What’s New: NFTs For Your Observability Data!
By Knox LivelyApril 1, 2022
Today, Observe is excited to announce that we’re joining the Polygon ecosystem to bring you the first-ever NFT integration into a SaaS observability product!
I know what you’re thinking, “NFTs are just a fad!” Perhaps, that’s because you’ve not given them enough of a chance, and that’s understandable. The American astronomer and author, Clifford Stoll, scoffed at the mere mention of the Internet, and said it was “a telephone system that’s gotten uppity.” He’s since eaten a slice or two of humble pie, but that didn’t stop one of the world’s brightest and most vocal academics from eschewing an impending and revolutionary future.
The point is that NFTs are the next wave in the tech revolution, and Observe is here to help you hop on board the latest trend…and profit from it.
Why Do I Need NFTs For My Observability Data?
Whether I’ve convinced you or not about the importance of NFTs, I know what your next question is, ”Why do I need NFTs for my observability data?” Your guiding principle should be to market and monetize your observability data as much as possible.
Until now, your observability data has sat quietly in the dark recesses of your IT infrastructure generating EXPENSES. The time is ripe for your observability data to generate REVENUE.
No more free lunches for your observability data.
Observability practitioners should strive to become o11y neutral at a minimum. Meaning, the proceeds from monetizing your observability data should meet or exceed the cost of your observability tooling. We believe that NFTs are the perfect vehicle for monetizing your data — while having a little fun.
In addition to becoming o11y neutral, you’ll come to understand there are an endless number of opportunities for NFTs — and $$$ — at every turn along your journey towards observability.
Here are a handful of reasons why you should turn your observability data into NFTs today:
- Become an artist, overnight! If you haven’t heard, NFTs are the future of art. What is art? It’s up to you to decide, that’s the beautiful thing!
- Support all things crypto. Crypto is the future too, and good luck creating an NFT without it. Minting NFTs from your observability data is a great way to support both of them!
- Profit from your mistakes and shame co-workers. Remember that time Vic, the network administrator, made your entire service disappear from the internet with a bad BGP update? Immortalize his blunder on the blockchain – all while making money!
- Join the Metaverse! Whether you know, or care, what the Metaverse is, NFTs are the bridge to the Metaverse – and people there LOVE NFTs! What better way to spruce up your virtual wall than with virtual art.
- Hedge inflation with decentralized finance (DeFi). Though you and your team aren’t a part of finance, you’ll have big fans in the C-Suite as IT departments usually don’t generate revenue, much less revenue that’s naturally protected from inflation.
Observability NFT Use Cases
Now that you understand the importance of creating NFTs for your observability data, you might ask, “What are some ways I can monetize my observability data with NFTs?” We’re so happy you asked! As with any artistic endeavor, creativity is key here. The more creative you become, the more you are rewarded.
Do you think some computer could have generated Beeple’s collage, Everydays: The First 5000 Days, that he sold for a record-breaking $69 million – of course not!
A good first place to start is with moments that you and your team want to memorialize for all of eternity. Don’t worry, they don’t have to be uplifting, in fact, the more humiliating the better the market value they’ll have.
Example: A few months ago our Lead Developer on our Cars app, Tom Batchelor, made a “small” Git commit that crashed our Cars app and unleashed a flood of tickets from hundreds of, understandably, angry customers. We don’t ever want him to ever forget this moment — and we like money — so we minted an NFT!
Other ideas:
- Turn your data breach into a data WINDFALL by capturing the exact moment you exposed sensitive user data to the world! It will help pay for the inevitable lawsuits you’ll shortly face.
- Service outage?…that’s embarrassing! Distract angry customers with an NFT. It will take them at least a few hours just to figure out what an NFT is!
- Turn every log line into a unique artifact on the blockchain, forever memorialized, and never to be forgotten. Expiring retention is now a thing of the past!
- Monetize those pesky 500 errors in your app logs. If you can’t stop them, at least you can turn them into cold, hard cash.
- Issue an NFT for each on-call shift, and trade them with SREs and DevOps Engineers around the world – for fun and profit!
As you can see, there is no shortage of occasions and opportunities to create NFTs, and creating one in Observe is as easy as it is to understand our transparent, usage-based pricing model – so what’s your excuse?
In this next section, we’ll show you how you can join the cool kids club and create your first NFT from your observability data on Observe!
Create Your First Observability NFT
Aside from the creation of your NFT, all things NFT — including the marketplace, your collection(s), wallet, profile settings, and more — can be found in the NFT tab in the navigation rail to the left in your Observe workspace, right above the Alerts tab.
After the creation of your NFT, you’ll automatically be taken to this tab to customize, and eventually, list your creation on the marketplace. But enough chit-chat, let’s create that NFT!
Create:
- Find the worksheet, logline, or visualization that will be your first NFT. I suggest checking out the Dataset Graph tab in your Observe workspace if you’re looking for eye-catching and mouth-watering visualizations!
- Click the Export as NFT button in Observe which can be found amongst the other Export options at the top right-hand side of a worksheet.
Upload and Customize:
- Once the NFT uploads, a new dialog box will open where you need to specify all the details for your new NFT as well as what Collection to add it to.
- Once you’re done customizing your NFT and have selected its upload location, simply click Create.
Congrats, you’ve just made your first observability NFT! Next, we’ll learn how to sell your new “art” piece, because let’s be honest, that’s what NFTs are all about, right?
Selling Your First Observability NFT:
Before we begin, it’s important to note that new artists will have to pay two fees to list on the OpenSea marketplace. Though, you’ll only have to pay the initialization fee once:
- The first fee is the initialization fee for your account. This fee will typically range between $50 and $50,000, and it largely depends on the current gas fee on the Ethereum network.
- The second fee is required for access to the OpenSea marketplace, and typically costs between $10 and $50, which, as you may have guessed, is subject to a gas fee!
Note: Be sure to check out the current gas fees for Ethereum to get an idea of how much you’ll pay in gas fees.
Steps:
- Head on over to the NFT tab in Observe that we mentioned in the previous section. Next, locate your NFT, or NFT collection that you’d like to sell and click the item.
- Once you’ve selected your NFT, or NFT collection, simply click the Sell button in the top right-hand corner of the item.
- Select a Duration and any other options like Sell as a bundle or Reserve for Specific Buyer should you be so lucky to have a buyer already lined up.
- Simply click the Complete listing button, and you’ve successfully minted your first observability NFT!
Welcome To The Future
After making your way through this guide, you’re now ready to turn your observability data into money – while making art! Remember, this should be fun. If you find yourself getting overwhelmed with a backlog of art to create, relax. Claude Monet didn’t become an “artist” until he was in his forties. Plus, art isn’t about money or the “investors” who buy it, it’s about the process, so enjoy it!
We hope you’re as excited as we are about the burgeoning future of NFTs combined with observability data. Until next time, happy minting!
If you enjoyed this post and want to learn more about what NFTs can do for your organizations’ observability data, please have a look at our latest eBook, NFTs for Observability – The eBook, for more information.