Would Archimate consider Kafka as an application component or a system software?
I was looking in different documents and used several search engines, including artificially intelligent ones. But I got contradicting answers.
Kafka as system software: “In the Archimate, Kafka would be categorized as “system software”. System software represents software that provides or contributes to an environment for storing, executing, and using software or data deployed within it. It’s a specialization of a node that models the software environment in which artifacts run”.
Kafka as application component: most results consider Kafka as application component, for example: “In the context of ArchiMate, Kafka would typically be considered an “application component”. An application component represents an encapsulation of application functionality aligned to implementation structure, which is modular and replaceable. It can include not only reusable software components but also complete software applications, sub-applications, or information systems. So, Kafka, being a self-contained unit that encapsulates behavior and data, aligns with the definition of an application component. Its behavior would be modeled explicitly through relationships to behavior elements.”
When I ask for examples for system software, Archimate mentions OS, JEE Application Servers, DBMS, Workflow Engines, and Communication Middleware.
For my understanding, Kafka has very much in common with Communication Middleware (producers write into topics, consumers write from them) and DBMS (especially if used with fact events).
Your recommendation (including a reference) would be very much appreciated.