Has anyone taken a closer look at the moves Cisco has made lately? Sometimes I think we are so busy watching our own little start-up world that we forget to look to what the big guys are doing and learn lessons from them. In any case, last we all knew, Cisco made networking equipment for telecommunications providers and other big companies, employed 38,000+ people and was not the most riveting business out there. But bit by bit, it's been making a move to become more present in consumer's homes and lives -- consider the purchase of set-top-box maker Scientific Atlanta and wireless router company Linksys.
Two other recent acquisitions should have people taking note, as Cisco now has the technology to help large corporate clients create services resembling MySpace or YouTube to bring their customers together online with the purchase Five Across and (just being annouced) the purchase of the technology assets of Tribe.net.
Think about it, the acquisitions makes sense: Cisco has media customers like TV networks, cable companies, etc., the media habits of mainstream consumers are changing rapidly -- they are spending more time interacting with media online, in online communities, and there are so many places that media and communities can intersect (see Boonty's cafe.com as a very recent casual multi player gaming example. Full disclosure: Boonty is a client of BPR). So many current Cisco customers will want this capability, and countless others will now turn to Cisco to deploy.
But how do all four of these acquisitions fit together? That's what I am still pondering.
