Posted 11/19/09 at 02:57:20 PM by Bart Salisbury

The Flip digital camcorder may be headed for an upgrade. So reports Pocket-lint, anyhow. According to the website, Cisco, which purchased Pure Digital, the creator of the Flip, is poised to integrate some new features, including its own networking technology.

Pocket-lint confesses “details are thin on the ground” but that the new Flip will have a large screen, which will slide to reveal the record and menu buttons. (It doesn’t seem that touchscreen, because of price, will be part of the upgrade package.) And that it will also have Wi-Fi, allowing users to record and upload with having to use an intermediary.

It’s expected the upgraded Flip will be available about the middle of 2010. No information on pricing was available.

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Posted 11/18/09 at 07:03:21 AM by Paul Lilly

Recent maneuvers by networking bigwigs Cisco and Logitech seem to indicate that videoconferencing technology may be headed towards the mainstream market. That hasn't been the case up to this point, as high prices and somewhat complicated equipment have relegated virtual face-to-face meetings to enterprise applications.

But that's rapidly changing. Cisco, Logitech, and a handful of smaller companies have been wheeling and dealing with a focus towards morphing the market into a mainstream gold rush. Cisco, for example, increased its $3 billion bid for Tandberg to roughly $3.4 billion in an attempt to entice investors who felt that the original bid wasn't enough. In addition, Cisco is expected to introduce a consumer-level videoconferencing product at CES this January, Businessweek reports.

Logitech meanwhile has opend up its purse and will pay $405 million for LifeSize Communications, a company which makes high-end HD videoconferencing equipment.

By themselves, each deal isn't particularly telling, but when looking at the overall picture, it appears imminent that videoconferencing is headed towards becoming a natural part of business, both big and small, with the cost of entry on its way to being removed as a barrier.

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Posted 11/17/09 at 07:05:44 AM by Paul Lilly

How seriously does Cisco want to acquire Norwegian video conferencing firm Tandberg? Serious enough to increase its original takeover offer by another $390 million.

"The new offer represents the offeror's final price for this transaction," Cisco said, adding that it will withdraw the offer if it doesn't achieve the desired 90 percent level of acceptance, the Wall Street Journal reports.

In early October, Cisco offered to buy Tandberg for a little under $3.1 billion, which already represented an 11 percent premium to Tandberg's share price. Cisco said it was a "fair price" for the firm and hinted that it might walk away from the deal if not approved, but several minority shareholders disagreed and ultimately rejected the original offer.

It's believed that the new offer will probably be accepted, which already has the support of several bigger shareholders.

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Posted 11/09/09 at 06:48:57 AM by Paul Lilly

Videoconferencing firm Tandberg was all too happy to accept Cisco's $3 billion buyout offer back at the beginning of October, but at least two investment consulting companies say Cisco's bid undervalues the firm.

The only opinions that matter at this point are those of the Tandberg's shareholders, who have yet to approve the deal. Before the agreement can go through, owners of 90 percent of the company's shares have to give it the green light, and do so  by the end of the day today. There's been talk that holders of 24 percent of Tandberg stock don't plan on signing off on the deal, and should that happen, Cisco has hinted it would walk away rather than raise its offer.

"We believe we are paying a fair price for a quality asset, and our offer comes recommended by the Tandberg Board of Directors," Cisco said in a prepared statement. "Further, Cisco's general approach to M&A activities is that no acquisition should be pursued or completed if it runs counter to the broader principles of prudence and financial fairness."

But not everyone agrees with Cisco's assessment. Consultants from Panta Capital and Scott & Associates contend that Tandberg's third quarter financial results beat the consensus estimates of analysts for revenue and profit, and Cisco's offer simply isn't enough.

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Posted 11/05/09 at 07:57:09 AM by Paul Lilly

Maybe the economy is recoverying after all, or so analysts are saying after Cisco reported fiscal first-quarter earnings that nudged ahead of expectations and showed strong sequential growth.

