'Data silos are the single biggest barrier to making AI agents truly enterprise-ready.' – Shaun Clowes, Confluent
As AI agents scale, it becomes exponentially harder to access and share data with other agents, tools, and external systems. Without the ability to tap into accurate, fresh information, agents will deliver unreliable, stale answers or simply break down.
Confluent Cloud streams, connects, processes, and governs data as it flows throughout the business in real time, enabling customers to build and deploy intelligent, adaptable, and scalable AI applications faster.
'Data silos are the single biggest barrier to making AI agents truly enterprise-ready,' said Shaun Clowes, Chief Product Officer at Confluent. 'Without seamless access to real-time, trustworthy data, even the most advanced AI models can't deliver on its promise. By offering Confluent Cloud in AWS Marketplace, we're providing customers with a streamlined way to access our cloud-native data streaming platform, helping them buy and deploy AI agent solutions faster and more efficiently.'
Confluent Cloud is purpose-built to make data readily available and actionable, driving smarter decisions, enhancing customer experiences, and accelerating innovation across the business. As organizations race to embrace AI, this partnership provides a unified platform that they can trust. By replacing fragmented, batch-based systems with a continuously updating stream of business context, Confluent creates a shared, real-time data backbone that AI agents can subscribe to, interact with, and reason over. Confluent Cloud empowers customers to confidently scale their businesses for the future with AI at the forefront.
With the availability of AI Agents and Tools in AWS Marketplace, customers can significantly accelerate the procurement process to drive AI innovation, reducing the time needed for vendor evaluations and complex negotiations. With centralized purchasing using AWS accounts, customers maintain visibility and control over licensing, payments, and access through AWS.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Khaleej Times
an hour ago
- Khaleej Times
UAE: Crypto scam victims on average lost nearly Dh300,000 each
Approximately $80,000 (Dh293,600) was stolen from each crypto victim of the UAE, the highest globally, during the first half of 2025, according to an analysis by Chainalysis. This has prompted analysts to call for using best techniques to store cryptocurrencies efficiently. According to EC-Council University, investors in UAE and around the world should choose the right wallet as a first step to safeguard their crypto. In addition, they are advised that hardware wallets are the best option, while a paper wallet is an offline solution for securely storing cryptocurrency. It involves generating a document that contains the investor's public and private keys. They also advised strengthening passwords, implementing two-factor authentication, being aware of phishing scams, keeping software updated, safeguarding private keys, backing up the wallet, diversifying the storage and securing the network, among others. According to a global blockchain analytics company's data, victims in the USA came second, followed by victims in Chile, India, Lithuania, Japan, Iran, Israel, Norway and Germany. The UAE has one of the highest crypto adoptions in the world. Nearly 30 per cent of UAE residents own cryptocurrency, followed by Vietnam, the US, Iran, the Philippines, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Ukraine, according to data published by Voronoi, quoting Trip-A. With a score of 45.7 (regarding interest of residents in crypto), the UAE has been ranked third globally after Singapore (50.2) and Switzerland (46.9), said Henley and Partners. 'The UAE stands out as a leading jurisdiction for crypto investors, with its strong public adoption score evidencing a vibrant interest in the crypto ecosystem. The Middle Eastern powerhouse also offers favourable tax policies and a high level of economic stability,' it said. Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth, said Dubai is home to 6,500 technology millionaires as of June 2024, mainly in fintech, crypto and software development. This comes as Bitcoin hit an all-time high of over $120,000 earlier this week. On Sunday morning, it was trading at $117,860, while total market capitalisation stood at $3.87 trillion. Globally, Chainalysis said over $2.17 billion was stolen from cryptocurrency services so far in 2025, higher than the entirety of 2024. North Korea's $1.5 billion hack of ByBit, the largest single hack in crypto history, accounted for the majority of service losses. Regionally, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), and Central & Southern Asia and Oceania (CSAO) regions saw the most rapid increase in growth in victim totals. North America dominated both bitcoin and altcoin theft, ranking first in both categories. This concentration likely reflects the region's high crypto adoption rates and the operation of threat actors capable of targeting large individual holdings. Europe leads the world in ether and stablecoin theft, potentially indicating some combination of either adoption rates for these assets or an attacker's preference for more liquid, easily transferable assets. Asia Pacific ranked second in terms of total Bitcoin stolen and third in terms of stolen Ethereum, whereas CSAO ranked second in terms of stolen altcoin and stolen stablecoin value. Fairly consistently, Sub-Saharan Africa ranked the lowest in terms of value stolen (second to last in terms of compromised BTC), which is most likely indicative of lower wealth levels in this region and not necessarily a signal of lower victimisation rates among crypto users.
