Talk presented at Open Lakehouse and AI in Amsterdam. RSVP here

GitHub repo: https://github.com/sarahzinger/meetup-data-lake

The OSA Community is proud to host the Open Lakehouse and AI event in Amsterdam!

​​As real-time databases integrate more closely with data lakes to reduce storage costs and unlock data for AI and advanced analytics, data infrastructure is evolving fast. Join us to hear from leading experts as they share practical solutions and lessons learned in building open, scalable, and high-performance data platforms.

​Food and beverages will be provided!

​​Speakers

• ​Robert Hodges, CEO @ Altinity
• ​Andrew Madson, Head of Developer Relations @ Fivetran
• ​Imma Valls, Senior Developer Advocate @ Grafana
• ​Will Martin, Evangelist @ Dremio

​Agenda

• ​6:00 pm – Check-in and networking
• ​6:15 – 8:00 pm – Talks
• ​8:00 – 9:00 pm – Networking

​Description of the Talks

​Building a Foundation for AI with ClickHouse® and Apache Iceberg Storage

​Speaker: Robert Hodges, CEO @ Altinity

​Abstract: AI applications need data. Lots of it. Altinity’s Project Antalya is adapting open source ClickHouse® to introduce separation of compute and storage on shared Iceberg table data. The result: fast, cheap, flexible query that extends the life of real-time analytic applications and lays the foundation for handling new AI use cases on the same datasets. We cover architecture, performance results, roadmap, and how to get started yourself.  

​Iceberg for Agents: Elevating Lakehouse Data Into AI-Ready Context

​Speaker: Andrew Madson, Head of Developer Relations @ Fivetran

​Abstract: AI agents fail in production because even though they’re stuffed with data, they’re starved for context. Better LLM models aren’t the problem. The bottleneck is the data stack: fragmented silos, inconsistent definitions, and logic hidden in tribal knowledge. Agents need structured, reliable, and interpretable context—not just data access.

​In this session, we’ll show how Apache Iceberg becomes the backbone of AI-ready pipelines. You’ll learn how to elevate your Iceberg implementation from a storage format to a live context layer that powers structured retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), schema-aware agents, and autonomous reasoning grounded in truth.

​What we’ll cover:

• ​Iceberg Foundations for AI – from ACID to Time Travel
• ​From Rows to Relationships – The role of the semantic layer
• ​Structured RAG in Practice – Fully open source

​The session includes a live demo of a fully open-source Structured RAG stack built on Apache Iceberg, featuring semantic query translation, hybrid retrieval, and governed agent reasoning. Expect architecture diagrams, real code, and practical guidance.

​Visualizing Your Data Lake with Grafana

​Speaker: Imma Valls, Senior Developer Advocate @ Grafana

​Abstract: In this brief talk, we’ll walk through how to get started with Grafana’s open source platform to explore and understand your data lake. We’ll cover how to connect to your data—no matter where it lives—then craft queries that turn raw information into clear, compelling visualizations, and finally set up alerts and annotations so you’re always in the know when something important changes in your data lake.

​The Open Data Lakehouse: Who Benefits?

​Speaker: Will Martin, Evangelist @ Dremio

​Abstract: Data Lakehouses have long benefited from open standards, with many established table formats and now emerging alternatives for the data catalog. But where does this leave the users, customers, and vendors? Who sees the benefits of these open technologies?

In this talk I will delve into the Open Data Lakehouse, the analytics platform that delivers industry-leading performance on open software standards. We will delve into the technical details of Apache Iceberg and Apache Polaris, what they deliver for modern data analytics, and who is impacted by these ground-breaking collaborations.

Social

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