bitsIO Named 2023 Social Impact Partner of the Year Award Winner for Outstanding Partnership
— Kalpana Krishnamurthi
SPRINGFIELD, IL, USA, July 23, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- bitsIO, a Cybersecurity & Observability Solutions Company, announced today it has received the 2023 Social Impact Partner of the Year Award for exceptional performance and commitment to their Splunk partnership. 2023 Social Impact Partner of the Year Award recognizes a global Splunk Partner that is helping nonprofits leverage Splunk to create positive social impact – by unlocking innovation, enhancing security, or improving resilience by customizing Splunk solutions to support nonprofits’ specific needs. For more information on Splunk’s partnerships, visit the Splunk website.
“We are thrilled to receive the Splunk Partner of the Year award for the third time. This year we are being recognized for our exceptional services and commitment to social impact. At bitsIO, we passionately believe in leveraging Splunk technology to help non-profits and make a positive difference in society. This award inspires us to continue leading the way and encouraging other partners to join us in creating meaningful change for non-profit organizations,” said Suman Gajavelly, Co-Founder & CTO, bitsIO, Inc.
“Receiving the Splunk’s Social Impact Partner of the Year Award is a great honor for us. We are sincerely grateful for the chance to contribute in a small capacity to the substantial impact non-profit organizations are making on a global scale,” said Kalpana Krishnamurthi, Co-Founder & CEO, bitsIO, Inc.
“Congratulations to bitsIO for being named the 2023 Social Impact Partner of the Year,” said Gretchen O’Hara, Vice President, Worldwide Partners and Alliances, Splunk. “The 2023 Splunk Partner Awards recognize partners like bitsIO for outstanding performance and innovation and celebrate the joint success that helps customers build resilience and solve day-to-day challenges. Together, we are focused on delivering continuous value to our joint customers.”
The Splunk Partner Awards recognize dedicated global and regional partners who demonstrate a steadfast commitment to collaboration and innovation in their Splunk partnership to help customers achieve positive business outcomes and accelerate their mission to better the world. All award recipients were selected by a group of the Splunk executives, theater leaders and the global partner organization.
About bitsIO, Inc.
With a track record spanning over 20 years, bitsIO has been delivering dependable and cost-effective Cyber Security and Observability solutions using Splunk to enhance client productivity and safeguard data. Since 2018, as an esteemed Splunk Elite Partner, bitsIO has been at the forefront of providing specialized Splunk Implementation Services, focusing on Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Cloud, Splunk Enterprise Security, ITSI, SOAR, Observability, and Custom App Development. The company's reputation as a trusted name in the United States, Costa Rica, and India is built on its effective and economical offerings in Splunk Professional Services and Splunk Managed Services.
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iTWire. I'm assuming you're not hugely technical. So most of my questions are going to focus more on leadership and management and your role in the company. With that in mind, what do you bring to the role of CEO at Splunk?
Steele. I joined Splunk after 19 years in a company that I co founded that ultimately reached a billion and a half in revenue. So I come with a lot of cyber experience and enterprise experience and understanding of how to run public companies. So I think that the experience capability that I bring is, a helpful responses out of maturity.
iTWire. So with that in mind, what's your leadership style?
Steele. I'm direct, transparent, and I think I'm a good communicator.
It's interesting, one of the things that I've implemented in the company when I joined is, because the company got through a bunch of change, we do a weekly town hall with people every week. My goal is simply make sure that people feel they are connected to what's happening, the decisions that are being made, that there's a level of understanding for why we're doing what we're doing and how they can play part of that. And so in a time of a lot of change, which we have a lot of change prior to me joining the company, it was really important to supply people a sense of stability and understanding where it didn't feel that way. So my style is just super-transparent and I'm really clear about priorities. I put the customer first I think the one thing that I observed when I joined was that we had an amazing culture, the company's culture was amazing, but the customer wasn't at the centre of the culture. I think we've made that transition. And I don't think that was hard actually, that feels very natural for the average employee to pick this up. But I think this kind of makes sense.
iTWire. This kind of loops back to my question from the meet-the-press session yesterday of looking for the company's 'true north'. I probably expected something a bit more philosophical but your whole 'the customer....'
Steele. It helps drive the decisions I make.
iTWire. Can we dig a bit deeper into your background.