Khaleej Times
2 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Lofty US stock market valuations bank on earnings strength
With Wall Street's surge to record highs, the U.S. stock market looks nearly as expensive as ever, and investors are debating whether the lofty valuations are a bearish signal or justified by the technology-heavy market's profit outlook. Few investors would argue the broad stock market is cheap. Since late last month, the benchmark S&P 500 has traded above 22 times its expected earnings over the next year, according to LSEG Datastream. That's a price-to-earnings level the index has ascended to only about 7% of the time over the past 40 years. Determining appropriate market valuations could help investors understand how expensive stocks could get or how deeply they might fall, especially if there are renewed recession concerns. Whether current valuations are an imminent sell signal remains to be seen. Investors say the U.S. stock market can trade at elevated levels for an extended period of time. Some investors believe a number of structural changes could justify higher stock valuations, including greater representation in indexes from tech companies that generate massive profits. "By pretty much every historical metric (the market's valuation) is rich," said Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services. "The question investors are grappling with is, is it warranted?" The SP 500 has soared 25% since April, as investors grew less fearful that President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs would cause a recession. The index has gained 6% so far in 2025, and over 60% in the past three years. last week, the S&P 500's forward P/E ratio was 22.2, according to LSEG Datastream. That level is over 40% above the index's 40-year average of 15.8 and about 20% above its 10-year average of 18.6. A metric comparing price to expected sales shows the S&P 500 trading over 60% above its average of the past 20 years, according to Datastream. "On the broadest basis, the market has clearly got a valuation headwind relative to where it has been in history," said Patrick Ryan, chief investment strategist at Madison Investments. Investors debate the relevance of historical comparisons. The bigger presence in indexes of technology and tech-related companies, which tend to carry higher valuations, drives up the P/E ratio, while the profit strength of the largest companies also means the index could deserve higher valuations, investors said. The S&P 500's operating profit margin stood at 12% at the end of 2024, up from 9% in 2014, according to SP Dow Jones Indices. Other potential justifications for higher valuations include regular buying of equities from 401(k) and other retirement plans, and lower fees for index funds easing access to stocks. While studies show elevated valuations suggest diminished returns over the longer term, they are not always the best "timing tools" for determining the market's near-term direction, said Ed Clissold, chief U.S. strategist at Ned Davis Research. Still, Clissold said, "a lot of good news is priced into stocks at these levels." In the April swoon, the S&P 500's P/E ratio sank to 17.9; in 2022's bear-market drop, driven by spiking interest rates, the P/E fell as low as 15.3. Indeed, investors are wary that current valuations make stocks particularly susceptible to disappointments. One worry: Washington could fail to strike deals with trading partners ahead of August 1, when higher U.S. levies on numerous countries are set to start. Another shock could be the early departure of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whom Trump has persistently pressured to leave. Corporate results also pose a test. Second-quarter reports are kicking off with SP 500 earnings expected to have increased 6.5% from the year-earlier period, according to LSEG IBES. Wall Street increasingly is focused on next year's profit potential, with SP 500 earnings expected to rise 14% in 2026. "Investors seem somewhat convinced that the SP is going to generate about 10% earnings growth for a few years after this year," said David Bianco, Americas chief investment officer at DWS Group. "The equity market has become fairly dismissive of any kind of significant recession risk." Some investors say that if artificial intelligence adoption broadly benefits the economy, "then maybe the valuations would be justified because the earnings growth the next few years could be substantial," Clissold said. To be sure, some investors are investing more in relatively cheaper areas such as small caps and international stocks. Ryan and others point to higher yields on U.S. government bonds, seen as risk-free if held to term, as one factor dimming the allure of stocks. The benchmark 10-year yield is around 4.5%, well above its level for much of the past 15 years. "There are alternatives out there for you to move your capital to," Ryan said. Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said the firm is recommending clients trim equities in areas including industrials and consumer discretionary sectors, expecting broadly slowing earnings growth in coming months before accelerating. The firm has a year-end SP 500 target of 6,000, about 4% below current levels. "Valuation-wise, stocks are pretty lofty," Wren said. Still, he added, determining a fair valuation is trickier than it has been. "Where is the line in the sand between expensive and not expensive?" Wren said. "It's harder to determine that."
Crypto Insight
6 hours ago
- Crypto Insight
Charles Schwab plans to launch Bitcoin, Ether spot trading, CEO says
Charles Schwab is preparing to expand its crypto offerings by launching spot trading for Bitcoin and Ethereum, according to CEO Rick Wurster. In an interview with CNBC on Friday, Wurster said Schwab clients already hold significant exposure to crypto via exchange-traded products (ETPs), owning more than 20% of the industry's crypto ETP market. However, he noted that crypto still represents a relatively small portion of clients' total wealth, around $25 billion out of $10.8 trillion. 'We anticipate launching Bitcoin and Ether sometime soon so that our clients have access to that,' he said. 'We think that will be an acceleration of our growth.' The CEO claimed that many clients currently keep 98% of their wealth with Schwab but hold just 1% to 2% of their crypto assets with digital-native firms. 'They really want to bring it back to Schwab because they trust us. They want us to sit alongside their other assets,' he added. Schwab to compete against Coinbase Wurster said that Schwab is 'absolutely' looking to compete against crypto exchanges like Coinbase by introducing spot crypto trading. 'If they're buying their crypto at Coinbase, we would love to see them bring their crypto back to Schwab,' he said. Earlier this year, Wurster said the company expects an April 2026 launch window to provide spot Bitcoin trading services to Schwab clients. At the time, he cited a 400% increase in traffic to Schwab's crypto website as evidence of investor interest in digital assets. Schwab has increased its involvement in the crypto sector amid growing regulatory clarity. In 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Federal Reserve rescinded earlier restrictive guidelines issued after the FTX collapse. The change allows banks to participate in crypto activities such as custody and trading. Following approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Schwab added Bitcoin and Ether ETFs to its platform. The company also provides other crypto-related products, including mixed ETFs, mutual funds, and Bitcoin options, according to its website. Institutions ramp up crypto investments A survey conducted in March by Coinbase and EY-Parthenon found that 83% of institutional investors intend to increase their crypto holdings in 2025, with many already investing in altcoins beyond Bitcoin and Ether. The survey identified XRP and Solana as the most favored assets among respondents. It also showed that most expect to allocate 5% or more of their portfolios to cryptocurrencies this year. Similarly, a May report by Fireblocks found that 90% of institutional players are using or exploring stablecoins, with almost half already deploying them for payments. Source:
