Introduction

To handle the dynamic nature of data, it is essential to have a continuous data stream to ensure that partner applications stay relevant and updated. The Cisco Spaces Firehose API provides a steady stream of real-time data — device locations, presence changes, IoT telemetry, occupancy counts, and more — to a large number of subscribers simultaneously.

The amount of data streamed may vary with spikes and lows, but the data continuously flows through the Firehose API until it is processed. After the data is processed, it can be visualized, published, and converted to graphs in real time to suit consumer business needs.

Advantages

  • Designed for cloud scale — The API is built from the ground up to handle high event volumes efficiently.
  • Multi-event, single channel — A single connection carries multiple event types. Use the Cisco Spaces partner application to specify which events you need.
  • Low latency — Events are delivered in real time, suitable for time-sensitive use cases.
  • Multi-tenant — A single channel carries events for all customers sharing data with your application. No need for separate connections per customer.
  • Multiple protocols — Choose from HTTP, WebSocket, or gRPC depending on your client environment and throughput needs.
  • Multiple formats — JSON (easy to work with, consumable by most platforms) or Protocol Buffers (binary, bandwidth-efficient, faster processing).
  • Push and pull — Push channels deliver data to your cloud infrastructure (AWS Kinesis, Azure Event Hubs, Google Pub/Sub). Pull channels let your application connect and consume on demand.
  • Replay support — Pull channels allow resuming from a specific timestamp without data loss, useful for system upgrades and short outages.
  • Partitioned for throughput — Up to 12 concurrent connections, each handling a subset of partitions, for maximum throughput.
  • HTTP/2 support — Lower connection overhead compared to HTTP/1.x.
  • Environment separation — Production, sandbox, and staging API keys let you test without disrupting your production data flow.

Pull and Push Channels

Cisco Spaces Firehose API supports two types of API channels:

  • Pull — Your application initiates a connection and receives events in real time. Pull channels support HTTP, WebSocket, and gRPC protocols. Your application can request to replay recent events using fromTimestamp, enabling restart without data loss.

  • Push — Cisco Spaces delivers events directly to your cloud infrastructure. Supported destinations include AWS Kinesis, AWS Kinesis Firehose, Azure Event Hubs, and Google Pub/Sub. Data flows immediately after configuration.