Steele. Prior to Splunk, I spent 19 years at Proofpoint so I was part of that that founding team basically grew from zero from concept all the way through to ultimately the sale of the company. We were public since 2012, so I had lots of opportunity running a public company. Prior to that, I had run another private startup company called Forterra. And I did that from basically 98 to 2001. And then we ultimately sold the company to another private company. And then prior to that I was a general manager at a software company, Sybase which is now part of SAP. So that was my first general manager job at Sybase when I was running their data warehousing and middleware teams. Prior to that I had a range of marketing roles at Sun Microsystems in the era where Sun was really relevant and prior to that I started my career at HP primarily in a technical role as a developer.
iTWire. Yeah, I started programming as well. But I realised very quickly I'm a competent programmer, but not a good one.
Steele. Yeah, I made the decision very early on that I didn't want to grow up in R&D, and I felt like [inaudible] there are opportunities to be in other places where you shape product and strategy. I felt like being on the product management / product marketing side was a more strategic spot to be.
iTWire. So having resolved the core of the company onto the customer, what's you major challenge at the moment.
Steele. I think we've made a tremendous amount of progress in the last year but there's still more work to be done. I think our pace of innovation has improved. We still have more work to do there. I think we can continue to strive to do a better job for our customers, but there's still more work to do there. And we're in a markets that's fast moving we need to continue to stay out in front of where the markets headed to be and really meet the market where we can take it.
iTWire. Moving on to the company, what attributes do you admire most in or value highest in a Splunker?
Steele. In hiring a Splunker?
iTWire. Current, or hiring, either, I don't mind.
Steele. I think, the one thing that has been amazing here is just the passion for the product and the technology. We have that inside the company. We see it here at the user conference. Really unique and really amazing... and finding that in future employees as well. And then we obviously need employees that can help us on that journey of continued innovation; people who are super thoughtful and creative. They see things in a unique way that ultimately gives us opportunity to deliver more value for our customers.
iTWire. I see that Splunk is the kind of company that would attract those people. And that's obviously something you need to keep doing. You do attract those people.
So you're not particularly hands on at the product levels. I'm assuming your main focus is more road-map.
Steele. Yeah, I mean, we have 8000 employees, approximately. So we have a little leeway. I spend more of my time thinking about what should we be investing in? Where should the company be headed? How do we ensure that we're delivering our commitments for our shareholders? Thinking about what the financial picture of the company should look like. As we mentioned earlier, really pushing for this balance of growth and profitability, which isn't always easy to achieve, that is not something that company has been focused on prior to me joining. So we're having that opportunity to really shape what the financial should look like over a period of time.
iTWire. Yes, because once you start thinking about a new product line, then that means dollars pouring into it... and eventually, it'll come good but for a little while, it hurts to...
Steele. Yes, you have to figure out to deal with the things that you want to go to.
iTWire. To change direction a little, who do you admire in the business world?
Steele. I think I just take examples from companies that have delivered great innovation over a long period of time. You know, you can see it all over the place where you look at the leadership that Salesforce established for example, and what Benioff did with a great run in the cloud. What Microsoft has done under Satya's leadership, and the focus on the cloud and how they deliver for the customers I think is there's lots to be learned there. And then I admire people that drive innovation, and so CEOs of younger companies that are doing cool things. All that's interesting.
iTWire. So is there anybody in particularly that you derive inspiration from?
Steele. I don't think there's any single person that factors into that. I just look at a broad range of people and how they inspire me to do different things.
iTWire. so you're not an avid reader all the latest business publications.
Steele. I read some of it I don't read all of it. I'm much more of a 'read current news,' what's happening from a tech perspective... stay current that way, versus going back in time reading lots of nonfiction books about people.
iTWire. So you're very internally driven.
Steele. Actually, I wouldn’t say that.
iTWire. That's where I got to in regard to with what you were saying.
Steele. No, I spend tons of my time with customers, with our sales organization, with our investors. So when I joined I meant to meet 100 Customers in my first one hundred days, which is a really big number but that pace is intense, I spend a lot of time... because I think it's really important not to have all that information filtered to you. You look directly at the customer and understand how they're feeling about what you're delivering and how you can improve. So I spend a lot of my time on this.
iTWire. No, I'm thinking more about the motivation rather than the source of information.
Steele. I kinda get motivated by customers too with how they're using the product.
iTWire. So, where do you see Splunk the next five years, 10 years 20 years?
