For AI Implementors · Full Stack Reference

The Technology
Ecosystem

Every tool below has been deployed by QubitX engineers in a live enterprise environment. Not evaluated in a lab, not on a roadmap. This is the stack we build with — from raw data ingestion through to AI inference in production.

12
Technology Layers
60+
Tools in Production
3
Cloud Platforms
47
Enterprise Deployments
Data + AI Architecture

How Data Flows Through
a QubitX System

Ten sequential layers. Each one a distinct engineering discipline. We design, build, and own all ten — as a single integrated system, not a collection of handoffs.

10
Architecture Layers
Layer 01 — Data Sources
Layer 02 — Ingestion & Streaming
Layer 03 — Storage & Lakehouse
Layer 04 — Real-Time & Analytical Databases
Layer 05 — Data Science & ML Modeling
Layer 06 — AI & ML Platform
Layer 07 — Serving, APIs & Applications
Layer 08 — Orchestration & Automation
Layer 09 — Analytics & BI
Layer 10 — Governance, Quality & Observability
Layer colour key
Data & Infrastructure
Ingestion & Governance
AI & Storage
Databases & Orchestration
Analytics
Technology Reference

Every Tool,
Every Layer.

Filter by category. Each card shows what we use it for, how we deploy it, and the role it plays in the full architecture.

Apache Kafka
Layer 01 — Ingestion & Streaming
Data Ingestion

The entry point of every data system. We design ingestion architectures that handle structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data from dozens of sources simultaneously — with sub-second latency for event-driven systems.

Apache Kafka
A
Apache Kafka
High-throughput event streaming. Our default for real-time ingestion at scale.
Core
AWS Kinesis
A
AWS Kinesis
Managed streaming on AWS-native deployments.
Cloud
Debezium
D
Debezium
CDC (Change Data Capture) from relational databases into streaming pipelines.
Core
Fivetran
F
Fivetran
Managed connectors for 300+ SaaS and database sources.
Select
Airbyte
A
Airbyte
Open-source EL(T) when full connector control is needed.
Select
Apache Iceberg
Layer 03 — Storage Architecture
Lakehouse

The lakehouse pattern combines the scale of a data lake with the reliability and performance of a data warehouse. It's the architectural standard for organisations that need both analytics and AI training on the same data layer.

Delta Lake
D
Delta Lake
ACID transactions on object storage. Default for Databricks-centred architectures.
Core
Apache Iceberg
A
Apache Iceberg
Open table format. Preferred for multi-engine environments (Spark + Flink + Trino).
Core
Apache Hudi
A
Apache Hudi
Upserts and incremental processing on data lakes.
Select
Databricks Unity Catalog
D
Databricks Unity Catalog
Unified governance across lakehouse assets — tables, models, dashboards.
Platform
Snowflake
Layer 04 — Query Engine
Data Warehouse

The analytical query layer where business logic lives. We select warehouse technology based on the client's existing cloud estate, query patterns, and AI workload requirements — not vendor preference.

Snowflake
S
Snowflake
Our most commonly deployed warehouse. Separation of compute/storage, strong governance.
Core
Google BigQuery
G
Google BigQuery
Serverless warehouse for GCP-native clients. Exceptional for large-scale analytics.
Cloud
Databricks SQL
D
Databricks SQL
When warehouse and ML platform need to be unified on one compute layer.
Platform
D
dbt
Transformation layer that turns raw data into trusted analytical models. Used on every engagement.
Core
Pinecone
Layer 06 — AI Memory Layer
Vector DB & Feature Store

The layer that makes AI systems intelligent at runtime. Feature stores serve pre-computed features to models at inference time. Vector databases power semantic search, RAG architectures, and long-term AI memory.

Pinecone
P
Pinecone
Managed vector database. Default for production RAG and semantic search systems.
Core
Weaviate
W
Weaviate
Open-source vector DB when self-hosted control is required.
Select
pgvector
P
pgvector
Vector search inside PostgreSQL. Zero additional infrastructure when PG is already the operational DB.
Select
Feast
F
Feast
Feature store for serving computed features to ML models at low latency.
Core
MLflow
Layer 07 — Model Development
ML Platform & LLMs

The layer where models are trained, evaluated, versioned, and registered. We select platforms based on the model type, compute requirements, and the cloud estate — never a one-size-fits-all approach.

MLflow
M
MLflow
Experiment tracking, model registry, and deployment. Platform-agnostic and our default.
Core
Hugging Face
H
Hugging Face
Open-source model hub and inference for NLP, vision, and multimodal workloads.
Core
LangChain
L
LangChain
Orchestration framework for LLM-powered applications and RAG pipelines.
Core
Anthropic Claude
A
Anthropic Claude
Frontier LLM for enterprise applications requiring safe, interpretable AI outputs.
LLM
AWS SageMaker
A
AWS SageMaker
End-to-end ML platform for AWS-native clients. Strong for custom model training at scale.
Cloud
FastAPI
Layer 08 — Inference Layer
Model Serving & APIs

Where trained models meet production traffic. The serving layer must handle latency SLAs, versioned deployments, A/B testing, and graceful degradation. We design serving infrastructure for the traffic patterns and SLAs of each use case.

FastAPI
F
FastAPI
Default for building model serving APIs. High performance, async, auto-documentation.
Core
BentoML
B
BentoML
Model packaging and serving with built-in batching and adaptive scaling.
Select
Triton Inference Server
T
Triton Inference Server
NVIDIA's high-performance inference server for GPU-accelerated models.
Select
Kubernetes + Istio
K
Kubernetes + Istio
Container orchestration and service mesh for scalable, observable model deployments.
Core
Tableau
Layer 09 — Business Intelligence
Analytics & BI

The layer where data becomes decisions. We build analytics infrastructure that serves everyone from data engineers to board members — from technical SQL interfaces to self-serve dashboards to AI-embedded insights.

