We come together at Cisco Partner Summit not only to showcase the future but to reflect on the past year and laud the remarkable achievements of our partners. This year, I’m incredibly excited to… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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We come together at Cisco Partner Summit not only to showcase the future but to reflect on the past year and laud the remarkable achievements of our partners. This year, I’m incredibly excited to recognize 21 global partners who excelled in their respective areas.

Each partner was selected for their performance and the unique ways they support our customers and communities. From security and software to enterprise networking and IoT; from distribution and collaboration to marketing and social impact; these partners truly embody the spirit of Greater Together.

Please join me in congratulating Cisco’s Partner Summit 2023 Global Award Winners!

Amazon Web Services (AMER) – Co-Sell Partner of the Year

CDW (AMER) – Data Center Partner of the Year

Computacenter AG & Co. oHG – EMEA Partner of the Year

Computacenter AG & Co. oHG (EMEA) – Enterprise Partner of the Year

Data#3 Limited (APJC) – Software Partner of the Year

Deutsche Telekom AG (EMEA) – SMB Partner of the Year

ePlus (AMER) – Customer Experience Partner of the Year

GDT (AMER) – Application Experience Partner of the Year

IKUSI Spain (EMEA) – IoT/Industry Partner of the Year

ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation – APJC Partner of the Year

KDDI Corporation (APJC) – Managed Services Partner of the Year

Logicalis (AMER) – Sustainability Partner of the Year

Logicalis Portugal (EMEA) – Enterprise Networking & Meraki Partner of the Year

Natilik (EMEA) – Marketing Partner of the Year

Presidio (AMER) – Commercial Partner of the Year

Redington Limited (APJC) – Distributor of the Year

solutions by stc (EMEA) – Service Provider Partner of the Year

Telstra Limited (APJC) – Mass Scale Infrastructure Partner of the Year

World Wide Technology – AMER Partner of the Year

World Wide Technology (AMER) – Collaboration Partner of the Year

World Wide Technology (AMER) – Security Partner of the Year

Once again, congratulations to all Cisco’s Partner Summit 2023 Global Award Winners! Thank you for all you’ve done over the past year and all that you are doing. The impact you are having on our customers and our communities is exceptional.

Be sure to follow #CiscoPS23 on social media for the latest information.

And most importantly, let’s continue to be Greater Together!

We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with #CiscoPartners on social!

Cisco Partners Facebook  |  @CiscoPartners Twitter  |  Cisco Partners LinkedIn

  Cisco Partner Summit is a time to celebrate our amazing partners and the incredible things they make possible. I’m thrilled to announce the 21 global partners receiving top honors at Cisco Partner Summit 2023.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Innovative new partner modules built on the Cisco Observability Platform across five critical themes: Business Insights, SAP Visibility, Networking, MLOps & SLO, and Sustainability

We are pleased to… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Innovative new partner modules built on the Cisco Observability Platform across five critical themes: Business Insights, SAP Visibility, Networking, MLOps & SLO, and Sustainability

We are pleased to announce seven new partner modules have been built on the Cisco Observability Platform, further bringing the vision of a Cisco Full-Stack Observability ecosystem to life. These new modules are focused on five critical areas — Business Insights, SAP Visibility, Networking, Machine learning operations (MLOps) & Service Level Objectives (SLO) and Sustainability — and are designed to help organizations get value from observable telemetry data.

These five areas are important to our customers as they look to correlate business metrics with infrastructure and application performance, gain more visibility into the performance of mission-critical applications, and understand the relationship between network performance and applications. The new partner modules will also help customers surface insights in areas of competitive differentiation, including generative AI in modern applications and sustainability.

It’s exciting to see our strong partner community bring their expertise in these areas to the Cisco Observability Platform. They are rallying around and extending the Cisco Full-Stack Observability ecosystem with new and custom use cases, delivering added value for our customers.

Building a Full-Stack Observability ecosystem

Today, virtually all businesses are digitally led: they deliver experiences with applications and through applications. However, the environments in which these applications are built are increasingly complex. IT and security teams as well as business leaders must be able to observe all aspects of performance and to tie that performance to clear business outcomes.

