Now that data visualization is off the checklist, the self-service movement in the enterprise is turning its eyes towards machine-generated transmissions, with Logentries Inc. leading the charge. The cloud-based log management provider is rolling out a new query syntax that promises to simplify the manipulation of information collected through its namesake platform.

Analytics Language includes pre-built implementations of common actions such as grouping data points based on common traits and finding statistical patterns that Logentries says can be chained together without as much manual work as is normally involved in manipulating data. That allows business users to have the same level of visibility into their hardware as the operations team.

The company claims that its language can be used to carry out complex operations like correlating trends across multiple data streams, visualizing the relations that emerge from the analysis and tracking changes to the model in real-time using automated alerts. Being able to perform all of that work in a single environment provides a simpler alternative to using point solutions for each part of the analytic process, as has been done historically, the company said.

But Logentries’ main target is not so much traditional tooling as arch-rival Splunk Inc., which likewise ships a native search syntax with its competing log management platform. The company hopes that making its newly introduced language easier to learn and use will help win over customers, particularly those still only starting to analyze their machine-generated data.

Simplified syntax or, no, however, Logentries still faces an uphill battle. The publicly-traded Splunk boasts more than 9,000 customers throughout some 100 countries and a proportionally broad market reach that give its platform a significant head-start. After all, organizations already using the software to analyze logs from their infrastructure are much more likely to build on their existing deployments than switch to a different solution when a new business requirement emerges.

That will only become more important as log analysis increasingly moves beyond the data center to the connected universe, which is where the real growth opportunity is, if Gartner’s prediction of 25 billion Internet-enabled devices coming online by 2020 proves correct. However, that also gives Logentries plenty of time to catch up with new features such as the Analytics Language.

Photo by Jean-Pierre Dalbera via Flickr