Splunk, a maker of machine data aggregation and analysis software for the enterprise, is going public. Citing anonymous “people similar with the matter,  Bloomberg reported that Splunk hired Morgan Stanley to lead an upcoming public offering.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Credit Suisse Group AG and Bank of America Corp will also be working on the IPO according to the leak, which will raise Splunk’s valuation to $1 billion. The analytics company is hoping to raise approximately $150 million.

“Morgan Stanley was picked to head Splunk’s sale after leading nine U.S. Internet IPOs last year, more than any other underwriter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The New York-based bank garnered an estimated $1.3 billion of fees working on initial offerings by Zynga Inc., Groupon Inc., LinkedIn Corp. and Yandex NV, Bloomberg data show.”

Splunk hired David Conte as its CFO a few months ago, an executive experienced with handling the finances of public firms. From the right angle, this can be counted off as another clue towards Splunk’s general direction in the coming year.

It’s notable that Morgan Stanley has been put in charge of another high-profile upcoming IT IPO recently. It will help to carry out Millennial Media’s long awaited public offering. The mobile ad network operator didn’t disclose any details but the confirmation has proved to be enough: leaks and speculations concerning the date have surfaced at an almost-steady pace throughout the few months leading up to the announcement.

Both Millennial and Splunk have seen a lot growth in 2011, and 2012 is a good time for an IPO. Splunk has been expanding its offerings portfolio lately, launching the latest version of Splunk Enterprise just this week. One of the big highlights is that it’s now available to a broader spectrum of users – not just IT but also execs. This can now be considered a trend in the BI industry.