There are numerous barriers to observability. For example, a recent IDC report indicates that 60% of IT professionals are concerned that most observability tools are too narrowly focused and fail to give them a complete view into current and trending operating conditions. Additionally, 65% say they want a programmable and extensible observability solution that can be leveraged for use cases specific to their environment.

This calls for a platform that scales as businesses scale and easily extends across the infrastructure and lifecycle of their applications. Leaders need complete visibility, context, and control so they can ensure their employees, business partners, and customers are empowered with the best digital experiences possible.

Cisco Observability Platform is the only vendor-agnostic, entity-based observability platform in the market. It has been built from day-one to leverage open standards, anchored on telemetry coming from any endpoint across any domain.

The open, extensible, API-driven architecture of Cisco Observability Platform enables the creation of an observability ecosystem. It also allows development partners to build novel observability solutions and realize new revenue streams from those solutions.

New partner modules now available

The modules — plugin-like extensions — our development partners create on the Cisco Observability Platform enable additional capabilities within Cisco Full-Stack Observability solutions. Today’s newly released modules, which are available now on the Cisco Observability Platform exchange, showcase how we’re empowering a community that creates more insightful, useful observability applications.

Evolutio has made it easier to correlate and monitor orders, shipping, and payments to identify and resolve issues with applications and infrastructure with eCommerce module.
DataRobot and Evolutio extends observability with monitoring and production diagnostics to track and improve performance of both predictive and generative AI models.
Evolutio’s Claims module helps insurance carriers correlate and view the health of claims processes by product types, underwriters, regions, and business units.
CloudFabrix SAP Observability module can ingest data from Cisco AppDynamics SAP Monitoring, correlating it to asset types to isolate root cause and determine the effect of impacted services on the business.
CloudFabrix Campus Analytics module makes it possible to aggregate Cisco DNA Controller analytics to deliver campus return-to-work insights.
Nobl9 SLO module helps define and create Service Level Objectives (SLOs) around reliability and remaining error budget for given services and workload visualizations.
Climatiq has introduced carbon emissions tracking to existing cloud metrics, with Cloud Carbon Insights, including analysis, comparison, and benchmarking for data.

In addition, we’re announcing two more modules that will be available soon:

Aporia MLOps module offers a holistic view of ML model performance and empowers teams to swiftly identify, dive deeper into, and resolve issues faster.
Cisco CX’s Sustainability Insights provides real-time interactive visualizations, measurement, estimation, and reporting of key infrastructure sustainability indicators, trended over time.

We’re excited to continue working with our partners to build and provide new and unique use cases to our customers that help them achieve their specific business needs — no matter where they are on their observability journeys.

Additional resources:

Read the press release: Cisco Expands Full-Stack Observability Ecosystem with Seven New Partner Modules

Learn more about Cisco Full-Stack Observability

Read more about the Cisco Observability Platform

  Cisco opens up Cisco Observability Platform to build custom new uses cases, introduces wave of innovative partner modules at Cisco Partner Summit 2023.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

While at work, people have a simple goal. They want to easily access the resources they need to do their job. They are not always security experts, and we shouldn’t expect them to be security… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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While at work, people have a simple goal. They want to easily access the resources they need to do their job. They are not always security experts, and we shouldn’t expect them to be security experts. Unfortunately, users continue to be the primary target of cyberattacks, with 74% of all breaches involving the human element. This means that we need to find better ways to protect users and safeguard organizations.

