Technology
Cribl
Less noise, more results
Data flows through every part of your organization. As the volume grows, however, the insight and overview don't always keep pace. Tools become overloaded, costs rise, and control over your data flows fades. With Cribl, you can quickly and flexibly regain control.
As an Elite Cribl partner, we bring order to data traffic: we determine which data is important for what, who needs it, and whether enrichment or adjustment is desirable. This makes analytics faster, security stronger, and your infrastructure more efficient. Cribl is the layer that creates order between sources and platforms, independent of vendors or tools. No unnecessary data, no waste. Just insight, peace of mind, and maximum value.
Why SMT?
Data growth requires not only the right technology, but especially the right choices. SMT helps organizations make those choices clearly. With Cribl, we reduce data flows to what's truly valuable: delivering insight where needed and reducing noise wherever possible.
As Cribl's launching partner in the Benelux, we combine deep data engineering experience with a pragmatic approach. We look beyond the technology alone and design data flows to improve observability and security while keeping costs manageable.
No extra complexity, just overview and results.
Our vision
Data should work for you, not the other way around. Yet, we see organizations spending increasing amounts of time managing data flows: cleaning, storing, allocating, and reprocessing. Technology is advancing, but clarity is disappearing.
With Cribl, we bring back that simplicity. Data becomes functional again: understandable, manageable, and usable. Not by adding more layers, but by organizing data flows more intelligently. This is how Cribl brings insight, security, and efficiency closer together.
What Cribl doing
Cribl is designed to bring order to data traffic. It forms a central layer between your data sources and your analytics or security platforms, managing what goes where and why.
With Cribl you can:
Data Routing & Optimization
- Filter what is really relevant and exclude unnecessary data.
Enrichment & Compliance
- Enrich what you want to keep, for example with context or metadata.
Multi-Destination Routing
- Routing to the right destination – think Splunk, Microsoft, Elastic, Sentinel, Exabeam, Datadog and many other destinations.
Data Privacy & Security
- Masking or encrypting sensitive data at the source.
Result: reduced data volume, lower licensing and storage costs, and faster insight. Cribl makes existing platforms smarter without adding weight. The system is tool-independent, meaning you have complete control over how and where your data flows, not the vendor.
Our approach
At SMT, implementation isn't just about technology; it's about collaboration. We always work from your organization's practical experience with a team of specialists who understand your environment.
We'll configure Cribl to fit your existing systems and processes, eliminating clutter and unnecessary complexity. Throughout the process, we'll share knowledge so your team knows exactly what's happening and why, and can then work on it independently or collaboratively.
No dependency: we build, you keep control.
Who is Cribl relevant for?
With Cribl, organizations gain control over:
- What is collected and forwarded
- How data is enriched or filtered along the way
- Where information is ultimately stored or analyzed
This way you can work smarter with existing tools and structurally reduce storage and processing costs.
This makes Cribl ideal for organizations that:
- want to reduce their data volume
- want to simplify their architecture
- want to more tightly secure their security and compliance requirements
and undergo a transition to another platform
One flexible layer that makes data manageable, without compromising insight or
speed.
Find out what Cribl can do for you
Let's explore together where you can achieve profit with less noise and more results. Contact us and we'll schedule an introductory meeting to map out your data flows, tools, and current challenges. During this session, we'll show you how Cribl can create structure, reduce costs, and extract more value from what you already have.
A clear conversation, without obligations, but with concrete insights into where Cribl can make a difference in your organization.
Insights
Vialis Case Study: From periodic maintenance to predictable tunnel availability
Discover how Vialis transforms tunnel monitoring into predictable asset management with Cribl and Splunk for higher availability and fewer disruptions.
Case study PostNL: regaining control over security data
How do you get a handle on security data when costs are rising and insight is lacking? PostNL found the answer with a new data strategy and the smart use of Cribl with SMT. The result: lower costs, greater control, and a SOC that can move forward.
