In March 2024 Cisco paid approximately $28 billion to acquire Splunk. The acquisition wasn’t just a tremendous amount of money, it was also touted as giving customers better security, observability, networking, AI, and economics.
It’s been over a year since the acquisition and it’s worth looking into whether the acquisition has indeed supercharged Cisco’s ability to predict and prevent cyber threats.
Cisco’s History of Acquisitions
Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins will likely be remembered for the Splunk acquisition. It is arguably Cisco’s biggest acquisition that has occurred since 2015 when Robbins was appointed CEO. It wasn’t the only acquisition made during Robbins tenure though. Some of the other significant acquisitions include:
In 2017 Cisco acquired AppDynamics for $3.7 billion
In 2017 Cisco acquired Broadsoft for $1.9 billion
In 2018 Cisco acquired Duo Security for $2.35 billion
In 2020 Cisco acquired ThousandEyes for $1 billion
There are many more acquisitions. In fact, since July 2015 when Robbins took over the company, Cisco made a total of 66 acquisitions. Splunk is just one acquisition in a long list that can be found on Cisco’s website.
Why Did Cisco Acquire Splunk?
According to Cisco the acquisition was made to help build on Splunk’s heritage of helping organizations enhance their digital resilience and accelerate Cisco’s strategy to securely connect everything to make anything possible.
When Splunk was initially acquired, Robbins and the CEO of Splunk, Gary Steele, wrote a joint blog post about the acquisition.
The post addressed topics such as how the acquisition would “power the AI revolution.” How the company would deliver “mission critical outcomes for our customers to stay ahead of the rapidly evolving threat landscape.” The company also wanted to offer a “full-stack observability solution for delivering digital experiences,” as well as giving “customers more value out of their network.” And, finally, the combined solutions of the two companies would “help deliver better economics with exceptional value.”
Has the Acquisition Improved Cisco’s Product Offering?
The financial results and the stock price of Cisco over the years has certainly had a growth tendency. The most recent quarterly results that came out in May this year show a revenue increase of 11 percent year on year. Splunk is mentioned in the first line of the earnings report. None of the other acquisitions are mentioned in the opening remarks of the report highlighting the importance of Splunk within Cisco’s portfolio.
The same is the case when you look at the press releases listed by Cisco. Splunk being named a leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant for Observability Platforms for the third consecutive year is the last story from July 17. No other acquisitions are mentioned in the list of press releases.
Another theme worth noting is how Splunk is making its own products, not just as Cisco, but as Splunk. One example is the recent Cisco ThousandEyes App for Splunk that was released in July. The app provides visibility into the health and performance of IT systems, applications, and network endpoints. It is just one example of how Splunk continues to be a leader, whilst also operating as a Cisco business.
Splunk’s Role in Cisco
Chuck Robbins and Gary Steele are forming a formidable team together. In the period from September 2023 and the summer of 2024 they appeared together on CNBC and at Splunk’s inhouse conference – #splunkconf24.
In 2025 there aren’t any public records of Steele and Robbins appearing together. At Splunk’s .conf25 event, the next iteration of last year’s #splunkconf24, there is no mention of Robbins or Steele.
There is another event, Cisco Live, where you can find more information. Robbins opened the latest event in San Diego that took place June 8 – 12. In a LinkedIn post, Robbins shared with his followers how “we announced several new Splunk integrations, unifying more data across platforms to help security teams respond faster with less manual effort, and get more value from SecOps.”
Cisco Live brings together over 20,000 customers, partners, and employees. This year’s event was touted by Robbins as being one of the most important Cisco Live events in the company’s history. And it looks like Splunk has been welcomed with open arms at Cisco’s flagship annual U.S. event.
What Next for Splunk and Cisco?
The cybersecurity challenges companies face is increasing. One of the locations that Splunk and Cisco both share is in Krakow. A city that lies very close to the border with Ukraine. A geographic area where cybersecurity vulnerabilities are much more tangible.
For now Cisco and Splunk in Krakow do not yet share an address, much as is the case at other locations of the company. However, the integration and collaboration between the two companies is highly visible.
With these two titans of cybersecurity teaming up the future looks good for Cisco’s customers. The question is what Cisco’s next acquisition might be, and how might it help to maintain Splunk’s position on the market today.
Competitors on the market have also been active, HP acquired Juniper Networks in July this year. Others are taking note and growing their capabilities too.
Author: Andy Samu
See Also:
George Kurtz and the CrowdStrike Outage: Lessons from a Tech Meltdown | Disruption Banking
How Middle Eastern geopolitics is boosting Israel’s cybersecurity scene | Disruption Banking
Is the Lazarus Group Behind the $1.5 Billion Bybit Crypto Heist? | Disruption Banking
