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Tag: Cisco

  • Enterprise Connect: Google And Cisco Partner For Chromebook Offerings

    Enterprise Connect: Google And Cisco Partner For Chromebook Offerings

    Google and Cisco have partnered up to offer Cisco WebEx and Cisco UC on Chromebooks. Rajen Sheth, Googles’s Director of Product Management on Chrome for Business announced the news at Enterprise Connect, where he demonstrated a proof of concept of the WebEx offering.

    Chromebooks with Cisco

    “We’re also integrating Cisco UC technologies into Google Apps, helping our joint customers work better together,” writes Chrome for Business Product Manager Saswat Panigrahi. “Imagine joining a WebEx meeting directly from Calendar, or starting an instant meeting from Contacts or the Gmail People widget. Starting today, if you use Cisco and Google Apps, features you love, like messaging, fax, click-to-call and Cisco presence, are visible alongside Gmail.”

    Google is telling Cisco customers to get in touch with the Google sales team or Google Enterprise sales via this form to see about getting set up.

    In case you’re wondering how long Chrome OS for enterprise devices is supported, it’s four years.

    Images via Google

  • Cisco Acquires Collaboration Platform Collaborate

    Cisco Acquires Collaboration Platform Collaborate

    Cisco announced that it has acquired mobile productivity platform Collaborate.

    Collaborate unifies messaging, document sharing, and task management across mobile apps on mobile devices and the web. It integrates with Box, Dropbox, Evernote and Google Drive. Co-workers can participate in “instant collaboration rooms” where they can chat and share documents, notes, images and videos.

    “Collaborate’s flexibility also enables teams to integrate collaboration and communication into their enterprise workstreams, as the application helps keep teams aligned and accelerates decision-making,” says Cisco’s Hilton Romanski.

    “Cisco’s acquisition of Collaborate supports our goal of driving market leadership in Collaboration,” he adds. “Together, Cisco and Collaborate plan to provide a comprehensive solution that enables the mobile workforce to work smarter and more efficiently from virtually anywhere. Collaborate’s cutting-edge technology and strong engineers as part of Cisco’s Collaboration Technology Group will help accelerate Cisco’s innovation in Collaboration.”

    Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

    While perhaps not to the extent of Yahoo, Cisco has been making quite a few acquisitions this year. Collaborate joins Whiptail, Sourcefire, Composite Software, JouleX, Ubiquisys, SolveDirect, Cognitive Security and Intucell as part of the Cisco family.

    Image: Collaborate

  • Cisco Partners With Facebook On Wi-Fi

    Cisco Partners With Facebook On Wi-Fi

    Facebook started testing its Wi-Fi offering last year. It’s reportedly installed at over 1,000 merchants so far.

    Today, Cisco announced that it has partnered with the company on it, calling the collaboration “Connected Mobile Experiences” (CMX) for Facebook Wi-Fi.

    Facebook Wi-Fi lets people check in to businesses for free Wi-Fi access. Business benefits of the new initiative, as described by Cisco, include increasing brand recognition through check-ins, gaining demographic data from checked-in users, improving ad targeting and getting the latest business newsdirectly in front of customers.

    Cisco’s Sujai Hajela writes, “When my wife and daughter are in the mall doing some holiday shopping and walk into a store running CMX for Facebook Wi-Fi, my daughter opens a browser on her mobile device, goes to any page and is directed to a “check in with Facebook” login page. She logs in to her Facebook account, is given access to the store’s Wi-Fi network and is taken to their Facebook Page. From there she can check-in, “like” the store, use and share promotional information with her Facebook friends.”

    The two companies ran a pilot for the Meeting of the Minds event last month, and had tried it out at Philz Coffee in the Bay Area back in May. Bonefish Grill is currently testing it in a couple locations.

    “Our partnership with Facebook is to provide a very personalized mobile experience for consumers while they shop, spend time with friends and family,” says Hajela. “We will be rolling out this solution across some of the world’s top brands in retail, hospitality, and other markets.”

