Cisco (CSCO) Leans on Splunk to Broaden Its Share of Enterprise AI Spending. It Faces a Big Test

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is seeking to expand Splunk’s role in enterprise AI. That matters because it could give the networking giant another avenue to monetize the AI infrastructure buildout beyond hardware sales.

At the 2026 Splunk conference in Denver this week (Sept. 14-17), Cisco introduced the Cisco AI POD for Splunk. This solution brings Splunk AI capabilities to customers running Splunk Enterprise in on-premises, private-cloud, and air-gapped environments. The configuration combines Cisco infrastructure and Nvidia accelerated computing. It allows customers to self-host selected AI models.

As enterprises deploy more AI workloads, they need to monitor, secure, and manage those workloads. Now Cisco is positioning itself to capture more of AI spending by combining its infrastructure with Splunk’s data, observability, and security capabilities.

AI Infrastructure Is Becoming a Larger Cisco Business

Cisco Systems, Inc.’s latest results offer another glimpse into how AI…