Since I was a kid, I had a fascination for chess playing programs – until it got to a point that it became impossible for me to beat a good chess program. And years ago, not long after I gave up my personal fight with them – the last man standing lost to the best chess playing program. Clearly for chess, machine intelligence overtook human intelligence that day.
Another area where machine intelligence has evolved to a point where it’s better than human intelligence is the maps program. I used to have to carry a road atlas with me or risk spending a lot of time just finding my way back on track. It got better a little when you could take a print out, but if I missed an exit or wanted to go for a scenic detour – I again was on my own. Not any more, now I can simply plug in my phone, speak the next destination, and it guides mepatiently to that destination – recalculating the route if i miss an exit, heck even warning me when the route is blocked with traffic. These are just couple of examples of how technology evolves to a point – where it would have seemed a sci-fi fantasy 10-15 years ago. And it fundamentally changes how we all go about our lives.
Machine Data Analytics seems like another area desperately in need of a similar evolution. Machine Data Analytics has to evolve into Machine Data Science – and it has to evolve to a point where we depend on it and use it just as I rely on maps and navigation on my cell phone. And Sumo Logic is at the forefront of making that change happen – and there are some fundamental shifts in computing technology – changes which bring that breakthrough within reach.
Cloud has become as mainstream as video streaming. And just like video streaming completely disrupted brick and mortar DVD rental businesses, Cloud has already and continues to bring along fundamentally disruptive technologies to life. So what does Cloud mean for Machine Data? It will be about generating sophisticated insights from the data generated by IT today. Machine data is already the one of the biggest sources of “Big Data” in enterprises. It will be about delivering smarter analytics at scale with the simplicity of a service. As the new year begins, I feel proud and satisfied with what we have accomplished in the last two and a half years. And super excited about the journey ahead – a future is waiting to be invented. 