Intro | Splunk .conf2013

Splunk .conf2013 kicks off today at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, NV, and will run through until October 3, 2013. Though the event begins today, sessions will not start until tomorrow, leaving attendees time to mingle with like-minded professionals. Our premier production program, theCUBE, will be there live, broadcasting exclusive interviews from top executives in the industry.

This is the 4th Annual Splunk Worldwide Users' Conference and this year's theme is "Your Data, No Limits." The event aims to deepen attendees' practical knowledge of Splunk, learn best practices and check out new solutions, apps and add-ons.

What to Expect


This is an important year for Splunk, now two years into its IPO. As the machine data management tool looks to maintain its lead in this market, its also expanding its market messaging to raise awareness around the myriad of data types Splunk can support. Looking to position itself beyond machine log data, Splunk is ready to be known as a generalized data platform, ready for the enterprise.

According to Wikibon Analyst Jeff Kelly, Splunk has a two-pronged attack for transitioning beyond machine log data. The first prong includes building out applications to run on top of Splunk's platform, while the second angle includes opening up its platform to outside developers. The combined efforts should provide a cushy collection of use cases for Splunk, ready with apps primed for commercial use.

Recent & relevant developments


Splunk announced Hunk at Hadoop Summit this year -- applying their engine and apps to Hadoop (data visualization inside Hadoop).

Splunk released an analytics app specific for VMware, providing a specialized alternative for VMware existing analytics toolbox.

Current market position & rivals


Competitors to Splunk -- this whole market is up for grabs. Everyone's looking to make the killer app in analytics.

Rivals include SumoLogic and Loggly, though many are looking to compete with Splunk through SaaS solutions, IT infrastructure and analytics apps.

Splunk's end user apps are typically easier to use, meaning they still hold a first-mover advantage. There's no surprise so many rivals have emerged, many coming from the large scale vendors for which these apps are being made.

Rivals often say that with Splunk, all you can do is really look at logs. This is the root of Splunk, but they're trying to transition away from this conception of being only for log-management, machine data.

Sessions & Contests


There are many opportunities to connect with hundreds of your peers, see how others are applying Splunk's technology to real-world projects, and become more involved in the Splunk community.

The conference features three days of breakout sessions, plus two pre-conference days for Splunk University -- aka Splunk hands-on training classes.

Session tracks include Beyond IT, Splunk for Big Data, Customizing Splunk, Deploying Splunk, Developing on Splunk, Inside Splunk, Using Splunk, and Splunk Meets Cloud and Virtualization.

The session tracks will be led by Splunk executives such as Sr. Director Marketing Leena Joshi, Sr. Software Developer Ed Hunsinger, Director of Product Marketing Rahul Deshmukh as well as Splunk clients like INETCO VP of Products Marc Borbas, Satcom Integration co-founder Ken Bantoft, Datastax VP of Customer Solutions and Co-founder Matt Pfeil, and many others.

There are also some fun and interesting contests for developers such as The Splunk App Dev Contest, Where Will Your Karma Take You?, and the .conf2013 Hackathon.

Where to Watch & Follow


Leena Joshi, Senior Director of Solutions Marketing, Splunk
Matthew Culver, IT Audomation and Integration Engineer, Discovery Communications, with Jeff Frick and Jeff Kelly
If you can't attend the event, you can always rely on social media to stay looped in. You can follow Splunk on Twitter @splunk and use the hashtag splunkconf, or get the latest news on Facebook, and LinkedIn, or watch sessions on YouTube.

As previously mentioned, theCUBE will be at .conf2013, filtering the signal from the noise. SiliconANGLE CEO and co-founder John Furrier will be hosting theCUBE together with Wikibon CEO and co-founder Dave Vellante. You can watch their live interviews with Splunk execs and customers on SiliconANGLE.tv or right here on SiliconANGLE.com. View our archived clips on SiliconANGLE's YouTube channel.

You can also get the hosts' insights regarding the event by following them on Twitter: @furrier, and @dvellante. SiliconANGLE will also be extensively covering the event so watch out for the updates.

Intro,Splunk.conf 2013 with John Furrier and Dave Vellante

@thecube
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