Splunk has about 8,000 employees and 230,000 users around the world. Getty Images
Splunk has about 8,000 employees and 230,000 users around the world. Getty Images
Splunk has about 8,000 employees and 230,000 users around the world. Getty Images
Splunk has about 8,000 employees and 230,000 users around the world. Getty Images

Cisco to buy cybersecurity company Splunk for $28bn


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If the deluge of data in the modern world is increasingly overwhelming, Splunk claims to have been ready for it for 20 years.

The company’s name reflects the act of burrowing deep down into the Earth to explore caves – the adventure of data spelunking.

Splunk was started by three friends in 2003, with co-founder and former chief executive Michael Baum drawing on his past building search engines at Yahoo.

The conundrum was to figure out how to make sense of the mass collection of real-time data. Splunk aimed to search it in an instant, improving on cumbersome old ways of filing through logs. The idea was to have machines label and index data themselves.

On Thursday, more than 1,100 patents later, Splunk’s early fascination with the unknown depths of data paid off. Cisco Systems agreed to acquire the company for $28 billion, after an earlier courtship was rekindled. Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst Woo Jin Ho described it as “the Moby Dick” of deals.

It marks a victory for Splunk chief executive Gary Steele, who joined last year from cybersecurity company Proofpoint, which he founded and served as chief executive.

The union could combine the power of data and AI to “transform the industry", he said in a statement. Splunk’s share price soared on the news, increasing 21 per cent just after noon in New York. He will report to Cisco chief executive Chuck Robbins going forward.

Splunk excels in two areas that Cisco believes will fit with products it already offers. Cisco's existing security products detect and respond, monitoring how devices connected to a network are behaving, deciding whether something fishy is going on and then alerting a company’s IT department.

Splunk does incident and event management, meaning that it logs and tracks every action on a network. It looks at where requests originated and what service or software initiated them, compiling vast amounts of data in the process.

That means customers will be able to go from detecting and responding to what is occurring inside a computer network, to predicting and preventing issues, said Cisco chief financial officer Scott Herren.

Splunk also offers so-called observability, meaning it uses technology to help customers see and understand whether their applications are secure and performing as they should be.

For instance, someone searching a retail site will be connected to a web server that provides them with the product page. Another computer in the background might check on internal inventory and another might calculate the shipping time.

Once the consumer commits to a purchase, it is quite probable that a third-party payment service will get involved.

Any of these steps might be a problem. Splunk adds to Cisco's existing application diagnostic offerings by being able to look deeper into computer networks and checking each step in the complex chain to make sure everything is working in concert.

Splunk went public in 2012, doubling its market valuation to more than $3 billion on its first day of trading amid a newfound frenzy for big data investing.

It now has about 8,000 employees and 230,000 users around the world, and more than 90 of the Fortune 100 companies use Splunk, according to its website.

Its products are important to security operations centres, the heartbeat for experts who try to detect and protect organisations in real time.

It seems to be working. In August, Splunk reported 824 customers with $1 million in annual revenue in its second-quarter report, up from 723 at the same time last year. Annual recurring revenue stood at $3.86 billion.

The acquisition reflects Cisco’s confidence that data in the era of artificial intelligence and the cloud is getting both more confusing and capable – and more urgent.

The idea is that Splunk, which can analyse the health of an underlying network in data centres and is moving to cloud-based products, will help Cisco’s customers predict and halt potential threats.

Splunk also fills a hole for Cisco, which was struggling to find a bankable way to expand its business, said Quinton Gabrielli, assistant vice president of equity research at Piper Sandler.

The deal will deliver subscription-based software revenue that Cisco can take to the bank year after year.

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Lexus LX700h specs

Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor

Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh590,000

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

WOMAN AND CHILD

Director: Saeed Roustaee

Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi

Rating: 4/5

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

Honeymoonish
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Company%20profile
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BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES

SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities

Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails

Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies

Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments

The biog

Job: Fitness entrepreneur, body-builder and trainer

Favourite superhero: Batman

Favourite quote: We must become the change we want to see, by Mahatma Gandhi.

Favourite car: Lamborghini

The specs

Price, base / as tested Dh1,100,000 (est)

Engine 5.2-litre V10

Gearbox seven-speed dual clutch

Power 630bhp @ 8,000rpm

Torque 600Nm @ 6,500rpm

Fuel economy, combined 15.7L / 100km (est) 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
The%20specs
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Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

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Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh149,900

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

Poacher
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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh117,059

Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo

Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 6-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km

Price: Dh133,900

On sale: now 

How to donate

Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

Tips to stay safe during hot weather
  • Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
  • Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
  • Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
  • Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
  • Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
  • Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
  • Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Updated: September 22, 2023, 5:03 AM`