Apache Iceberg is quickly becoming the standard table format for querying large analytic datasets in object storage. It brings database-like features such as ACID transactions, time travel, and schema evolution to files stored in formats like Parquet or ORC. Historically, data lakes were just collections of raw files in object storage, but Iceberg solves these problems by providing a unified metadata layer that enables reliable, concurrent reads and writes, optimized metadata management, and schema evolution. With the launch of R2 Data Catalog in open beta, developers can now manage Apache Iceberg catalogs built directly into their Cloudflare R2 buckets, exposing a standard Iceberg REST catalog interface for connecting to existing engines like PyIceberg, Snowflake, and Spark. The catalog also ensures consistent, coordinated access to tables without conflicts or data corruption, making it an essential tool for data teams adopting Iceberg on R2.