    The timeframe on that is still unclear. You can check out some FAQs here.

  • Cisco Is Counting Things That Are Connected To The Internet In Real Time (Here’s The Counter)

    Cisco Is Counting Things That Are Connected To The Internet In Real Time (Here’s The Counter)

    Cisco launched the Cisco Internet of Everything (IoE) Connections counter today, claiming to count, in real time, everything that comes online.

    So far it’s over ten billion people, processes, data and things. Here’s a look at their counter:

    “Right now, in 2013, 80 ‘things’ per second are connecting to the internet. Next year that number will reach almost 100 per second, and by 2020, more than 250 things will connect each second,” says Cisco’s Karen Tillman. “Add all of these numbers up, and we believe that more than 50 billion things will be connected to the internet by 2020.”

    Among the “things” Cisco is counting are mobile devices, parking meters, thermostats, cardiac monitors, tires, roads, cars, supermarket shelves and cattle.

    “The list is endless, and it just keeps getting longer and more interesting. Literally, by the second,” says Tillman.

    Here’s how Cisco describes its methodology (along with a slideshow for reference):

    To estimate the number of connected objects during 2013-20 we first estimated the total number of ‘things’ in the world and then determined the proportion of connected things. For 2012, we had estimated the total number of ‘things’ in the world to be 1.5 trillion and the number of connected objects to be 8.7 billion, implying 0.6% penetration rate of connected objects. We expect the number of things to reach 1.8 trillion in 2020, growing 3% annually. Subsequently, we have assumed that connectivity costs will decline by 25% annually during 2013-20. Conservatively, we assume the price-elasticity of demand to be ~1 and consequently expect annual growth in number of things to be 25% CAGR during 2013-20. Based on these assumptions, we estimate that the number of connected objects to reach ~50 billion in 2020 (or 2.7% of the total things in the world).

    With that, you can take the numbers with a grain of salt, but at least get a feel for Cisco’s line of thinking. Either way, the number of connected things is clearly on the rapid uptick.

  • Cisco Is Acquiring Sourcefire For $2.7 Billion

    Cisco Is Acquiring Sourcefire For $2.7 Billion

    Cisco announced today that it has entered an agreement to acquire security firm Sourcefire in a deal worth $2.7 billion. Cisco wil pay $76 per share in cash for all shares of Sourcefire, and will assume outstanding equity awards. Retention-based incentives are included in the price.

    Sourcefire reported $223.1 million in revenue last year (up 35% from the prior year). The company was founded in 2001, and went public in 2007. It’s based in Columbia, Maryland.

    “‘Buy’ has always been a key part of our build-buy-partner innovation strategy,” said Hilton Romanski, VP, Cisco Corporate Development. “Sourcefire aligns well with Cisco’s future vision for security and supports the key pillars of our security strategy. Through our shared view of the critical role the network must play in cybersecurity and threat defense, we have a unique opportunity to deliver the most comprehensive approach to security in the market.”

    “The notion of the ‘perimeter’ no longer exists and today’s sophisticated threats are able to circumvent traditional, disparate security products. Organizations require continuous and pervasive advanced threat protection that addresses each phase of the attack continuum,” said Christopher Young, SVP, Cisco Security Group. “With the acquisition of Sourcefire, we believe our customers will benefit from one of the industry’s most comprehensive, integrated security solutions – one that is simpler to deploy, and offers better security intelligence.”

    “Cisco’s acquisition of Sourcefire will help accelerate the realization of our vision for a new model of security across the extended network,” said Sourcefire founder and CTO Martin Roesch. “We’re excited about the opportunities ahead to expand our footprint via Cisco’s global reach, as well as Cisco’s commitment to support our pace of innovation in both commercial markets and the open source community.”

