Paglo announced a new service that lets IT send and store logs in the cloud. Logs can be searched and analyzed on demand.Paglo Logs is a new SaaS application that lets IT administrators transfer logs into Paglo's data center. Paglo stores and indexes the logs, making them available to authorized users for instantaneous search and analysis via a Web browser.

The new service competes directly with software- and appliance-based log management products from companies such as Splunk, LogLogic and LogRhythm, and Q1 Labs.

In particular, Splunk has differentiated itself in the log and IT management market with a search-oriented approach to collecting and indexing information from logs and network devices. LogLogic also lets users run SQL queries against the database of collected logs for ad hoc information-gathering.

Log management is a critical component of network and application management, and many regulations, including PCI, require companies to regularly review logs and save log data for extended periods. One appeal of a log management service is that companies can avoid capital costs of buying sufficient storage to handle growing volumes of logs.

Of course, companies also have to satisfy themselves that the provider has adequate mechanisms to protect this information. Prospective customers should grill Paglo closely on the physical and logical controls the service has in place.

To use the service, administrators configure devices and applications to send syslog messages to the Paglo data center. Logs are encrypted in transit via TLS and indexed at the Paglo data center. Each company's log data is segregated from other customers' data.

Once logs are collected and indexed by Paglo, administrators can run SQL-like queries against the logs to search for information or help answer questions. Paglo says administrators can also construct alerts to trigger automatically if specified conditions are met, such as a number of failed login attempts to a Web application.

The service offers basic analytics, and the company says it will roll out a more comprehensive compliance-based reporting application in the future, though Paglo declined to provide a date.

Paglo Logs is available as a standalone service. It can also be used in conjunction with Paglo's core offering, a management service that collects, indexes and makes searchable a variety of data on IT assets, network traffic and physical and virtual servers.

A free version of Paglo Logs is available, but it limits users to 10Mbytes of log data per day. Pricing for the paid version starts at $99 per month for up to 25Mbytes per day of log data.