Cisco, an incredibly active acquirer, is ready to start doing deals again, according to John Chambers. We think it should be focusing on the cloud and beefing up its core networking skills by buying some of the companies we list in our story.
One of the major drawbacks with traditional room-based telepresence installs is that systems from different vendors are typically incompatible with each other. Video conferencing and online meeting provider FuzeBox, makers of the Fuze Meeting service, announced Fuze Telepresence Connect, which hopes to overcome these interoperability problems.
I’ve increased my usage of video and multimedia presentations and conferencing, both for collaboration with external business contacts and for internal product development. I decided I needed a better and more permanent setup in order to remain productive and comfortable, without constantly rearranging my workspace.
Juniper and Polycom will deliver products and services to answer the looming threat Cisco plays in the videoconferencing space. But by taking a page from Cisco’s playbook, they may have doomed themselves to failure. Instead of marrying the network and device, they should open things up.
Cisco’s $3.4 billion bid to take over Tandberg has moved one step closer to reality, as the networking giant said today that it’s gained control of 91.1 percent of the Norwegian company’s shares. But the deal still needs approval from the U.S. DOJ.
Cisco (s csco) said today it would up its offer to buy Tandberg to $3.4 billion — a boost of $400 million over its original bid, made last month — and said 40 percent of Tandberg’s shareholders have so far accepted the deal (Cisco needs 90 percent). About two weeks after the networking giant offered to buy the Norwegian video conferencing equipment maker, a group of shareholders protested, saying the offer was too low. This new offer should placate those shareholders, one of which was a brokerage firm that at the time of the original announcement had a target value on the shares that was slightly lower than the per-share price Cisco is now offering.
First Cisco Systems (s CSCO) decided to buy Norwegian video conferencing equipment maker Tandberg for about $3 billion. This week, Logitech, a Swiss computer peripherals maker, acquired LifeSize, an Austin, Texas-based private company, for about $405 million in cash. The two deals have brought the fast-growing but often-overlooked video conferencing market into sharp focus. And that is good news for Polycom, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based conferencing equipment maker, CEO Bob Hagerty boasts. Here is why: Read More about With Video Conferencing Deals, Polycom in Sharp Focus
Cisco Systems’ (s CSCO) $2.9 billion purchase of wireless networking equipment maker Starent might be in trouble: The Law Offices of Brian M. Felgoise, P.C. , a law firm in Pennsylvania thinks that the wireless equipment makes is taking the lowball offer and not striking a hard enough bargain. Cisco’s $3 billion purchase of Tandberg is also facing opposition from shareholders who own 24 percent of the company. I wonder if Cisco might have to raise its offering price on these deals.
Updated with a statement from Cisco: Shareholders owning more than 24 percent of Tandberg’s stock have released a statement saying they are voting against Cisco’s (s csco) proposed $3 billion buyout of the video conferencing equipment maker. Cisco announced the offer, part of its attempt to move into the middle market for video conferencing equipment to compliment its high-end Telepresence offering, two weeks ago. According to Reuters, brokerage SEB Enskilda said in a statement on Thursday: Read More about Tandberg Shareholders Want More From Cisco
Cisco (s csco) today offered to buy Tandberg, a Norwegian company that makes video conferencing equipment, for $3 billion in cash, a move that would give it a broader customer base, a bunch of legacy gear as well as a name in the teleconferencing market. Cisco’s love of video conferencing is well known, thanks to its CEO John Chambers shouting it from the rooftops (or perhaps quacking it on the Flip cameras, whose maker Cisco purchased earlier this year), and this deal will extend Cisco deeper into the space. Read More about 3 Billion Reasons Why Video Conferencing Is Hot