Steele. I think the destination around helping our customers build digital resilience is a long journey. There's lots of work to be done there. I believe we're incredibly well positioned, given our strengths across security and observability to help customers achieve great outcomes. I believe that there's a whole innovation cycle here to help make it simpler to achieve all that - it shouldn't be as hard as it is today. And many of the things that we talked about here [at .conf23], play a role in that, whether it be our AI announcements, because we're going to see the world get a lot more efficient and how they do their jobs, to things like HR where we're giving people visibility into areas they never have visibility into. Those are all factors in how do we ultimately help in this digital resilience journey. The great thing about Splunk is we have an amazing volume customers who want to do more with us. I think there's this opportunity for long term global growth to get us beyond where we are revenue wise to 5 billion to 10 billion and beyond in terms of recurring revenue.
iTWire. So, out of those 5, 10, 20 years, how many of those will you be at Splunk?
Steele. I'm a guy that has long tenure in the companies that I've been at. So you know, I see myself being here for a very long time.
iTWire. At some point, the board will say “we've had enough!”
Steele. Yeah, I think at some point you need to also be self critical. When is the right time to turn the reins over to someone else? Not that age is a big issue, but I'm not the youngest person in the room - maybe that matters at some level.
iTWire. So what do you enjoy most about the role?
Steele. For me, I love all of our customer interaction and the opportunity to match that with innovation. And I love leadership and management, a lot of people don't like; I actually love it.
iTWire. We've seen the bones of that whole simplification process in the keynotes. So I'm guessing there's still a long way to go, because we still have very disparate tools various control panels bringing it together. So I'm assuming you're expecting that to coalesce a lot better.
Steele. Mission Control really that single work surface. There's always more work to be done. Because we gotten into the durability world through a set of acquisitions. We've made tremendous progress really, really great deals. Getting named as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant all abounds with validation of that.
iTWire. But watching the keynote it looked to me as though there were some joining gaps. It didn't seem as seamless as I would like.
Steele. But I think it really comes down to does the workflow work well? I think that's the critical thing. I think we've really focused on how do we Excellerate that user experience, which I think we've done a really good job of.
iTWire. So, why did you get into hardware? [referring to the Edge device]
Steele. I think it's actually simple. It's really driving a software opportunity for us. So how do we bridge this gap where OT has been its own world of itself? So for a long time it's just a separate thing. And in reality, in this digital resilience world, all these things have to be interconnected. We can't live in a world where all of that separated. There's been a bunch of trends, I think one is Chief Information Security Officer is now responsible for OT and they have to do something and they have to be able to draw that connectivity, but to see the entire environment because you have a threat actor - that that's the way they enter. Separate from that I just think there's there's been so much data that people haven't been able to see that can ultimately Excellerate the economics of businesses or can you field fundamental business outcomes that are different because of that disability? Well, hardware was a vehicle to fix a problem that was complicated, the value that we're deriving from the software.
iTWire. When I was here at .conf19 I did see the beginnings of that. A little tiny stand, off in the corner.
Steele. Know that we did test it for a long time.
iTWire. Yeah, because the OT guys are terrified of IT, when they say, “oh, you've got Windows [whatever version], we need to update it.
"NO!!"
Steele. The rate of updates such as this is a problem.
iTWire. And the worst thing is a lot of the configurations are type-approved. You cannot change it and that's particularly true in health.
Steele. Oh, ‘Health’ is a whole [inaudible]. Just walk around an operating room and see the amount of windows [there]. Scary!
iTWire. Some of the applications have to run 10, 20 30 years and they can't be changed. “...and we need to shut your Windows PC down for a patch and that will stop the plant.
"No!!"
So that's that's the whole challenge. And then it's a major reason why OT are terrified of IT. Of course, IT starts coming in with the attitude, “It's got lights, it must be ours.”
Steele. Right. There've been territorial boundaries for a long time.
iTWire. OT has approached IT to a certain extent moving into things like MES and Historians and that kind of software. So there has been a certain egress of data from from the plant floor, but it's been like pulling teeth.
Steele. Yes, it’s pretty limited and the protocols are different, and there's a whole bunch of things that make it hard.
iTWire. The protocol differences are to a certain extent, quite deliberate.
The guys down on the exhibition floor were telling me that the box is slowly going to support more and more factory protocols. The problem is, there’s lots of them.
Steele. Right.
iTWire. Let’s go to ‘buildings,’ you need BACnet, let’s go to the plant floor, you need Profinet or Modbus.
Steele. Of course.
iTWire. That’s all I’d planned to talk about. So unless you had anything else to say, I’d like to thank you for your time.
Steele. Thank you. It's a pleasure.
The author attended .conf23 as a guest of Splunk.