    The boards of both companies have already approved the acquisition, which is expected to close later this year. It’s still subject to customer closing conditions and regulatory reviews.

  • Cisco Plans To Acquire Composite Software

    Cisco Plans To Acquire Composite Software

    Cisco announced today that it intends to acquire Composite Software, a privately-held data virtualization software and services company. Cisco aims to pay $180 millino in cash and retention-based incentives for all shares of the company.

    Cisco says the acquisition builds on its framework for a “unified platform” and its software services strategy with the recent acquisition of SolveDirect.

    “Composite’s data virtualization solution combined with SolveDirect’s process integration platform will provide cross-domain data and workflow integration capabilities to enable real time business insights and operations,” the company says.

    “Cisco’s strategy is to create a next generation IT model that provides highly differentiated solutions to help solve our customers’ most challenging business problems,” said Cisco President and COO Gary Moore. “By combining our network expertise with the performance of Cisco’s Unified Computing System and Composite’s software, we will provide customers with instant access to data analysis for greater business intelligence.”

    Cisco expects the acquisition to close in the first quarter of fiscal year 2014.

    Composite Software is based in San Mateo. Its employees will join the Cisco services team under Mala Anand and Mike Flannagan.

  • Cisco To Acquire IT Energy Management Firm JouleX

    Cisco To Acquire IT Energy Management Firm JouleX

    Cisco announced on Wednesday its intent to acquire IT engergy management company JouleX. Cisco says the Atlanta-based company complements its existing portfolio by using capabilities of its network to gain visibility into and control energy usage across global IT environments.

    Under the terms of the deal, Cisco will pay about $107 million in cash and retention-based incentives in exchange for all shares of JouleX.

    “JouleX’s technology will strengthen Cisco Services’ Smart Offerings and complements our evolving services strategy. It extends our ‘Internet of Things’ capabilities and is a good alignment to Cisco EnergyWise,” said Faiyaz Shahpurwala, senior vice president, Industry Solutions. “With network-enabled devices increasing exponentially, our partners and customers are asking for this solution today to operationalize their energy management capabilities in the network and reduce cost. JouleX’s cloud-enabled, agent-less architecture will allow our partners and customers to quickly deploy this solution at scale in addressing their IT energy management needs.”

    Cisco VP and Head of Business Development, Hilton Romanski had this to say on in a blog post:

    IT energy consumption is one of the largest unmanaged expenses and as a result organizations are seeking effective solutions to measure usage, improve optimization, and produce sustainability reports. Up to 50 billion objects are predicted to be connected to the Internet or interconnected machine to machine by 2020 as part of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology transition. Many of those devices will be in constrained environments, where space, bandwidth and power will be at a premium. Cisco networks are differentiated by how we securely scale this type of environment and power consumption will be a key attribute of that differentiation in the future. JouleX is a natural extension of IoT, one of the many technology transitions that make up the Internet of Everything.

    The acquisition of JouleX exemplifies Cisco’s innovation framework and supports Cisco’s five foundational priorities by enhancing our service offering across all customer segments and advancing our business and technology architecture. The JouleX acquisition is aligned to Cisco’s goals of developing and delivering innovative energy management solutions that streamline data and work flow across a unified network.

    The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2013.

  • Cisco To Acquire Ubiquisys For $310 Million

    Cisco To Acquire Ubiquisys For $310 Million

    Cisco just announced yet another acquisition. The company announced its intent to acquire privately held Ubiquisys for $310 million in cash and employee retention incentives.

    Ubiquisys provides 3G and LTE small-cell technologies, and Cisco says the pick-up will further reinforce its commitment to service providers and strengthen its mobility capabilities. In a blog post, Cisco’s Hilton Romanski writes:

    The acquisition of Ubiquisys exemplifies Cisco’s innovation framework based on a build, buy and partner approach. The Ubiquisys acquisition also complements Cisco’s mobility strategy along with the recent acquisitions of BroadHop and Intucell, reinforcing in-house research and development, such as service provider Wi-Fi and licensed radio. These technologies will tie together the mobility architecture that leverages the intelligence of the network from the wireless edge of the network into the wired core.