However, there are three main challenges organizations face when protecting users:

Security/Productivity Tradeoff: Traditional solutions put roadblocks in front of sensitive resources to increase protection. However, that also has the unintended consequence of adding friction for trusted users to do their jobs and creating confusion on what protocols they must follow to gain access. You need a solution that can provide a unified end user experience and respond, in real time, to changes in risk.
Evolving Threat Landscape: Bad actors are constantly finding new ways to gain unauthorized access, from phishing and social engineering to malicious website attacks and more. At the same time, organizations are enabling hybrid work across a multi-cloud, BYOD environment, and this means an expanding attack surface. Incomplete data and point-solutions limit visibility and make it difficult to determine real threats from false positives. You need a solution that protects all users, accurately identifies and prioritizes threats, and proactively prevents attacks.
Complex portfolio of point solutions: Each time a new threat vector emerges, a new solution emerges to combat that threat. That has led to a vast portfolio of solutions, with enterprises managing, on average, 76 security tools. This patchwork makes it difficult for IT and security teams to manage and can lead to undetected risks. You need a solution that is easy to buy, easy to manage, and simplifies administration to reduce risk.

This is where Cisco’s User Protection Suite comes in. The Suite brings together Duo, Secure Access, Email Threat Defense, and Secure Endpoint to protect users from the point of authentication, to accessing applications and checking email on secure devices. The solution provides end-to-end protection, so your users get the freedom they want, and you get the visibility and security you need.

Seamless, Secure Access: Cisco provides secure and seamless experience for your employees accessing applications or internet – from any device, managed or unmanaged, and from anywhere, campus, branch, home or elsewhere. We manage everything: secure connectivity to the application, authentication to it, and actionable insights into user experience around it, or in a cloud delivered easy to consume form factor.
Frustrate Attackers, Not Users: To make it frictionless, we seamlessly handle secure connectivity across different technologies, VPN, ZTNA for remote access and SSO across remote, in network and cloud apps. Furthermore, our Risk Based Authentication AI engine can recognize trusted circumstances, and significantly reduce the number of explicit authentications your workforce must endure. When explicit authentication is warranted, our Passwordless authentication can make it as easy as touching the biometric reader or a roaming authenticator such as YubiKey.
Complete Coverage: All the while we make sure to cover a wide range of use cases. Employees work from managed and unmanaged devices, contractors and partners need to access managed applications. Cisco User Protection Suite helps you verify whether devices are corporate managed, BYOD and securely registered, or third party and securely registered. We do this in a way which cryptographically ties the user to their trusted devices. This helps organizations progress on their zero-trust strategy and do so at their own pace, all while delivering a zero-friction access experience.
Minimize Attack Surface: No one knows the network, or has end-to-end visibility, like Cisco does. With over 300,000 security customers, Cisco’s Talos Intelligence sees 550 billion security events and 2.8 million malware samples per day. That telemetry is harnessed to continuously identify risk and improve your security posture. Regardless of type of user, application, or device, Cisco can integrate with your environment to reduce gaps, increase protection, and cover all the use cases, including traditional applications or unmanaged devices to minimize the attack surface.
Enhanced Visibility: Cisco provides a comprehensive suite that enables organizations to reduce silos, while improving visibility and control. This approach allows organizations to leverage a common platform that helps resolve problems end to end, limiting tool proliferation and lowering the complexity and overhead of administration. Additionally, this simplifies both the purchase and management of these tools, streamlines operations with fewer dashboards, and supports IT and security teams that are already stretched thin. Not only does the suite decrease operational costs, but it also makes your teams more efficient and strategic.

The cyber challenges facing organizations today can be overwhelming. There are too many solutions that don’t talk to each other and make it more difficult for security teams to do their jobs and employees to do theirs. Cisco is changing that dynamic. Our security solutions will help minimize the burden on humans and automate it with AI and machine learning that operates behind the scenes, simplifying security to let your organization, and its employees, get to work.

Visit Cisco’s User Protection Suite homepage to learn more.

We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Cisco Secure on social!

Cisco Secure Social Channels

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  Learn how the Cisco User Protection Suite provides end-to-end protection, so you can see and manage user access no matter where and how they work.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

The hype triggered by the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) feels a lot like the early days of cloud, bringing the topic—and the need for a strategy—to the front of the IT leader ag… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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The hype triggered by the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) feels a lot like the early days of cloud, bringing the topic—and the need for a strategy—to the front of the IT leader agenda.

