TOP OF MIND

Not really a surprise. After weeks of speculation, Intel confirmed it will pay $16.7 billion to buy Altera. The merger will have huge implications for data center design and for Intel's Internet of things business. "With this acquisition, we will harness the power of Moore's law to make the next generation of solutions not just better, but able to do more," said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, in a statement. "Whether to enable new growth in the network, large cloud data centers or IoT segments, our customers expect better performance at lower costs. This is the promise of Moore's Law, and it's the innovation enabled by Intel and Altera joining forces."

TRENDING

Uber, academic raider. Apparently, the controversial ride-sharing startup has lured away more than 40 robotics experts from Carnegie Mellon University to develop its autonomous (aka self-driving) cars. “I would have preferred [Uber] just come to us,” the school’s robotics director told The Wall Street Journal.

The official debut date for Windows 10 is July 29, according to an official Microsoft blog. Unofficially, an online retailer has leaked pricing plans for professional copies—even though upgrades are free.

Blame the CEO. Many corporate boards think CxO-level management should bear primary accountability for data breaches—ahead of the cybersecurity team.

Why the financial structure of Snapchat’s latest funding is such a big deal.

Yes, those cardboard virtual reality “glasses” Google sells are for real. This Wired article reveals how the project was born in France. Plus, the ill-fated Glass project is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Google’s wearables research. It’s working on smart fabric that could turn your clothing into a computer.

Airbus just started a $150 million venture fund, to back digital innovation in the aerospace industry.

Cloud computing services are pretty inexpensive, thanks to the price war between Google and Amazon Web Services. Businesses can also buy unused “spot instances” for an even steeper discount.

THE DOWNLOAD

Sumo Logic takes in $80 million to streamline IT operations

The software startup is challenging Splunk with a cloud-based data crunching system that analyzes machine data generated by servers and connected devices. Fortune writer Jonathan Vanian reports on its latest financing.

Businesses aren’t just looking big data as a way to help make better marketing or sales decisions. They are tapping it to optimize data center and IT operations.

Sumo Logic has landed an $80 million funding round to help, bringing the company’s total investment to $160.5 million. The Redwood City, Calif.-based startup declined to comment on its valuation.

With more devices like thermometers and automobiles connected to the Internet along with people increasingly using phones and tablets to access applications, there’s now more information available than ever to guide IT professionals, said Sumo Logic president and CEO Ramin Sayar in an interview with Fortune.

The type of metrics created by these devices is known as machine data. Inside that information are log files, sensor data, and server metrics that essentially provide an audit trail that gives a company a better sense of how well data centers are performing. If there is a problem affecting a particular connected device or a server, an organization’s IT team can scan the machine data and pinpoint the error.

Sumo Logic sells a machine-data analyzing system—hosted in Amazon Web Services—that works in collaboration with a company’s internal or cloud-based databases, Sayar said. Once connected, Sumo Logic’s application scans machine data for patterns or anomalies that could help IT staff understand where problems may be lurking.

Sumo Logic faces plenty of competition from legacy IT companies like IBM, Oracle, and SAP, said DFJ Growth co-founder and managing director Randy Glein, who invested in the startup. But perhaps its biggest competitor comes from San Francisco-based Splunk, which went public in 2012. Technology analysts frequently compare the two companies when talking about the log-management space.

What distinguishes Sumo Logic from its well-known rival is the fact that it’s been touting the cloud since its inception, while Splunk is used for “strictly on-premise deployments,” Sayar said. Sumo Logic is betting that as companies consider moving IT infrastructure to cloud service providers like Google or Amazon, they will be more inclined to use the Sumo Logic’s machine data-analyzing services.

The company currently has about 250 employees and plans to boost its headcount to 400 by the end of its fiscal year. Sumo Logic counts Netflix, McGraw Hill, and Kaiser Permanente among its roughly 500 customers.

DFJ Growth led the new round along with new participant Institutional Venture Partners and previous investors Greylock Partners, Sequoia Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, and Accel Partners.

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ALSO WORTH SHARING

New tech chief for CA. The enterprise software company has hired Otto Berkes, who used to work at HBO and within Microsoft’s Xbox division.

Why chipmaker Nvidia predicts a big bump from cloud computing. It anticipates $1 billion in annual revenue within two to three years from cloud gaming services. Because, big data requires big graphics.

Stewart Butterfield says collaboration upstart Slack has fielded plenty of takeover offers, but he has no intention of selling.

Close to 1 billion served. Google’s Gmail service just passed 900 million users.

And the winner is, Ohio. That’s where Amazon Web Services intends to spend $1.1 billion to build its next cloud data center.

Salesforce just bought a mobile calendar app. Tempo, which launched in 2013, will disappear at the end of June.

MY FORTUNE BOOKMARKS

Evernote has a new COO: Linda Kozlowski by Michal Lev-Ram

Sundar Pichai: Why Google can afford to be patient by Adam Lashinsky

This is the city with the largest percentage of women-led startups by Susan Price

Here’s what movies and TV get wrong (and right) about Silicon Valley by Erik Sherman

How water technology can help farmers survive California’s drought by Katie Fehrenbacher

Jim Beam is using virtual reality to make you think you’re a shot of bourbon by John Gaudiosi

Meet the ex-Googler making Hillary Clinton more tech-savvy’ by Nina Easton

ONE MORE THING

Why you should know more about blockchain, the technology underlying the Bitcoin virtual currency.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Apple Worldwide Developers Conference: Future of iOS and OS X. (June 8 - 12; San Francisco)

Hadoop Summit San Jose: Mainstreaming adoption. (June 9 - 11; San Jose, California)

Red Hat Summit: Energize your enterprise. (June 23 - 26; Boston)

Brainstorm Tech: Fortune’s invite-only gathering of thinkers, influencers and entrepreneurs. (July 13 - 15; Aspen, Colorado)

LinuxCon North America: All about open source. (Aug. 17 - 19; Seattle)

VMworld: The virtualization ecosystem. (Aug. 30 – Sept. 3, 2015; San Francisco)

Dreamforce: The Salesforce community. (Sept. 15 - 18; San Francisco)

Cassandra Summit: Largest gathering of Cassandra database developers. (Sept. 22 - 24; San Francisco)

BoxWorks 2015: Cloud collaboration solutions. (Sept. 28 - 30; San Francisco)

Workday Rising: Meet and share. (Sept. 28 - Oct. 1; Las Vegas)

HP Engage: Big data, big engagement. (Oct. 4 - 6; San Diego)

Gartner Symposium ITxpo: CIOs and senior IT executives. (Oct. 4 - 8; Orlando, Florida)

Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing: World's largest gather of women technologists. (Oct. 14 - 16; Houston)

Oracle OpenWorld: Customer and partner conference. (Oct. 25 - 29; San Francisco)

QuickBooks Connect: SMBs, entrepreneurs, accountants and developers. (Nov. 2 - 4; San Jose, California)