    As carriers around the world increase cellular data capacity to serve the rapidly growing population of smartphone and tablet users, adding small cells is one of the most cost-effective ways to multiply data capacity and make better use of scarce spectrum assets. Ubiquisys’ indoor small cells expertise and its focus on intelligent software for licensed 3G and LTE spectrum, coupled with Cisco’s mobility portfolio and its Wi-Fi expertise, will enable a comprehensive small cell solution to service providers that supports the transition to next generation radio access networks.

    “Cisco is ‘doubling down’ on its small cell business to accelerate strong momentum and growth in the mobility market,” said Kelly Ahuja, SVP and GM of Cisco Mobility Business Group. “By acquiring Ubiquisys, we are expanding on our current mobility leadership and our end-to-end product portfolio, which includes integrated, licensed and unlicensed small cell solutions that are tightly coupled with SON, backhaul, and the mobile packet core. For service providers, Ubiquisys supports cost effective coverage and capacity that delivers a differentiated customer experience.”

    The Ubiquisys team and portfolio will be integrated into Cisco’s Small Cell Technology Group, led by Partho Mishra. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2013.

    Other recently announced acquisitions for Cisco include: Intucell, Cognitive Security, SolveDirect, and BroadHop.

  • Belkin’s Acquisition Of Linksys Is Now Complete

    Belkin’s Acquisition Of Linksys Is Now Complete

    In January, Cisco announced that Belkin would acquire its Home Networking Business Unit and its leading brand, Linksys. Today, Belkin announced that the Linksys acquisition is complete.

    Belkin now possesses Linksys routers and other Smart Wi-Fi products. They will be managed as a separate brand and product portfolio.

    Belkin CEO Chet Pipkin had this to say: “Linksys has a rich heritage, a passionate customer base and a wide product line, all of which fueled our decision to acquire the company and our plan to maintain the Linksys brand. The Linksys portfolio will continue to exist and evolve to include even richer user experiences and network management functionality. Smart Wi-Fi is an innovative and easy way for consumers to stay connected to their home network and we look to continue investing in it by adding more features and products.”

    “A lot of exciting things are happening in today’s connected lifestyle segment, and we are honored to continue the Linksys brand and enable new connected experiences,” said Pipkin. “Linksys and Belkin are now one team. We are ready to do fantastic things as a team and deliver products that delight consumers and support the increasingly connected, mobile world.”

    Customers can expect more Linksys-branded products coming out of the pipeline, and support for existing products will continue through the existing channels.

    Terms of the deal were never disclosed.

  • Belkin To Acquire Linksys From Cisco

    Belkin To Acquire Linksys From Cisco

    Cisco announced today in a blog post that Belkin will acquire Cisco’s Home Networking Business Unit and its leading brand, Linksys. Cisco had been rumored to be looking to get rid of Linksys, and now it appears it has found a buyer.

    Cisco VP, Head of Corporate Business Development, Hilton Romanski writes:

    Linksys is a strong and enduring brand with a talented team that has helped revolutionize the way we experience the world from our homes through a wide range of home routing and networking solutions with innovative software features that enable anytime, anywhere access and control of the home network and its connected devices.

    Combined, Belkin and Linksys will create a world-class consumer networking technology provider with complementary innovation and engineering strategies. Linksys will enhance Belkin’s capabilities to meet the needs of OEMs, as well as provide access to a large user base. Belkin and Cisco intend to pursue a strategic relationship focused on a variety of initiatives including retail distribution, strategic marketing and products for the service provider market.

    Belkin shortly thereafter put out a press release announcing the acquisition intent, but did not disclose the terms.