The wireless networking space has exploded in recent years and wireless technologies have become a connectivity game-changer. The advent of fourth-generation (4G) wireless wide-area networking technologies and the emergence of LTE (Long Term Evolution) and 5G technology further underscore wireless networking’s critical role in business today.
The demand for professionals with wireless networking knowledge and expertise is at an all-time high. As wireless professionals map their career paths, adding respected wireless networking certifications to their resumes can show hiring managers they have the cutting-edge, in-demand career skills to take their organizations to the next level.
We’ll highlight the best wireless networking certifications IT professionals can obtain to demonstrate their skills to current and prospective employers.
Earning the best IT certifications, including wireless networking certifications, is an excellent career advancement asset that validates your skills and knowledge.
According to Salary.com data, wireless engineers earn about $98,99 to $125,000 annually. However, bonuses, commissions, location, seniority and many more factors can affect earnings and boost pay much higher. The right certifications can increase your value and salary.
Here are our picks for the top wireless networking certifications.
The Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Certification is one of many Cisco certifications. It’s considered to be one of the most reliable certifications for professionals navigating the ever-changing IT industry. The test is comprehensive and covers the following topics:
Cisco doesn’t insist on stringent prerequisites for this certification. However, there are age requirements: No one younger than 13 can take the exam, and those aged 13 to 17 must have parental consent to proceed. Additionally, Cisco recommends that applicants have at least one year of experience using and implementing Cisco products and solutions, a basic knowledge of IP addressing, and an understanding of network fundamentals.
Passing the CCNA certification test will provide opportunities for wireless professionals in the following job roles:
After you pass the certification test, your status is valid for three years. After three years, you must apply for recertification via one of two options: passing a qualifying test or earning 30 continuing education credits.
Certification information |
Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) |
---|---|
Prerequisites and required courses |
There are no formal prerequisites for this certification. However, Cisco recommends candidates have one or more years of experience implementing and administering Cisco solutions. |
Number of exams |
One exam, 120 minutes long |
Cost per exam |
$300 (with the option to use Cisco learning credits instead of paying) |
Exam website |
|
Preparation materials |
Cisco offers an online course: Implementing and Administering Cisco Solutions (CCNA). You can purchase this course through several online learning models and resources. Visit Cisco’s CCNA test preparation web page for more information. |
The CCNA certification is also recommended when pursuing the best computer networking certifications and the best data center certifications.
If you’re seeking a job maintaining and troubleshooting global enterprise networks, the Cisco Certified Network Professional Enterprise (CCNP Enterprise) certification is a significant credential upgrade. The CCNP Enterprise certification will test your mastery in the following areas:
The CCNP Enterprise certification is more complex than the CCNA. You’ll need to complete the following examinations.
When you pass the two required exams, your certification will be valid for three years. You’ll have expanded opportunities for the following job roles:
Certification information |
Cisco Certified Network Professional Enterprise |
---|---|
Prerequisites and required courses |
There are no formal prerequisites for this certification. However, Cisco recommends that candidates possess three to five years of relevant experience in implementing enterprise network solutions. |
Number of exams |
Two exams are required.
|
Cost per exam |
$400 |
Concentration exams |
Select one of the following:
|
Exam website |
|
Preparation materials |
Cisco offers an online course: Implementing and Operating Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies (ENCOR). You can purchase this course through several online learning models and resources. Visit Cisco’s CCNP Enterprise test preparation web page for more information. |
The CompTIA Network+ is a wireless networking and cybersecurity certification that assesses a wireless professional’s technical skills in establishing, troubleshooting and maintaining networks for any business on any platform. Additionally, the Network+ certification serves as a prerequisite for other CompTIA certifications, including those listed below:
The CompTIA Network+ test examines a candidate’s IT professional capacity and skills in designing and implementing functional networks, configuring and maintaining essential network devices, and implementing network security standards and protocols. Here are some of the Topics covered:
When you pass this certification exam, your certification will be valid for three years. You’ll benefit from expanded opportunities in the following job roles:
CompTIA Network+ certification is a prerequisite for the CompTIA Linux+ Powered by LPI certification, which is considered one of the best Linux certifications for an IT career.
The CWNA (Certified Wireless Network Administrator) certification was developed by the Certified Wireless Network Professional (CWNP) organization. It’s a long-standing certification for IT professionals, particularly those who want to specialize in installing and maintaining wireless networks. The test covers the following topics:
The CWNA certification is considered a foundational wireless LAN certification under the CWNP program. Candidates must achieve a score of at least 70 percent to be deemed certified.