But while AI is poised to change every aspect of our lives, the complexity of AI infrastructure and operations is holding things back. At Cisco, we believe AI can be a lot easier when we find ways to avoid creating islands of operations and bring these workloads into the mainstream.

AI is driving big changes in data center technology

AI workloads place new demands on networks, storage, and computing. Networks need to handle masses of data in motion to fuel model training and tuning. Storage needs to scale effortlessly and be closely coupled with compute. Plus, computing needs to be accelerated in an efficient way because AI is seeping into every application.

Consider video conferencing. In addition to the familiar CPU-powered elements like chat, screen sharing, and recording, we now see GPU-accelerated components like AI inference for real-time transcription and generative AI for meeting minutes and actions. It’s now a mixed workload. More broadly, the demands of data ingest and preparation, model training, tuning, and inference all require different intensities of GPU acceleration.

Using proven architectures for operational simplicity

IT teams are being asked to stand up and harden new infrastructure for AI, but they do not need new islands of operations and infrastructure or the complexity that comes with them. Customers with long-standing operating models built on solutions like FlexPod and FlashStack can bring AI workloads into that same domain of simplicity, scalability, security, and control.

The constituent technologies in these solutions are ideal for the task:

UCS X-Series Modular System with X-Fabric technology allows for flexible CPU/GPU ratios and cloud-based management for computing distributed anywhere across core and edge.
The Cisco AI/ML enterprise networking blueprint shows how Cisco Nexus delivers the high performance, throughput, and lossless fabrics needed for AI/ML workloads; we believe Ethernet makes the ideal technology for AI/ML networking due to its inherent cost-efficiency, scalability, and programmability.
High-performance storage systems from our partners at NetApp and Pure complete these solutions with the scalability and efficiency that large, growing data sets demand.

Introducing new validated designs and automation playbooks for common AI models and platforms

We’re working hard with our ecosystem partners to pave a path for customers to mainstream AI. I’m pleased to announce an expanded road map of Cisco Validated Solutions on proven industry platforms, along with new automation playbooks for common AI models.

These solutions span virtualized and containerized environments, multiple converged and hyperconverged infrastructure options, and important platforms like NVIDIA AI Enterprise (NVAIE).

Integrated, validated solutions on proven platforms.

These solution frameworks rely on our three-part approach:

Mainstreaming AI infrastructure to reduce complexity across core, cloud, and edge.
Operationalizing and automating AI deployments and life cycle with validated designs and automation playbooks.
Future-proofing for emerging component technologies and securing AI infrastructure with proactive, automated resiliency, and in-depth security.

“Building on a decade of collaboration, Cisco and Red Hat are working together to help organizations realize the value of AI through improved operational efficiencies, increased  productivity and faster time to market. Cisco’s AI-focused Cisco Validated Design can help simplify, accelerate and scale AI deployments using Red Hat OpenShift AI to provide data scientists with the ability to quickly develop, test and deploy models across the hybrid cloud.” —Steven Huels, Senior Director and General Manager, Artificial Intelligence Business, Red Hat.

The momentum is real; let’s build for the future

AI’s infusion into every industry and application will continue to accelerate, even as the component technologies each make their way through the hype cycle to adoption. Increased data collection and computing power, advancements in AI frameworks and tooling, and the generative AI revolution—are all fueling change. Let us help you build on trusted architectures and take these workloads mainstream for maximum effect.

Join our December 5 webinar:

It’s Time to Simplify AI Infrastructure and Operations

  AI workloads place new demands on networks, storage, and computing. Networks need to handle masses of data in motion to fuel model training and tuning. Storage needs to be closely coupled with compute in order to scale effortlessly. Cisco can help you build on trusted architectures for maximum effect.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

This blog is co-authored by Gary Steele, President & CEO of Splunk.

Gary Steele,
President & CEO of Splunk

A lot has happened since we announced our agreement to combine Cisco and Splunk. We’ve each b… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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This blog is co-authored by Gary Steele, President & CEO of Splunk.