    Belkin CEO Chet Pipkin says, “We’re very excited about this announcement. Our two organizations share many core beliefs – we have similar beginnings and share a passion for meeting the real needs of our customers through the strengths of an entrepreneurial culture. Belkin’s ultimate goal is to be the global leader in the connected home and wireless networking space and this acquisition is an important step to realizing that vision.”

    Cisco announced its own intent to acquire Intucell earlier this week.

  • Cisco To Acquire Intucell For $475 Million

    Cisco To Acquire Intucell For $475 Million

    Cisco announced on Wednesday its intent to acquire Israel’s Intucell for $475 million in cash and employee retention incentives. Intucell’s product portfolio would be integrated into Cisco’s Service Provider Mobility Group, with the team reporting to the Software and Applications Group led by Shailesh Shukla.

    Intucell provides advanced self-optimizing network (SON) software for carriers, enabling them to plan, configure, manage and optimize cellular networks based on real-time changing demands.

    “The mobile network of the future must be able to scale intelligently to address growing and often unpredictable traffic patterns, while also enabling carriers to generate incremental revenue streams,” said Kelly Ahuja, SVP and GM of Cisco’s Service Provider Mobility Group. “Through the addition of Intucell’s industry-leading SON technology, Cisco’s service provider mobility portfolio provides operators with unparalleled network intelligence and the unique ability to not only accommodate exploding network traffic, but to profit from it.”

    Hilton Romanski, VP, Head of Corporate Business Development at Cisco, blogged about the acquisition, to say:

    This acquisition will allow Cisco to extend network intelligence and tightly align different software elements across our product portfolio. It also reinforces our commitment to service provider customers and strengthens our expertise in mobility. In addition, the acquisition of Intucell furthers our long-standing commitment to cutting-edge innovation based in Israel.

    The proliferation of connected mobile devices, faster network speeds, and growing demand for high-bandwidth applications and services are driving greater network traffic and complexity. As mobile service providers continue to face increased end-user demand, the need to dynamically manage network bandwidth, usage and services is increasing. Intucell’s SON software platform addresses these challenges by examining the network, identifying issues, and intelligently managing network traffic in real time. This capability brings enormous value to service providers and their customers.

    The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2013. It is, of course, subject to regulatory approval.

  • Zero-Day Remote Exploit Found On Linksys Routers

    Zero-Day Remote Exploit Found On Linksys Routers

    When it rains, it pours. That seems to be trend in 2013 when it comes to zero-day exploits being found in the wild. Microsoft and Oracle are just getting around to patching zero-day exploits found in Internet Explorer and Java this week, and now another major player in the consumer PC scene has been hit.

    Help Net Security reports that a zero-day exploit has been found in Linksys routers that allows a hacker to gain remote root access to the device. It has the potential to be devastating to the millions of Linksys router owners around the world. The good news is that a fix is already on the way.

    The original team who found the exploit, DefenseCode, alerted Cisco to the Linksys vulnerability after finding it during a product security evaluation. It took the team only 12 days to develop an exploit that could be used by hackers to take control of a person’s wireless router and hijack all the information being processed through it.

    With all that being said, it doesn’t look like Linksys router owners will have to worry about anything. There’s no mention of hackers using the exploit out in the wild just yet. Cisco is also working on a fix that should be available within the next 10 days. After that, DefenseCode will release the details of the exploit to the public for further study.

    You can check out the exploit in action below:

  • Cisco Announces Yet Another Acquisition: BroadHop

    Cisco Announces Yet Another Acquisition: BroadHop

    Cisco announced today that it intends to acquire BroadHop, a provider of policy control and service management technology for carrier networks.

    “With global IP traffic projected to increase threefold over the next five years – after having increased eightfold over the past five years – policy control and services creation at large scale has never been more vital for mobile and fixed communications service providers,” says Cisco’s Hilton Romanski in a blog post.

    If the acquisition goes through, BroadHop’s solutions for mobile and fixed networks will be integrated into Cisco’s Service Provider Mobility Group.

