This is Cisco's largest ever acquisition.
The networking giant is metamorphosing into a software giant by acquisition.
SF based Splunk brands itself as a leader in cybersecurity and observability (the security part being a post facto addition/evolution of the core log management product) with a touch of AI thrown into the mix. You could even say it enables "security observability" in an "AI friendly way".
Splunk's Burlingame-based chief executive Gary Steele who came from cybersecurity firm Proofpoint (formerly a Nasdaq-traded security-as-a-service company, taken private by Thoma Bravo in 2021 at a valuation of $12.3bn), will now report into Cisco's Chief Executive Chuck Robbins (who took on the mantle handed down by Cleveland, Ohio-born John T Chambers in 2015 who held the position for 20 years - and was incidentally also Chuck's mentor!).
Steele's new boss Chuck Robbins has a mathematics degree (from UNC-Chapel Hill) and started his career as an application developer at a bank (which was later integrated into Bank of America).
This acquisition is fundamental in that it exposes Cisco to subscription-based software revenue.
Quinton Gabrielli (Piper Sandler) also observed it fills a hole for Cisco which has been struggling to expand its business. The acquisition announcement comes around a week after Cisco announced it was acquiring PINACL a firewall policy management solution developed within Goldman Sachs and propped up by GS Accelerate.
In August 2023, Cisco also acquired BGP Monitoring company, Code BGP, based in Greece.