Gary Steele,President & CEO of Splunk

A lot has happened since we announced our agreement to combine Cisco and Splunk. We’ve each been on the road meeting with customers to learn how together we can help them stay ahead of the evolving technology landscape to drive outcomes critical to their organizations.

A common question during our respective conversations has been: How will the combined company better serve customers?

We continue to hear from organizations around the world that the resilience of their digital systems matters more than ever. With the acceleration of AI, expanding threat surfaces, and hybrid, multi-cloud environments, keeping systems securely up and running has become exponentially more complex – demanding that companies access, analyze and act on their data faster than ever before.

We both believe that combining Cisco and Splunk will allow us to harness the power of data and AI to deliver exceptional customer outcomes now and in the future. And the good thing is, we have a solid foundation to build upon.

Over the last 10 years, Cisco and Splunk have partnered to help thousands of organizations navigate the challenges of the hyperconnected world. Our complementary capabilities have helped protect our customers and find and fix problems by powering comprehensive visibility across highly complex technology stacks. Joining forces will be the next step in our journey to bring transformative innovation to organizations worldwide.

Accelerating innovation across security and observability

Splunk and Cisco have been independently innovating at an accelerated pace to keep up with the dynamic technology landscape. In the last 12 months, Cisco has introduced the Cisco Networking Cloud, Cisco Extended Detection and Response (XDR), Cisco Secure Access (SSE), and Cisco Multicloud Defense, Cisco Full-Stack Observability Platform, G200 and G202 networking chips for AI workloads, and AI Assistants and capabilities across Cisco’s collaboration, security, and observability portfolios.

Splunk, too, continues to accelerate innovation across its AI-powered Security and Observability product portfolio. Take security as an example. At Splunk’s marquee customer and partner event, .conf23, Splunk introduced multiple new features for its award-winning Enterprise Security and SOAR products, and also announced the general availability of Splunk Attack Analyzer, which integrates the capabilities acquired from TwinWave last year into Splunk’s unified security operations experience.

We believe the union of Splunk and Cisco’s technologies will accelerate the leading-edge security solutions needed in the modern SOC. We’re excited by the potential value that our complementary solutions, Splunk’s SIEM and Cisco’s powerful XDR, will provide security teams on the frontlines of an evolving threat landscape. We’re also excited by the tremendous opportunities that exist to drive greater reliability and performance for organizations through the complementary value across Splunk’s observability portfolio, logging and IT infrastructure monitoring solutions and Cisco’s observability platform and AppDynamics APM portfolio.

During this time of transition, customers can continue to rely on both of our organizations to innovate at the rapid pace they’ve come to expect. When we come together, we are excited for the opportunity to accelerate our joint innovation even further to bring organizations incredible breadth and depth in our solutions to drive visibility, security, and reliability across their entire tech stack. Joining forces represents a significant investment to double down on the pace of innovation across security and observability to continue driving incredible customer value.

Expanded global reach and the power of partnership

Cisco has tremendous global scale, and together, we’ll draw upon our collective resources and infrastructure to enable more organizations globally to advance resilience through Cisco and Splunk’s expansive products and services.

One example is the Cisco partner ecosystem that plays an instrumental role in getting powerful technologies to more customers globally. Both of our organizations continue to see amazing opportunities to forge partnerships and help our future joint customers unlock incremental value.

Cisco has been committed to its global partner ecosystem and partner-led model for more than 27 years. Thousands of partners world-wide help us go to market, streamline complexity, and deliver measurable business value for our customers, by meeting them where they are with the technology they need.

Add to that Splunk’s partner ecosystem, which consists of more than 2,600 organizations all dedicated to helping customers realize the tremendous value of its AI-powered security and observability. This network works hand-in-hand with customers around the world to bring the right expertise and strategic partnership at the right time to help drive resilience.

Next steps in our journey together

Cisco and Splunk are excited to continue to do what we love most: helping our customers achieve their technology outcomes with innovative products and solutions. That said, it’s important to remember that we are only at the beginning of planning for our future together. Until the transaction closes, which we expect to occur by the end of the third quarter of calendar year 2024, Cisco and Splunk remain separate and independent companies.