    “How does this benefit customers and end-users directly?” says Romanski. “A service provider can integrate BroadHop technology to enable end-users to purchase customized premium service packages. For example, if a consumer desires premium on-demand streaming, BroadHop technology allows the service provider to add value to and monetize this particular service. In return, the user is granted a high level of service and premium bandwidth to ensure the best possible experience.”

    Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

    Cisco did close a couple of its other recently announced acquisitions over the past week or so. On 12/10, Cisco completed its acquisition of Cloupia, and on 12/17, the company completed its acquisition of Cariden.

  • Cisco Continues To Announce Acquisitions, This Time It’s Cariden

    Cisco Continues To Announce Acquisitions, This Time It’s Cariden

    Cisco’s acquisition spree continues as the company announced today its intent to acquire Cariden, a supplier fo network planning, design and traffic management solutions. Cisco will pay about $141 million for the company.

    Cisco says the acquisition will allow telecommunications service providers to enhance visibility, programmability and efficiency of converged networks.

    “The Cariden acquisition reinforces Cisco’s commitment to offering service providers the technologies they need to optimize and monetize their networks, and ultimately grow their businesses,” said Surya Panditi, SVP and GM of Cisco’s Service Provider Networking Group. “Given the widespread convergence of IP and optical networks, Cariden’s technology will help carriers more efficiently manage bandwidth, network traffic and intelligence. This acquisition signals the next phase in Cisco’s packet and optical convergence strategy and further strengthens our ability to lead this market transition in networking.”

    Cariden employees will be integrated into Cisco’s Service Provider Networking Group, and report to Shailesh Shukla, vice president and general manager of the company’s Software and Applications Group.

    The deal is, of course, subject to closing conditions. Cisco expects the deal to be closed in the second quarter of its fiscal year 2013.

  • Cisco To Acquire Cloud Networking Company Meraki For $1.2 Billion

    Cisco To Acquire Cloud Networking Company Meraki For $1.2 Billion

    Cisco continues its acquisition, as the company announced that it intends to acquire Meraki (yet another cloud company). Cisco will pay about $1.2 billion in cash and retention-based incentives.

    Meraki is a privately held cloud networking company based in San Francisco, with offices in New York, London, and Mexico. Cisco says the acquisition will strengthen its Unified Access platform.

    “The acquisition of Meraki enables Cisco to make simple, secure, cloud managed networks available to our global customer base of mid-sized businesses and enterprises. These companies have the same IT needs as larger organizations, but without the resources to integrate complex IT solutions,” said Rob Soderbery, senior vice president, Cisco Enterprise Networking Group. “Meraki’s solution was built from the ground up optimized for cloud, with tremendous scale, and is already in use by thousands of customers to manage hundreds of thousands of devices.”

    Last week, Cisco announced its intent to acquire Cloupia, a data center infrastructure software company.

    The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2013. Obviously, it’s subject to closing conditions and regulatory review.

  • Cisco To Acquire Data Center Infrastructure Company Cloupia

    Cisco To Acquire Data Center Infrastructure Company Cloupia

    Cisco announced today that it intends to acquire Cloupia, a software company that automates converged data center infrastructure. The deal would extend the company’s existing data center portfolio. Cisco is paying $125 million in cash and retention-based incentives in exchange for all shares of Cloupia.

    “With cloud computing driving the transition to converged infrastructure, the need for simplified management systems across compute, storage, network and virtualization functions is increasing,” the company says, indicating that the acquisition will enhance the Cisco Unified Computing System and Nexus switching portfolio with “a single pane of glass view into the automation of compute, network, storage, virtual machine, and operating system resources.”

