As its recent buying binge–three acquisitions in October, alone–suggests, Cisco’s business is in decent shape these days. Reporting first-quarter results after market close today, the company handily beat Wall Street estimates.
The long-rumored data center partnership between Cisco, EMC and VMware is at last a reality. The three companies have formed a new joint venture called Acadia. Its purpose: To sell and support V-Block, an integrated data center product that combines Cisco’s Unified Computing System, EMC’s storage equipment, and VMware’s virtualization technology.
Cisco’s fall acquisition binge continues unabated. Late Monday, the company announced plans to buy the set-top box business of China’s DVN Holdings for up to $44.5 million. This after spending $3 billion on videoconferencing system maker Tandberg, wireless infrastructure outfit Starent Networks and software-as-a-service security vendor ScanSafe–all in quick succession.
Looks like there may be a bit of truth to reports that Cisco would rather bail on its proposed acquisition of Tandberg than raise its bid for the videoconferencing equipment manufacturer. Remarking today on speculation that Cisco would do just that, Ned Hooper, the company’s chief strategy officer, stressed that Cisco “will always act with fiscal prudence” as it pursues Tandberg.
Cisco has a message for Tandberg shareholders pressing the networking giant to raise its $3.04 billion offer for the company: Take it or we’re leaving. Sources tell Bloomberg that Cisco has little intention of meeting the demands of a group of investors who would like it to reach a bit deeper into its wallet before they hand over their 24 percent stake in Tandberg.
It’s beginning to look like Cisco suffers from a compulsive-buying disorder. In early October, the company spent $3 billion on videoconferencing system maker Tandberg. A few weeks later it acquired wireless infrastructure outfit Starent Networks for $2.9 billion. And now it’s buying ScanSafe as well.
Cisco CEO John Chambers wasn’t kidding when he said we’d see the company move into a number of new markets via acquisition over the next year. Earlier this year, Cisco acquired Pure Digital, developer of the Flip video camera, for $590 million. Two weeks ago it spent $3 billion on video-conferencing system maker Tandberg. And now it’s purchasing mobile infrastructure outfit Starent Networks for $2.9 billion, or $35 a share.
Brocade investors are smiling into their coffee cups this morning after reports that the networking-gear maker has put itself up for sale sent the company’s shares soaring. People familiar with the matter tell The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg that Brocade is seeking a buyer and that both Hewlett-Packard and Oracle are among its potential suitors.
It’s merger mania in the tech industry. First Dell buys Perot Systems for $3.9 billion. Then Xerox purchases Affiliated Computer Services for $6.4 billion. Now Cisco is acquiring Tandberg for nearly $3 billion in cash.
It’s been a long time between weekend updates, and a long week without Peter Kafka, All Things D’s intrepid MediaMemo reporter. He returns Monday, and just in time, too, since John Paczkowski and Digital Daily will be out all next week. Must be August–do Europeans still take the whole month off? Or is that an urban legend? No matter; it definitely has not been sleepy around here.
Hard to believe that this is good news: Cisco reported a 46 percent decline in quarterly profit this afternoon. An appalling drop. But one that investors welcomed, because as lousy as its performance might seem, Cisco’s earnings still managed to beat the Street.
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper.
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
Best video mashup ever.
A Facebook Memorial
Wow.
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
Excellent.
Flughumor!
… you vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous perverts
Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine meet the kakapo — a fat, flightless and very randy rare parrot.
Spectacular in the bellowing Russian sailor sense of the word …
“If you spell something wrong on your insurance claim, do you really deserve surgery? I don’t think so …”
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