Like the physical universe, it is diverse – created by everyone using a digital camera, by the more than 2 billion people and millions of enterprises living their lives and doing their work online, and by the millions of sensors and communicating devices sending and receiving data over the Internet. It includes Oscars-host Ellen DeGeneres’ “celeb selfie” tweet that was viewed 26 million times across the Web during a 12-hour period; the more than one billion hours of TV shows and movies streamed from Netflix per month; the data collected by sensors connected to a giant gas turbine and its analysis, making electricity cheaper and cleaner; and the data streaming at 2.8 Gigabytes per second from the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope.

But unlike the physical universe, the digital universe is created and defined by software, a man-made construct. It is defined by software that analyzes this ever-expanding universe of digital data, finding the hidden value and new opportunities to transform and enhance the physical world – keeping the Mars Rover roving, shipping money, or storing the pictures of our loved ones. And it is software that will both create new opportunities and new challenges for us as we try to extract value from the digital universe that we have created.