On a related complementor ... competitor continuum note, Cisco is more aggressively seeking to compete with IBM and Microsoft for unified communication/collaboration opportunities -- and Oracle as well, given Oracle's Beehive announcement this week.
Cisco Systems Inc. made its name with devices that connect corporate computers. Now it is stepping up efforts to link people more productively.
The Silicon Valley company Wednesday is expected to unveil a slew of products aimed at business users who want to collaborate on projects. The offerings include Cisco WebEx Connect, an online service designed to integrate tools such as instant messaging and Web conferencing with conventional business software and newer Internet applications such as blogs and wikis, which are collaborative Web sites.
The article later continues with some quotes from the ubiquitous Mike Gotta
A cornerstone of Cisco's push into the collaboration market is WebEx Communications Inc., which the networking company acquired for $3.2 billion in 2007. The company has since acquired a handful of other companies aimed at adding more features to its collaboration offerings. Over the past month, Cisco acquired email-and-calendar start-up PostPath Inc. and Jabber Inc., an instant-messaging company whose founders helped develop technology used by Apple Inc.'s iChat and Google's Googletalk.
As Cisco increases its emphasis on software, the company must build a reputation among corporate customers. Mike Gotta, an analyst with the Burton Group, a Midvale, Utah, market-research firm, estimates that it will take Cisco three to five years to establish itself in the market.
"Cisco is a stranger to this space," said Mr. Gotta. "Right now, many corporate customers are saying, 'Who is Cisco and why trust them?' "
Hey Mike, I'll bet you $.07 Cisco doesn't get beyond single-digit market share in this context, over the next 3 - 5 years :)
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