1. Users expect to have instantaneous access to applications and services at all times, no matter where they are.

2. Your smartphone allows you to get almost instantaneous answers to the most obscure questions.

3. While the moon usually appears full for an entire day or longer, a full moon is actually an instantaneous event.

4. The need for instantaneous access to data is non-stop.

5. One effective tool for getting over that hurdle is Apache Spark, a powerful open source tool that enables instantaneous stream analytics.