Between the Curly Braces: Describe Elasticsearch

Imagine you’re walking down the street. You’re thinking about query optimization, upgrading your cluster, what you should have for lunch — you know, the usual. Suddenly, you’re stopped by someone, your average Joe, and he asks, “Hey, what is this Elasticsearch thing I keep hearing about?”

What would you say? How would you describe Elasticsearch?

Before you rack your brain for a good answer, we captured a few responses on video at Elastic{ON}¹⁵. We weren't sure how people would answer, but, boy, we’re glad we asked.

Elasticsearch can be many things to many people. It helps NASA plan Curiosity’s next adventure on Mars, Opower reduce energy consumption worldwide, Wikimedia make the world’s knowledge accessible, Yelp serve up the right place to grab a bite (lunch problem solved!), and more.

While Elasticsearch certainly started as a search engine, it’s become more than just that. Elasticsearch helps you connect the proverbial dots and make sense of your data — whether it’s server logs, mortgage rates, genetic code, or the complete works of Shakespeare.

So, now it's your turn. How would you describe Elasticsearch? Give it a go on Twitter (with the added bonus of a 140-character limit) using #elastic.

Lastly, we’d like to say thanks to all of the folks who dropped by our recording studio (OK, maybe it was a trailer in a parking lot — we improvised) at Elastic{ON}¹⁵ to share their stories. We had a fantastic time and look forward to hearing more at an upcoming event. (Elastic{ON} is coming….)