posted by: Mark Cortner
I recently participated in an analyst roundtable discussion with executive leaders from Cisco and Tandberg to discuss the strategy behind the pending acquisition of Tandberg by Cisco. The discussion summarized many of the high-level objectives stated in past briefings and press releases, but also added more insight into the benefits the companies anticipate as a result of the acquisition.
In general, the benefits from an acquisition such as this could be derived within one or more dimensions; an improvement in market positioning, acquisition of a critical mass of key knowledge resources, expansion of product capabilities through technology acquisition, and top-line revenue growth. The executives from both companies initially stressed that the people component of the acquisition was perhaps the most important benefit that the combined companies would experience. I agreement with this opinion, I believe that Tandberg will add strong technical, marketing, and sales expertise to Cisco. The addition of Tandberg expertise will enhance Cisco’s credibility with the technical influences and decision makers within enterprise IT organizations.
Cisco’s vision includes high growth for video-based applications, with conferencing opportunities both with enterprise and service provider networks. Cisco reiterated the importance of driving a network effect for video and made brief mention of Tandberg’s Codian MCU. If Cisco and the rest of the industry is successful in driving increased interoperability and in turn, higher utility, I believe when we look back at this value from acquisition the most significant technological/product component will in fact be Codian.
I recently participated in an analyst roundtable discussion with executive leaders from Cisco and Tandberg to discuss the strategy behind the pending acquisition of Tandberg by Cisco. The discussion summarized many of the high-level objectives stated in past briefings and press releases, but also added more insight into the benefits the companies anticipate as a result of the acquisition.
In general, the benefits from an acquisition such as this could be derived within one or more dimensions; an improvement in market positioning, acquisition of a critical mass of key knowledge resources, expansion of product capabilities through technology acquisition, and top-line revenue growth. The executives from both companies initially stressed that the people component of the acquisition was perhaps the most important benefit that the combined companies would experience. I agreement with this opinion, I believe that Tandberg will add strong technical, marketing, and sales expertise to Cisco. The addition of Tandberg expertise will enhance Cisco’s credibility with the technical influences and decision makers within enterprise IT organizations.
Cisco’s vision includes high growth for video-based applications, with conferencing opportunities both with enterprise and service provider networks. Cisco reiterated the importance of driving a network effect for video and made brief mention of Tandberg’s Codian MCU. If Cisco and the rest of the industry is successful in driving increased interoperability and in turn, higher utility, I believe when we look back at this value from acquisition the most significant technological/product component will in fact be Codian.
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