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News

• Chinese man gets 30 months for fake Cisco sales

  A Chinese man was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in a U.S. prison this week for trafficking in counterfeit Cisco Systems gear.

• Cisco acquired nearly 50 start-ups in decade

  Cisco acquired more start-ups than any other corporation over the past decade, in a list dominated by IT vendors such as IBM, Microsoft, EMC and Oracle.

• NZICT chairman says tech industry must show its worth

  The chairman of the NZICT Group, Cisco managing director Geoff Lawrie, pushed members to demonstrate the value ICT can deliver at the vendor group's end of year meeting on Friday.
  Wrapping up the first year of NZICT's activity, Lawrie said the group had made a dozen submissions to government around diverse areas of policy. He also praised the government for its determination to push ahead with its planned $1.5 billion ultra fast broadband initiative.
  "While all of us who work in this industry share a religious faith in the linkage between ICT investments and better business outcomes, we do need to acknowledge that this is not a universally held view," Lawrie said. "We do need to do more work to make sure that every single person in this country understands the value of ICT and its ability to drive a more prosperous future for this country and a better lifestyle for its citizens, so these key issues will remain our focus as we go into next year."
  Speaking ahead of ICT minister Steven Joyce, Lawrie said government has played a significant role in the industry over the past year, especially in delivering improved broadband services.

• Cisco wins Tandberg with 91.1 percent stake

  After a hard-fought battle, Cisco has won control of videoconferencing leader Tandberg with ownership of 91.1 percent of the company's shares.
  Cisco had to raise its initial US$3 billion offer and extend the acceptance deadline three times in order to gain control of the company. Cisco's initial offer, made on October 1, was rejected by more than 90 percent of Tandberg shareholders. 
  Late Thursday, at the expiration of the third acceptance deadline, Cisco said it controlled 89.1 percent of Tandberg shares. The condition for ownership of the company was control of 90 percent of Tandberg shares, but Cisco waived this condition based on a 2 percent stake it acquired in November, according to published reports.  
  Of the 140 or so acquisitions Cisco has made in the past 16 years, Tandberg was perhaps the most challenging. Two groups of shareholders controlling 30 percent of the company balked at the initial $3 billion offer. And then two investment firms representing other stakeholders issued a public letter to Cisco CEO John Chambers and Senior Vice President Ned Hooper stating that Cisco was undervaluing the company and spelling out specific reasons why it should hike its offer.

• VMware-Cisco-EMC coalition raises issues

  During the past two weeks, including two full days at the recent EMC Analyst Summit, we have been educated (inundated) with information regarding the wonders of the coalition of VMware, Cisco and EMC to produce a series of integrated products that include unified computing (Cisco), virtualised operating systems (VMware) and integrated storage (EMC) called Vblocks.

• Shareholders sue 3Com directors over HP merger

  3Com's board of directors is facing a lawsuit over the proposed acquisition by Hewlett Packard Development Company, but a financial analyst who studies Ethernet switching argued if approved, both vendors would benefit from the deal.

• Cisco ups offer for videoconferencing firm Tandberg to US$3.4B

  Cisco has raised its bid for Norwegian video conferencing vendor Tandberg to 19 billion Norwegian Kroner (US$3.4 billion), up from $3.0 billion, but says it will raise its price no further.

• Cisco buys hosted security vendor

  Cisco Systems has announced plans to acquire rising security-as-a-service provider Scansafe.

• Cisco lays out why it might let Tandberg deal go

  Cisco Systems may be laying the groundwork for dropping its US$3 billion offer for videoconferencing vendor Tandberg despite the emphasis it has placed on video as the future of communications.

• Stockholders threaten to block Cisco's purchase of Tandberg

  Cisco's bid for videoconferencing vendor Tandberg could be in trouble: Stockholders representing 24 percent of the shares in Tandberg do not intend to accept Cisco's US$3 billion offer, a Swedish stockbroker said yesterday.

• Cisco buys mobile IP specialist Starent

  Cisco Systems has announced its second multibillion dollar deal this month: a definitive agreement to acquire Starent Networks, a provider of IP-based mobile infrastructure for carriers, for US$2.9 billion.

• For sale: Cisco datacentre rival Brocade

  Brocade has reportedly put itself up for sale, a development that portends significant consolidation within the datacentre IT industry.

• Cisco to buy videoconferencing vendor Tandberg for US$3B

  Cisco Systems has signed an agreement to buy videoconferencing vendor Tandberg, which has a development centre in Hamilton, for about US$3.0 billion in cash, it said yesterday.

• Cisco patches a dozen router bugs

  Cisco Systems has released its twice-yearly set of security patches for its router firmware, fixing 12 security flaws in the products.

• Cisco downplays WLAN vulnerability

  Cisco Systems downplayed a vulnerability in some of its wireless access points, reporting Tuesday that there is no risk of data loss or interception.