    “Cisco’s data center strategy is based on the premise of making it easier for customers to deploy a unified and integrated infrastructure that is efficient, fast, and flexible,” said David Yen, SVP and GM, Cisco Data Center Business Group. “This strategy involves the delivery of the industry’s most comprehensive data center networking portfolio, which includes physical and virtual products that support multiple hypervisors and storage stacks. The addition of Cloupia’s automation software enhances the efficiency of such unified data center infrastructures, helping to accelerate the transition from physical to cloud environments more quickly and effectively.”

    Cloupia employees will be integrated into Cisco’s Data Center division upon the closing of the acquisition. The deal is subject to standard closing conditions, but Cisco expects it to be completed in the second quarter of its fiscal year 2013.

  • Cisco Acquires ThinkSmart Technologies And Its Location Analytics

    Cisco Acquires ThinkSmart Technologies And Its Location Analytics

    Cisco announced today that it has acquired ThinkSmart Technologies, an Ireland-based location analytics technology company.

    Cisco’s Hilton Romanski had this to say about the news in a blog post:

    The widespread proliferation of mobile devices and services provides opportunities for enterprises and service providers to better serve their end users based on location and preferences inside venues and retail spaces. With Cisco’s acquisition of ThinkSmart’s network and Wi-Fi location analytics capabilities announced today, the customer experience in public venues such as retail locations, hotels and airports, is about to get much better.

    ThinkSmart Technologies, based in Cork, Ireland, is a software company that delivers location data analysis using Wi-Fi technology. Together, Cisco and ThinkSmart will enhance the wireless network by providing location intelligence and analytics to service provider and enterprise customers to know what is happening in their environments and to better engage end users.

    ThinkSmart’s location analytics collects information on movement within a venue including time of day, traffic patterns and dwell times. This information helps enterprises and venue operators improve the customer experience by identifying appropriate staffing levels, reducing wait times, optimizing business processes, and improving customer flows.

    “Together, Cisco and ThinkSmart will enhance the wireless network infrastructure by providing location analytics to customers to more effectively analyze end user behavior,” said ThinkSmart in an announcement on its site. “By enhancing Cisco networks with location analytics technology, Cisco will enable customers to extract greater value from the network allowing them to make better, timelier business decisions that lead to new monetization channels and enhanced consumer/end-user experiences.”

    The acquisition closed in the first quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2013. Terms were not disclosed.

  • Cisco Rebrands Collaboration Apps: Introducing WebEx Social and WebEx Telepresence

    Cisco Rebrands Collaboration Apps: Introducing WebEx Social and WebEx Telepresence

    Cisco’s Quad app has been rebranded as WebEx Social. Refinements to the app include a new unified post function that makes creating a post as easy as writing an email.

    Users will now also be able to collaborate using any device they choose. New features they will notice include working in virtual teams, sharing knowledge, and find an expert.

    The company has also rebranded their Cisco Callway, now to be called, WebEx Telepresence. Telepresence offers audio/video support for up to 1080HD video resolution, an online customer portal, and extended support for MX300/SX20. They found a way to provide more efficient ordering and bill pay for both customers and partners.

    The idea behind the rebranding of the apps is to put together a stronger portfolio of instant message and web conferencing solutions. The WebEx brand name is positioned to entice IT professionals to choose Cisco products. Real-time cloud-based solutions like the WebEx apps will be available in early July.

  • Cisco Sues TiVo Over Patents

    Cisco Sues TiVo Over Patents

    On May 30th Cisco Systems filed a federal lawsuit in California against TiVo, over four patents related to DVRs. Cisco supplies TiVo-based DVR boxes to Virgin Media in the UK and Spanish cable operator Ono. TiVo likewise suing Verizon Communications and Time Warner Cable, which are both Cisco service provider customers, also over patent infringement.

    Cisco released a statement on the matter, “Cisco is focused on its work with service providers to reinvent the television experience – Together we are transforming how consumers engage with video – bridging entertainment, social media, communications and mobility together through IP technologies. Cisco’s suit against TiVo is an effort to defend our DVR products and our customers against TiVo’s aggressive strategy of wrongfully asserting its patent claims.”