When you pass this certification exam, your certification will be valid for three years, after which you can apply for recertification. While your credential is still valid, you’ll need to take and pass a professional-level test — CWSP, CWDP, or CWAP — to renew your certification. You can also recertify by retaking the CWNA exam.
The Certified Wireless Security Professional certification is a step toward achieving a Certified Wireless Network Expert (CWNE) certification. It’s a professional-level wireless LAN and cybersecurity certification for which you must first achieve CWNA certification.
The test covers the following topics:
To pass the CWSP exam, professionals must score at least 70 percent, and instructors must score at least 80 percent. When you pass this certification exam, your certification will be valid for three years, after which you can apply for recertification. Recertification is possible only if you hold a valid CWNA credential and pass the current CWSP exam. If you meet these requirements, the certification will be renewed for another three years.
Information security professionals should also consider the best infosec and cybersecurity certifications as more business owners seek to protect their companies by hiring qualified cybersecurity experts.
While the five featured certification exams are among the most well-regarded in the industry, other certifications can benefit IT professionals seeking to augment their skills and credentials. Here are two more to consider.
Achieving respected, rigorous wireless networking certifications can help IT professionals expand their credentials and land more profitable job opportunities. Additionally, they’ll demonstrate their willingness to learn to hiring managers.
While certifications take time and money, the rewards of career growth and higher compensation more than justify the investment.
Ed Tittel and Mary Kyle contribute to the reporting and writing in this article.
Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) has seen a decline in its stock price by -3.17 in relation to its previous close of 107.20. However, the company has experienced a -1.49% decline in its stock price over the last five trading sessions.
compared to its average ratio and a 36-month beta value of 1.25. Analysts have mixed views on the stock, with 20 analysts rating it as a “buy,” 6 as “overweight,” 15 as “hold,” and 0 as “sell.”
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The average price point forecasted by analysts for Splunk Inc. (SPLK) is $120.15, which is $15.98 above the current market price. The public float for SPLK is 164.87M, and currently, short sellers hold a 2.95% ratio of that float. The average trading volume of SPLK on August 03, 2023 was 1.49M shares.
The stock of Splunk Inc. (SPLK) has seen a -1.49% decrease in the past week, with a -1.65% drop in the past month, and a 25.15% gain in the past quarter. The volatility ratio for the week is 3.44%, and the volatility levels for the past 30 days are at 2.93% for SPLK. The simple moving average for the past 20 days is -2.03% for SPLK’s stock, with a 11.98% simple moving average for the past 200 days.
After a stumble in the market that brought SPLK to its low price for the period of the last 52 weeks, the company was unable to rebound, for now settling with -11.16% of loss for the given period.
Volatility was left at 2.93%, however, over the last 30 days, the volatility rate increased by 3.44%, as shares sank -2.32% for the moving average over the last 20 days. Over the last 50 days, in opposition, the stock is trading +7.87% upper at present.
During the last 5 trading sessions, SPLK fell by -1.49%, which changed the moving average for the period of 200-days by +48.82% in comparison to the 20-day moving average, which settled at $105.83. In addition, Splunk Inc. saw 20.57% in overturn over a single year, with a tendency to cut further gains.
Reports are indicating that there were more than several insider trading activities at SPLK starting from Morgan Scott, who sale 4,996 shares at the price of $104.19 back on Jul 10. After this action, Morgan Scott now owns 122,889 shares of Splunk Inc., valued at $520,545 using the latest closing price.
Steele Gary, the President and CEO of Splunk Inc., sale 9,600 shares at $104.47 during a trade that took place back on Jul 07, which means that Steele Gary is holding 167,254 shares at $1,002,868 based on the most recent closing price.
Current profitability levels for the company are sitting at:
The net margin for Splunk Inc. stands at -7.60. The total capital return value is set at -7.01, while invested capital returns managed to touch -8.20. Equity return is now at value 44.70, with -3.00 for asset returns.
When we switch over and look at the enterprise to sales, we see a ratio of 5.32, with the company’s debt to enterprise value settled at 0.23. The receivables turnover for the company is 2.51 and the total asset turnover is 0.60. The liquidity ratio also appears to be rather interesting for investors as it stands at 1.24.
To put it simply, Splunk Inc. (SPLK) has had a mixed performance in recent times. Analysts have a bullish opinion on the stock, with some rating it as a “buy” and others as a “hold”. It’s important to note that the stock is currently trading at a significant distance from its 50-day moving average and its 52-week high.