Telemetry management with Cribl: one agent for all data
Many organizations struggle with a growing number of agents, tools, and manual management. It's time-consuming, introduces risks, and limits scalability. This case study demonstrates how switching to Cribl provided a single, centralized telemetry platform with real-time monitoring.
FAQ
We use Splunk Heavy Forwarders, why Cribl?
Splunk Heavy Forwarders are powerful, but complex and difficult to scale with growing data volumes. Cribl offers more modern and much more efficient load balancing, resulting in more stable and evenly distributed data streams. Furthermore, you manage everything centrally through a simple visual interface instead of dozens of individual HF configurations. This reduces the administrative burden and minimizes errors. This allows you to get more performance and flexibility from your existing Splunk environment.
Why SMT and why now?
The volume of security and observability data is growing exponentially, and costs are quickly spiraling out of control—waiting only exacerbates the problem. By optimizing now, you'll create immediate cost savings and increase the effectiveness of your security stack. SMT offers not only technology but also guidance on architecture, implementation, and governance, enabling you to realize value quickly. As a specialized Cribl partner, we understand the pitfalls and best practices. This allows you to minimize risk and maximize ROI from day one.
We do not want to collaborate with American vendors.
Cribl offers complete control over your data and allows you to keep all processing within Europe. The Cribl cloud environment can also run on European data centers, including servers in Germany, so data never has to leave the EU. SMT helps you establish the right governance, ensuring you meet GDPR and internal compliance requirements. Cribl doesn't see any customer data; processing remains entirely under your control. This combines state-of-the-art technology with strict European data security.
We use Splunk Edge Processor for that.
Splunk Edge Processor operates primarily within the Splunk ecosystem and lacks the vendor neutrality offered by Cribl. Cribl gives you complete control over ALL data streams, regardless of their origin or destination. This prevents vendor lock-in and allows you to switch between tools more quickly and affordably. Furthermore, Cribl offers more advanced observability, filtering, and data replay capabilities. This gives you more functionality and cost control.
We use Logstash for that (with Elastic).
Logstash is powerful, but complex and limited in its scalability for large data streams. Cribl offers a graphical, user-friendly interface that allows for faster and more secure customization. Cribl is also designed for enterprise scale and simplifies routing to any platform. You don't need to replace existing tools—Cribl actually enhances your existing stack. This gives you greater flexibility, lower costs, and less administrative burden.
How can you handle security data in a cost-effective way?
Cribl lets you determine precisely which data should and shouldn't be sent to expensive platforms—think filtering, sampling, and routing to affordable object storage. You retain access to all raw data, but only send enriched and relevant events to SIEM or observability tools. Compression, deduplication, and smart retention make security data scalable and affordable.
How do you connect IT/OT?
Cribl enables centrally normalizing data from both IT and OT environments without having to modify systems themselves. Because Cribl is vendor-agnostic, you can process data from industrial protocols, sensors, firewalls, and IT platforms uniformly. This creates a single, consistent data model that can be used across various tools. The separation between IT and OT remains intact, but the data flows are integrated. This results in better security, fewer silos, and a more complete risk picture.
Do we need to spend a lot of time on managing and maintaining Cribl?
Cribl is designed to simplify your work. The interface is clear, you create rules using a visual flow, and maintenance is kept to a minimum. The platform provides clear insight into your data flows, so you can quickly see where optimization is needed. For most teams, this actually means less administrative burden: less noise, less unnecessary data, and more control over costs and quality.
How quickly can we deploy Cribl within our existing environment?
Cribl connects to virtually any source that produces logs, metrics, or traces. Implementation is usually straightforward: simply place Cribl between your data production and your desired destinations, configure a few routes, and see immediate results. Many organizations experience lower SIEM costs and clearer data flows within days, without major infrastructure changes.
What is the biggest advantage of Cribl over traditional log management or SIEM solutions?
Cribl gives you complete control over your data flows. Instead of blindly sending everything to a single platform, Cribl lets you determine exactly which data goes where, in what format, and with what enrichment. The result: lower data costs, improved performance, and much smarter use of your existing tools. You don't have to replace anything—you simply extract more value from what you already have.
