Apache Cassandra is an open-source, distributed, scalable, and fault-tolerant NoSQL database that uses a peer-to-peer model to distribute data across nodes. It supports a wide variety of data types and uses a column-oriented model to store variable-length rows indexed by partition keys. Data can be added using CQL INSERT statements, read using CQL SELECT statements, and deleted using CQL DELETE statements. Cassandra is useful for applications requiring high availability, easy scaling, and fast writes, such as mobility, IoT, and personalization/recommendations.