Between now and close, Cisco and Splunk expect to continue working seamlessly with our respective customers. For each of our respective organizations, there will be no immediate changes to the services Cisco or Splunk provide or changes to how either company supports its customers.

Finally, we want to emphasize that neither Splunk nor Cisco would be where we are today without the loyalty and trust of our respective customers. You drive us to be the best in the industry, and we are grateful for your ongoing trust and partnership. We believe the future is bright for Cisco and Splunk, and – more importantly, for our customers. Together, we can unlock many more opportunities to help securely connect everything all while building a safer and more resilient digital world.

Splunk Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This blog contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are based on Splunk’s current expectations, estimates and projections about the expected date of closing of the proposed transaction and the potential benefits thereof, its business and industry, management’s beliefs and certain assumptions made by Splunk and Cisco, all of which are subject to change. In this context, forward-looking statements often address expected future business and financial performance and financial condition, and often contain words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “could,” “seek,” “see,” “will,” “may,” “would,” “might,” “potentially,” “estimate,” “continue,” “expect,” “target,” similar expressions or the negatives of these words or other comparable terminology that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes. All forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, and are not guarantees of future results, such as statements about the consummation of the proposed transaction and the anticipated benefits thereof. These and other forward-looking statements, including the failure to consummate the proposed transaction or to make or take any filing or other action required to consummate the transaction on a timely matter or at all, are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such statements and, therefore, you should not place undue reliance on any such statements and caution must be exercised in relying on forward-looking statements. Important risk factors that may cause such a difference include, but are not limited to: (i) the completion of the proposed transaction on anticipated terms and timing, including obtaining shareholder and regulatory approvals, anticipated tax treatment, unforeseen liabilities, future capital expenditures, revenues, expenses, earnings, synergies, economic performance, indebtedness, financial condition, losses, future prospects, business and management strategies for the management, expansion and growth of Splunk’s business and other conditions to the completion of the transaction; (ii) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Splunk’s business and general economic conditions; (iii) Splunk’s ability to implement its business strategy; (iv) significant transaction costs associated with the proposed transaction; (v) potential litigation relating to the proposed transaction; (vi) the risk that disruptions from the proposed transaction will harm Splunk’s business, including current plans and operations; (vii) the ability of Splunk to retain and hire key personnel; (viii) potential adverse reactions or changes to business relationships resulting from the announcement or completion of the proposed transaction; (ix) legislative, regulatory and economic developments affecting Splunk’s business; (x) general economic and market developments and conditions; (xi) the evolving legal, regulatory and tax regimes under which Splunk operates; (xii) potential business uncertainty, including changes to existing business relationships, during the pendency of the merger that could affect Splunk’s financial performance; (xiii) restrictions during the pendency of the proposed transaction that may impact Splunk’s ability to pursue certain business opportunities or strategic transactions; and (xiv) unpredictability and severity of catastrophic events, including, but not limited to, acts of terrorism or outbreak of war or hostilities, as well as Splunk’s response to any of the aforementioned factors. These risks, as well as other risks associated with the proposed transaction, are more fully discussed in the definitive proxy statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on October 30, 2023 in connection with the proposed transaction. While the list of factors presented here is, and the list of factors presented in the proxy statement is, considered representative, no such list should be considered to be a complete statement of all potential risks and uncertainties. Unlisted factors may present significant additional obstacles to the realization of forward looking statements. Consequences of material differences in results as compared with those anticipated in the forward-looking statements could include, among other things, business disruption, operational problems, financial loss, legal liability to third parties and similar risks, any of which could have a material adverse effect on Splunk’s financial condition, results of operations, or liquidity. Splunk does not assume any obligation to publicly provide revisions or updates to any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by securities and other applicable laws.

