For Start-Ups, Sorting the Data Cloud Is the Next Big Thing

I like these fluffy articles around the holidays because the odds are good that someone you like to chat with that's smart but not in the domain is still relaxed from the day before, sitting with a coffee and actually has the aperture wide enough to have a meaningful conversation before the kids get up.

Dad's sitting there reading Economic Weekly or some such, and I make an amused cough while reading this article. "Whatcha getting into over there?" he asks, taking the bait I didn't know I set.

I tell him that the article is saying how the next thing in this cloud stuff is to start using the data, to sort it, get some signal out of the noise. He suggests that work must all be done already, must be a pretty common problem. He says he does some batch jobs at the bank he works at that sound like this.

I tell him, "Dad, how come both our basements are filled to the brim with crap?" He was coming over with a refill for my coffee but now I get a noogie at 32 years old for the jab. "I'm serious, why do you suppose that is?" He supposes I have some reason already figured out.

I tell him that I figure our basements are full of crap because it's real easy to fill a container up with crap, but it's a real pain in the butt to go sort it. Just like it's a pain in the butt for his computer core to crunch all the transactions to get his customer data for the online banking.

You can see where this went, I'm sure. I pointed out that his data is tiny and it still takes a while to crunch and sort it. I wanted, badly, to discuss NP Complete with him, but I think that "why does organizing the garage generally suck" was my Christmas metaphor, to keep the coffee cup getting refilled this morning.

Funny, I remember meeting these guys at an RSA conference years ago, must have been in 2004, and thinking "this is the only innovative thing I've seen here." It was pretty cool tech at the time, interesting to see them branch out from information security.

This is an article about Splunk.