of industries that rely on real-time data pipelines and event streaming.