Cisco Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This blog may be deemed to contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words “will,” “believes,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “estimates,” “strives,” “goal,” “intends,” “may,” “endeavors,” “continues,” “projects,” “seeks,” or “targets,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, as well as similar expressions) should be considered to be forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.  Readers should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as these statements are the management’s beliefs and assumptions, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain, and outside of the management’s control.  Forward-looking statements may include statements regarding the expected benefits to Cisco, Splunk and their respective customers from completing the transaction, the integration of Splunk’s and Cisco’s complementary capabilities to create an end-to-end platform designed to unlock greater digital resilience for customers, plans for future investment and capital allocation, the expected financial performance of Cisco following the expected completion of the transaction, and the expected completion of the transaction.  Statements regarding future events are based on the parties’ current expectations, estimates and projections and are necessarily subject to associated risks related to, among other things, (i) the completion of the proposed transaction on anticipated terms and timing, including obtaining stockholder and regulatory approvals and other conditions to the completion of the transaction, (ii) the effect of the announcement or pendency of the proposed transaction on Splunk’s business, operating results, and relationships with customers, suppliers, competitors and others, (iii) risks that the proposed transaction may disrupt Splunk’s current plans and business operations, (iv) risks related to the diverting of management’s attention from Splunk’s ongoing business operations, (v) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the definitive agreement, (vi) the outcome of any legal proceedings related to the transaction, (vii) the potential effects on the accounting of the proposed transaction, (viii) legislative, regulatory and economic developments, (ix) general economic conditions, (x) restrictions during the pendency of the proposed transaction that may impact Splunk’s ability to pursue certain business opportunities or strategic transactions, (xi) the retention of key personnel, and (xii) the ability of Cisco to successfully integrate Splunk’s market opportunities, technology, personnel and operations and to achieve expected benefits. Therefore, actual results may differ materially and adversely from the anticipated results or outcomes indicated in any forward-looking statements. For information regarding other related risks, see the “Risk Factors” section of Cisco’s most recent report on Form 10-K filed on September 7, 2023, the “Risk Factors” section of Splunk’s most recent reports on Form 10-Q and Form 10-K filed with the SEC on August 24, 2023 and March 23, 2023, respectively, and risks described in the definitive proxy statement relating to the transaction filed with the SEC by Splunk on October 30, 2023. The parties undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements for any reason, except as required by law.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed transaction and required stockholder approval, Splunk filed with the SEC a definitive proxy statement on October 30, 2023. The proxy statement has been mailed to the stockholders of Splunk. This document is not a substitute for the proxy statement or any other document which Splunk may file with the SEC. Splunk’s stockholders are urged to carefully read the proxy statement (including all amendments, supplements and any documents incorporated by reference therein) and other relevant materials filed or to be filed with the SEC and in their entirety because they contain important information about the proposed transaction and the parties to the transaction. Investors may obtain free copies of these documents and other documents filed with the SEC at its website at www.sec.gov. In addition, investors may obtain free copies of the documents filed with the SEC by Splunk by going to Splunk’s Investor Relations page on its corporate website at https://investors.splunk.com or by contacting Splunk Investor Relations at ir@splunk.com.

Participants in the Solicitation

Splunk and its executive officers and directors may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Splunk’s stockholders with respect to the transaction. Information about Splunk’s directors and executive officers, including their ownership of Splunk securities, is set forth in the definitive proxy statement related to the transaction, which was filed with the SEC on October 30, 2023, proxy statement for Splunk’s 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on May 9, 2023, Form 8-K filed with the SEC on September 21, 2023, and Splunk’s other filings with the SEC. Investors may obtain more detailed information regarding the direct and indirect interests of Splunk and its respective executive officers and directors in the transaction, which may be different than those of Splunk stockholders generally, by reading the definitive proxy statement regarding the transaction, which was filed with the SEC.

In addition, Cisco and its executive officers and directors may be deemed to have participated in the solicitation of proxies from Splunk’s stockholders in favor of the approval of the transaction. Information concerning Cisco’s directors and executive officers is set forth in Cisco’s proxy statement for its 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on October 17, 2023, the 2023 annual report furnished to security holders on October 17, 2023, annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on September 7, 2023, Form 8-K filed with the SEC on September 21, 2023 and Cisco’s other filings with the SEC. These documents are available free of charge at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or by going to Cisco’s Investor Relations website at https://investor.cisco.com.