    The patents Cisco is seeking judgement on are: U.S. Patent Numbers 6,233,389 (the “Time Warp” patent at issue in TiVo’s lawsuits against Dish, AT&T, Verizon, TWC and Motorola); 7,529,465 (“System for Time Shifting Multimedia Content Streams”); 7,493,015 (“Automatic Playback Overshoot Correction System”); and 6,792,195 (“Method And Apparatus Implementing Random Access And Time-Based Functions On A Continuous Stream Of Formatted Digital Data”).

    In related news, a judge recently dismissed Oracle’s patent claim against Google, in an ongoing trial regarding the use of Java APIs in the development of the Android operating system.

  • Cisco Announces Insiemi

    Cisco Announces Insiemi

    Cisco has just released an employee memo announcing its investment of $100 million in a new “spin-in” company called Insiemi, and advanced networking startup, which might eventually be purchased for an additional $750 million. The New York Times defines a spin-in as a company designed to be bought by its parent company, in this case Cisco. Insieme was created by Cisco employees Mario Mazzola, Prem Jain, and Luca Cafiero, who had already created two other spin-ins in the past. Spin-ins have the potential to be disruptive to the lead company as a whole, as “employee of the month” types can make millions off of them, while the rest of the staff makes nothing.

    In the memo, entitled “S.D.N.: Evolving the Network as a Platform,” Cisco said:

    Insieme’s product development efforts are complementary to that of Cisco’s current and planned internal investments. Insieme and other internal programs will be components of Cisco’s broader programmability framework. These types of investments have strongly benefitted Cisco in the past, and we will continue to look for similar ways to complement our internal development capabilities.

    Insieme will likely boost Cisco’s portfolio regarding software-defined networking, or S.D.N., which is tied to cheap deployment of large cloud computing systems. The memo adds:

    The network is no longer a cost center; it is central to revenue generation and strategy execution. S.D.N. promises to make the network more agile, scalable, and cost-effective – Cisco is operating from established positions of strength, which include the scale of its operating systems, superior ASICS, unique embedded intelligence, experienced engineering expertise, and an expansive installed base – most of which has no interest in completely replacing what it has already invested in so heavily.

    While some employees will likely disagree with Cisco’s shift in operating process, David McCulloch, Cisco’s director of corporate communications, broadly states, “Seventy percent of the world’s networks are Cisco, it makes sense that when customers talk about how to program them they’d talk to Cisco – Our strategy has always been we will build, we will buy, and we will partner.”

    @kmclaughlin69
    Kevin McLaughlin    #Cisco CTO Warrior: “If there’s any company that’s going to reinvent networking, it will be Cisco” http://t.co/2Fy4uc9o #SDN #virtualization 15 hours ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • Exclusive: Cisco Issues Response to SalesCrunch’s $1 Bid for WebEx

    Exclusive: Cisco Issues Response to SalesCrunch’s $1 Bid for WebEx

    As WebProNews previously reported, SalesCrunch has made an offer to Cisco to buy its web conferencing platform WebEx for $1 plus equity. SalesCrunch is primarily after WebEx’s userbase but believes the two companies “make sense.”

    Check out our recent interview with SalesCrunch CEO and Founder Sean Black for all the details of the offer:

    Although Black and SalesCrunch are confident that talks with Cisco will ensue, the networking giant indicates otherwise. In a statement released to WPN, Cisco said:

    “This is a cute publicity stunt from SalesCrunch, and we appreciate that they like our technology, but we have no intention of selling Webex.”

    There has been speculation around Cisco killing WebEx after its announcement last year that it would be making cuts and focusing on its core business. The rumors escalated after it cut more than 500 employees and killed both Flip and Umi Telepresence.

    However, given Cisco’s response, it doesn’t appear that it has the same plan for WebEx, which is bad news for SalesCrunch.