Tableau
T
Tableau
Enterprise BI standard. Most commonly deployed for executive-facing dashboards.
Core
Looker
L
Looker
LookML semantic layer for governed self-serve analytics in GCP estates.
Cloud
Power BI
P
Power BI
Microsoft-native BI for Azure and Office 365-integrated deployments.
Cloud
Grafana
G
Grafana
Operational metrics, model performance dashboards, and system observability.
Core
Apache Superset
A
Apache Superset
Open-source BI when vendor independence is a priority.
Select
Apache Airflow
Layer 10 — Pipeline Orchestration
Workflow Orchestration

The conductor of the data and ML pipeline. Orchestration determines when jobs run, in what order, with what dependencies, and what happens when they fail. The right orchestrator is determined by the complexity of the pipeline and team preference.

Apache Airflow
A
Apache Airflow
Industry standard for complex DAG-based data pipelines. Our default for mature engineering teams.
Core
Prefect
P
Prefect
Modern Python-native orchestration. Faster to adopt than Airflow for smaller teams.
Select
Dagster
D
Dagster
Asset-centric orchestration. Strong for teams who want lineage built into the pipeline definition.
Select
Temporal
T
Temporal
Durable execution for long-running workflows and distributed transactions.
Select
DataHub
Layer 11 — Data Governance
Governance & Quality

The layer most organisations underinvest in until it becomes a crisis. AI systems are only as trustworthy as the data they were trained on. Governance and quality frameworks ensure that data moving through the system meets the standards required for AI inference.

Collibra
C
Collibra
Enterprise data governance platform. Data catalogue, lineage, and policy management.
Enterprise
DataHub
D
DataHub
Open-source metadata platform. Our default for teams that need cataloguing without the Collibra cost.
Core
Great Expectations
G
Great Expectations
Data quality testing framework integrated into ingestion and transformation pipelines.
Core
Monte Carlo
M
Monte Carlo
Data observability — detecting anomalies in data before they reach models.
Select
Prometheus + Grafana
Layer 12 — Model Operations
MLOps & Observability

Deploying a model is not the end. Monitoring model performance, detecting drift, tracking feature importance over time, and triggering retraining pipelines is the operational discipline that keeps AI systems working in production beyond launch day.

Evidently AI
E
Evidently AI
Model monitoring and drift detection. Open-source, integrated into CI/CD pipelines.
Core
Arize
A
Arize
ML observability platform for real-time model performance monitoring.
Select
Prometheus + Grafana
P
Prometheus + Grafana
Infrastructure and application metrics. Every deployment gets a Grafana dashboard on day one.
Core
Datadog
D
Datadog
Full-stack observability for production AI systems. APM, logs, traces in one platform.
Enterprise
Amazon Web Services
Foundation — Cloud Platform
Cloud Infrastructure

We are cloud-agnostic by design. We architect for the client's existing estate — not for our preferred vendor. Every major cloud platform has been deployed in production. Multi-cloud and hybrid architectures are fully supported.

Amazon Web Services
A
Amazon Web Services
Most commonly deployed. SageMaker, Redshift, Kinesis, Glue, S3, EKS — all production-certified.
Core
Microsoft Azure
M
Microsoft Azure
Primary for clients with Microsoft estates. Azure ML, Synapse, Event Hubs, AKS.
Core
Google Cloud Platform
G
Google Cloud Platform
Preferred for BigQuery-centred analytics and Vertex AI workloads.
Core
Terraform
T
Terraform
Infrastructure as code across all three clouds. Every environment is code-defined and reproducible.
Core
HashiCorp Vault
Cross-Layer — Security
AI Security Architecture

Security is not a layer — it runs through every other layer. AI systems have a distinct threat landscape from traditional software: model poisoning, prompt injection, data extraction, and adversarial inputs require architecture-level responses, not perimeter controls.

HashiCorp Vault
H
HashiCorp Vault
Secrets management and dynamic credentials across all pipeline components.
Core
Okta
O
Okta
Identity and access management. Zero-trust access to data and model serving endpoints.
Enterprise
Cloudflare
C
Cloudflare
Edge security, DDoS protection, and WAF for AI-facing APIs.
Enterprise
Splunk / SIEM
S
Splunk / SIEM
Security information and event management for AI system audit trails.
Select
Reference Architectures

Four Deployment Patterns
We Run in Production

Not theoretical patterns. Each of these has been deployed on at least two live client engagements.

Pattern 01
Real-Time AI Decision Engine

Sub-100ms inference pipeline for high-volume decisions — fraud detection, credit scoring, dynamic pricing. Event-driven architecture from source system through to decision API.

KafkaFlinkFeature StoreModel ServingFastAPIPrometheus
Pattern 02
Enterprise RAG Platform

Retrieval-Augmented Generation for enterprise knowledge bases. Connects LLMs to structured and unstructured organisational knowledge while maintaining data governance and access controls.

LangChainPineconeClaude / GPT-4FastAPIMLflowEvidently
Pattern 03
Unified Data + Analytics Platform

Full lakehouse architecture consolidating 20–50 data sources into a governed, query-ready platform serving both operational BI and AI model training from the same data layer.

IcebergSnowflakedbtAirflowDataHubTableau
Pattern 04
MLOps at Enterprise Scale

End-to-end MLOps platform supporting 10+ models in production simultaneously — training pipelines, model registry, A/B testing, drift detection, and automated retraining triggers.

MLflowKubeflowSeldonEvidentlyTerraformDatadog
The Honest Brief

Seen the Stack.
Ready to Talk?

Tell us your architecture challenge. We'll tell you which layers need work, what we'd recommend, and what a realistic engagement looks like.