  Cisco and Splunk are excited to continue to do what we love most: helping our customers achieve their technology outcomes with innovative products and solutions.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

The Oil & Gas industry has changed a lot. From Upstream through to Downstream, advancements in technology have made operations safer and more productive. Those who work in the industry have a front… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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The Oil & Gas industry has changed a lot. From Upstream through to Downstream, advancements in technology have made operations safer and more productive. Those who work in the industry have a front row seat to these changes but most of us see the industry through mainstream information channels and miss some of the significant changes happening behind the scenes. Below are just a few examples of how the Oil & Gas industry has changed.

Exploration and Drilling:

Past: In the past, oil and gas exploration was largely based on geological surveys, seismic data, and educated guesswork. Drilling technology was less advanced, and there was a higher risk of drilling dry wells.Now: Modern technology, such as 3D seismic imaging and advanced drilling techniques, has greatly improved the success rate of exploration. Companies now use more data-driven and scientific approaches to identify and extract hydrocarbons.

Reserves Replacement:

Past: Oil and gas companies focused on finding and extracting easily accessible reserves, often in known fields. Reserves replacement was a less pressing concern.Now: As existing reserves are depleted, companies are increasingly focused on finding and developing new reserves to replace what they extract. This has led to more extensive exploration efforts and investments in unconventional resources like shale oil and gas.

Environmental Awareness:

Past: Environmental concerns and regulations were less prominent. Companies had fewer incentives to minimize their environmental impact, leading to more pollution and ecological damage.Now: Environmental considerations are paramount. Companies face stricter regulations and public pressure to reduce their environmental footprint. Many are investing in cleaner technologies, carbon capture, and renewable energy as part of their operations.

Technology and Automation:

Past: Manual labor and basic machinery were used for drilling, extraction, and processing. Automation was limited.Now: Automation and digital technology play a crucial role in optimizing operations. Robotics, AI, and IoT (Internet of Things) devices are used for drilling, monitoring, and maintenance, improving efficiency and safety.

Globalization:

Past: Oil and gas operations were often concentrated in a few key regions, and companies were mainly national or multinational corporations.Now: The industry has become more globalized. Companies operate in diverse geographic regions, and the supply chain is highly interconnected, with a more significant presence in emerging markets.

Energy Transition:

Past: Oil and gas companies were primarily focused on fossil fuels, with limited diversification into alternative energy sources.Now: Many oil and gas companies are investing in renewable energy, such as wind, solar, and hydrogen, as they adapt to the energy transition and a growing demand for cleaner energy sources.

Social Responsibility:

Past: Social responsibility was less emphasized, and there was less concern for the social impacts of operations.Now: Companies are increasingly expected to contribute positively to the communities where they operate by adhering to ethical and sustainable business practices.

As the energy sector continues to evolve, from a focus on traditional exploration and drilling to a more technologically advanced, environmentally conscious, and diversified approach that encompasses alternative energy sources, Cisco can be a key partner for customers looking to thrive in this dynamic environment.
Cisco’s technologies play a pivotal role in ensuring that operations are efficient, secure, and sustainable with a portfolio of business outcomes that reflects the evolving demands of society, technology, and the energy market.

The Cisco Portfolio Explorer for Oil & Gas is an interactive tool that builds the bridge between business priorities and technology solutions by showcasing use cases and architectures to solve your greatest business challenges. The tool has four themes that cover primary areas of Oil & Gas operations including: Plant and Field Operations, Secure Connected Workforce, Industrial Safety and Security, and Energy Transition. Within each theme you will find three to five use cases that dive deeper, explaining the business and technical application in the industry. It also provides case studies and partners as well as showcasing demos, financing options and links to industry experts so you can transform your business with security and trust.

Learn more about how Cisco technology supports the Oil & Gas industry by clicking on the link below.Cisco Portfolio Explorer for Oil & Gas

  Learn more about how Cisco technology supports the Oil & Gas industry by clicking on the link below.
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