The network security firm reported a quarterly profit of $1.8 billion, or 36 cents a share. That's down from last year, when Cisco posted a profit of $2.2 billion, or 42 cents a share, but up from last quarter. Revenue for the first fiscal quarter climbed to $9 billion, which is more than the $8.75 billion analysts had expected.

"Our ability to launch four proposed acquisitions, the ecosystem-shifting coalition with EMC/VMware, and five new products and industry solutions into the Cisco pipeline in the past few months alone underscore this momentum," said John Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco. "Our build – buy - partner innovation engine is clearly running on all cylinders, while our operational machine is pulling costs out of the business even as we scale new models for growth. Execution and results over time will demonstrate the long-term impact of this vision and strategy— but a new model of productivity based on collaboration is clearly emerging and we believe this may be the most profound opportunity for businesses in our 25 years as a company."

Cisco has been on a spending spree as of late, having recently agreed to purchase Starent Networks for a cool $2.9 billion and ScanSafe for $183 million.

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Posted 11/02/09 at 08:07:11 AM by Paul Lilly

Citing anonymous sources "familiar with their plans," Reuters reports that Cisco and storage area networking company EMC will work together to bring a new line of products to market dubbed vBlock. The new line will consist of cloud computing gear, including networking equipment, computers, and storage devices.

Cisco and EMC both declined to comment, but according to the talkative sources, the two companies will assemble computer systems for customers, which will also include all the necessary software.

"It's a 'virtual block' of the data center. You can buy it from them as a service, then eventually transition it to your own data center," said one of the people familiar with the plan.

Should the rumor turn out to be true -- and there's reason to believe it is, given that this isn't the first time the two have been linked in plans to jointly develop could-based solutions -- it will turn the heat up on rivals IBM and Hewlett-Packard, both of which offer a wider selection of data center equipment.

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Posted 10/27/09 at 01:10:38 PM by Paul Lilly

Cisco today announced its intent to acquire ScanSafe, a privately held software-as-a-service (SaaS) Web security outfit based in London and San Francisco.

Under terms of the agreement, Cisco will pay $183 million in cash and retention-based incentives for the security firm. ScanSafe's services will be integrated with Cisco AnyConnect VPN client, but that's not all ScanSafe brings to the table. Cisco will also have access to the security firm's global network of carrier-grade data centers and multi-tenant architecture, both of which will help boost Cisco's presence in cloud security products.

"With the acquisition of ScanSafe, Cisco is executing on our vision to build a borderless network security architecture that combines network and cloud-based services for advanced security enforcement," said Tom Gillis, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Security Technology Business Unit (STBU). "Cisco will provide customers the flexibility to choose the deployment model that best suits their organization and deliver anytime, anywhere protection against Web-based threats."

Cisco added that it expects Web security to be a $2.3 billion market by 2012, which would explain the company's aggressive spending as of late. Earlier this month, Cisco bid a whoppng $3 billion for Norwegian video conference company Tandberg and agreed to pony up $2.9 billion to acquire wirless equipment maker Starent Networks.

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Posted 10/13/09 at 04:40:33 PM by Paul Lilly

Cisco today announced it has agreed to fork over $2.9 billion to acquire Starent Networks Corp., a Massachusetts-based company who makes equipment that allows carriers to tie their wireless networks to the Internet.

"We are very pleased that Starent Networks will be joining the Cisco team, and we believe their products and engineering talent will greatly benefit our Service Provider customers as they build out their Mobile Internet offerings," said John Chambers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Under terms of the agreement, Cisco will pay $35 per share in cash for each share of Starent Networks, which represents a 21 percent premium to Monday's closing price of $29.03. In addition, Cisco will also assume outstanding equity awards.

Starent has already accepted the offer, however the deal is subject to closing conditions and regulatory review. Barring any unforeseen complications, Cisco expects the deal to close during the first half of 2010.

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