Dartmouth expanding diff, grep Unix tools

Such utilities could provide administrators the ability to work with more complex forms of data now being generated by network equipment and infrastructure software. To illustrate, Cisco's IOS, which is the company's operating system for its routers and switches, will provide operational data in block-like data structures.

The company's efforts in cloud computing

Google's interest in this innovation springs from the company's efforts in cloud computing, where it must automate operations across a wide range of networking gear, Weaver said. The DOE foresees that this sort of software could play a vital role in smart grids, in which millions of energy consuming end-devices would have connectivity of some sort. The software would help "make sense of all the log files and the configurations of the power control networks," Weaver said.

Joab Jackson covers enterprise software and general research breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Joab on Twitter at @Joab_Jackson. Joab's e-mail address is Joab_Jackson@idg.com