After spending over a year and a half working on integrating its products and tools with Cisco, Splunk is using its annual Splunk.conf event in Boston, Massachusetts, to unveil several upcoming developments. One of the highlights is the introduction of the new Cisco Data Fabric platform.
Following the completion of the multibillion dollar acquisition in 2024, Splunk and Cisco wasted no time in combining their technology offerings. By September of the following year, they had already successfully integrated tools such as Splunk’s Observability Cloud with Cisco AppDynamics, Talos Threat Intelligence, and ThousandEyes. They were also exploring further integration in other areas.
Petra Jenner, Splunk’s senior vice president and general manager for EMEA, highlighted the positive aspects of the deal during a press briefing ahead of the event’s opening keynote on September 8. She emphasized the importance of enhancing customer experiences through closer collaboration between the two companies.
Jenner acknowledged that prior to the acquisition by Cisco, Splunk had a strong presence in key European markets like the UK, France, and Germany, but recognized the need for further investment in growth. Cisco’s investment not only facilitated growth in the UK but also opened up new business opportunities in countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
According to Jenner, the acquisition had a significantly positive impact on Splunk’s EMEA team, leading to joint customer engagements and core initiatives aimed at maximizing the benefits of the collaboration between Splunk and Cisco. She also noted that the alignment with current technology trends, particularly in AI, was crucial.
Jenner reaffirmed Splunk’s commitment to its IT channel partners in the security and observability fields, mentioning that the company had doubled its partner base. Leveraging the strength of Cisco’s partners, who may not have previously considered Splunk, could help simplify the platform concept for customers seeking enhanced capabilities.
Data Fabric turns machine data into actionable intel
The Splunk.conf event commenced with the unveiling of Cisco Data Fabric, designed to convert machine data into actionable intelligence ready for AI.
Recognizing the abundance of machine data generated by AI and the challenge of fragmented data utilization, Cisco Data Fabric aims to empower customers to make informed decisions, reduce operational risks, and drive innovation through AI applications such as custom model training and workflow orchestration.
Key features of Data Fabric include the Time Series Foundation Model for pattern analysis and anomaly detection, and Cisco AI Canvas for collaborative analysis workflows. These capabilities will be gradually rolled out over the coming months.
Searching for Snowflakes
Another highlight is the launch of Splunk Federated Search for Snowflake, enabling users to seamlessly connect and query operational and business data across Splunk and Snowflake environments.
Key capabilities include unlimited onboarding of Snowflake data in Splunk, federated queries to search Snowflake data directly from Splunk, and next-gen federation capabilities for enhanced context and insights. This integration is scheduled for release in July 2026.
