Palo Alto Networks has completed its $3.35 billion acquisition of observability platform Chronosphere.

The deal will see Chronosphere’s Kubernetes and microservices-focused service integrated with Cortex AgentiX, Palo Alto’s suite of AI agents, which secures across email, endpoints, and the network.

Originally announced in November, Palo Alto positioned the merger as powering uptime and resilience for AI data centers through real-time observability, agentic remediation, and Chronosphere’s capacity for large volumes of observability data in the cloud.

For Mauricio Sanchez, senior director at Dell’Oro Group, observability is another trend to watch in the ever-burgeoning world of cybersecurity M&As as telemetry becomes a control point for security operations (SecOps).

"The Chronosphere deal signals value in owning logs, metrics, and traces to automate detection and response. The implication is deeper SecOps and IT operations convergence and more platform-led M&A," Sanchez told SDxCentral.

Headquartered in New York, Chronosphere was established in 2019 by CEO Martin Mao and CTO Rob Skillington, both former engineers at Uber.

During their time at the ride-sharing giant, they developed M3, a large-scale database designed to support Uber’s extensive data monitoring systems, which has since been open-sourced and now forms the foundation of the Chronosphere platform.

The company reached unicorn status by 2021 and later secured an additional $115 million in Series C funding, bringing total investment to roughly $343 million. Its investors include GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Falcon Fund, the venture arm of CrowdStrike.

With the deal, Mao crosses over to Palo Alto Networks as SVP, GM for Observability, while Skillington is now listed on LinkedIn as VP, Fellow for Palo Alto.

On completion of the deal, Mao commented: "Chronosphere was built to help the world's most complex digital organizations operate at scale with confidence. Joining Palo Alto Networks allows us to bring AI-era observability to a global audience. Together, we're delivering a new standard — where observability, security, and AI come together to give organizations control over their most valuable asset: data."

"Enterprises today are looking for fewer vendors, deeper partnerships, and platforms they can rely on for mission-critical security and operations. Chronosphere accelerates our vision to be the indispensable platform for securing and operating the cloud and AI," added Nikesh Arora, chairman and CEO, Palo Alto Networks. "We believe that great security starts with deep visibility into all your data, and Chronosphere provides that foundation for our customers."