Splunk recently held its annual user conference, .conf, in Las Vegas with over 4,000 attendees. Despite being the 15th .conf, it was Cisco’s first as part of the company. The theme of the conference was “The Splunk you love. Now even better.” The event was slightly more subdued than previous years, possibly due to apprehension surrounding the recent acquisition of Splunk by Cisco.
Customers at the conference expressed concerns about the future of Splunk post-acquisition, wondering if Cisco will change Splunk or vice versa. Though it is too early to make definitive statements about the impact of the acquisition, there have been minimal organizational changes at Splunk since the acquisition, signaling a positive sign so far.
Key announcements at .conf included the integration of Cisco Talos threat intelligence into Splunk, improvements to the “SOC of the future” initiative, and the release of Splunk Enterprise Security 8.0. Splunk’s approach to AI in security stood out compared to competitors, focusing on delivering real security results rather than flashy innovations.
Customers seem to be sticking with Splunk due to the strong user community and technical investment in the tool. Making the switch away from Splunk would require significant engineering effort and the use of multiple tools. Existing customers are advised to monitor Splunk’s roadmap and innovation investments closely while holding product teams accountable for any shortcomings.
Forrester customers can schedule a consultation session to discuss options for managing security log data in the future. Overall, while there are concerns about the future direction of Splunk under Cisco’s ownership, it seems that both companies are working towards a positive integration that benefits customers in the cybersecurity and observability markets.
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https://www.forrester.com/blogs/and-so-it-begins-insights-from-splunks-first-conf-with-cisco/