News Summary
- Cisco introduced the Cisco Data Fabric at Splunk .conf25 in Boston, unveiling a new architecture designed to unlock the value of machine data with AI.
- Powered by the Splunk platform, the Data Fabric reduces the cost and complexity of handling machine data at scale while enabling its use for AI applications.
- This launch reflects Cisco’s vision of delivering real-time intelligence, enhancing security, and driving enterprise agility in the AI era.
A New Approach to Machine Data
On September 8, 2025, Cisco announced the Cisco Data Fabric, a revolutionary framework aimed at helping organizations transform machine data into AI-ready intelligence. Presented at Splunk .conf25 in Boston, the solution leverages Splunk’s platform to simplify large-scale data management and make it directly usable for AI applications.
Cisco leaders emphasized that while enterprises have long generated enormous streams of machine data from sensors, factory systems, networks, and applications, this data has often been too complex and costly to leverage for AI.
With the Data Fabric, Cisco seeks to bridge this gap, allowing organizations to build AI models with their own proprietary data, power agentic workflows, and derive insights from multiple domains in real time.
Features of Cisco Data Fabric
The Data Fabric is purpose-built for the AI era, with several core benefits:
- Unified Data Foundation: Simplifies transformation across edge, cloud, and on-premises environments for SecOps, ITOps, DevOps, and NetOps.
- Cross-Domain Real-Time Search: Enables federated search across sources like Amazon S3, Apache Iceberg, Snowflake, and Azure, with more integrations planned for 2026.
- Open, Flexible Architecture: Designed to adapt to varied enterprise environments with strong compliance and plug-and-play integrations.
- Time Series Foundation Model (coming soon): Advanced temporal analysis for anomaly detection, forecasting, and automated root cause analysis.
- AI Innovation Fuel: Splunk Machine Data Lake and AI Toolkit provide a foundation for model training and enterprise analytics.
- Cisco AI Canvas: A collaborative “virtual war room” experience where AI agents and human teams can jointly analyze data and accelerate decision-making.
Industry analysts have noted that Cisco’s federated approach avoids the need for large-scale data movement, reducing complexity and improving the path to operationalizing AI at scale.
Availability
The Cisco Data Fabric is available today, with additional features rolling out through 2026. These include:
- Replay S3 for Federated Analytics (October 2025)
- Time Series Foundation Model on Hugging Face (November 2025)
- Cisco AI Canvas integration with Splunk Machine Data Lake (2026)
Conclusion and Network-switch.com’s Perspective
The launch of the Cisco Data Fabric marks an important milestone in the evolution of enterprise AI. By transforming machine data into actionable intelligence, Cisco is addressing a critical challenge for modern organizations: how to unify and operationalize vast streams of distributed data without adding complexity.
This approach not only strengthens resilience but also accelerates innovation in industries where real-time intelligence is a competitive advantage.
At Network-switch.com, we view this as a breakthrough moment for the AI-driven enterprise. Cisco’s Data Fabric demonstrates how advanced data management and security can empower businesses to innovate faster, reduce risk, and adapt more effectively in an era defined by digital transformation.
As a professional third-party distributor, we are proud to stand alongside visionary partners like Cisco. Their commitment to building secure, AI-ready infrastructure continues to inspire confidence across industries, and we are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with such leaders in technology.