This document introduces Hazelcast, an open source in-memory data grid for clustering data and distributing applications. Some key points:
- Hazelcast provides a distributed ConcurrentMap that allows putting and getting data in a clustered environment across multiple nodes.
- It offers features like asynchronous operations, data expiration, and filtering data "in grid".
- The system partitions data and replicates it automatically across nodes for elastic scaling and high availability. It can also redistribute data as nodes are added or removed.
- Other features include a distributed event bus for pub/sub messaging, persistent distributed counters and locks for coordination, and an executor service for distributed computing across the cluster.