Confluent Platform 6.0 introduces several key features that transform Kafka into a more cloud-native data system, enabling greater elasticity, improved cost effectiveness, infinite data retention, and global availability. The new features include Tiered Storage, which allows Kafka to recognize two tiers of storage: local disks and cost-effective object stores, such as Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage; Self-Balancing Clusters, which automatically reassign partitions to optimize cluster performance and balance on an ongoing basis; and Admin REST APIs, which provide a comprehensive set of administrative operations through a RESTful interface. These features complement each other in ways that simplify management operations and reduce the cost of adopting Kafka, enabling businesses to focus on building event streaming applications that change their businesses. Additionally, Confluent Platform 6.0 introduces Cluster Linking, which enables connecting independent Kafka clusters in a simple, efficient manner, bridging clusters between different environments and across any distance to maintain its place as the organization's central nervous system. With these features, businesses can reduce infrastructure costs, decrease lost productivity, and provide relevant personalized experiences in real-time while retaining data on Kafka infinitely, enabling new event streaming use cases.