Local partners weigh in on Cisco/Tandberg deal
- 02 October, 2009 18:39
- Comments 1
Cisco’s decision to acquire videoconferencing vendor, Tandberg, for $US3 billion has sparked mixed reviews from Australian partners and integrators.
Under the proposed acquisition, Tandberg’s video endpoints and network infrastructure products will be integrated with Cisco’s collaboration offerings. Its CEO, Fredrik Halvorsen, will lead a new Telepresence technology group at Cisco.
According to Dimension Data chief technology officer, Gerard Florian, the proposed merger is a major boon to the IT integrator. It partners with both Cisco and Tandberg.
“We’ve seen Cisco increase its video skills in things like telepresence and I think this deal gives them access to a much broader suite of products, so it’s very good for Cisco and it’s very good for us because we’ve got a relationship with both organisations,” he said.
“From the customer’s point of view, it is an ongoing evolution of the applications sitting on the network.”
Express Data general manager of vendors, David Peach, agreed customers and partners of the two companies would see strong benefits come from the deal.
“There’s going to be better interoperability and a better end-to-end solution available to partners, so rather than reducing choice, I think it’s going to give partners an even more compelling video storage solution to take to their end-user customers,” he said.
But BT general manger of portfolio and partnerships, Nathan Bell, said the deal would not create an all-dominating vendor and that business would continue as usual.
“For us, I think this is just another development in the market as we see normally,” he said. “I don’t think this is a situation where it’ll be, ‘wonderful, we only have to deal with one company’ because it’s just not the case and there are some very strong video providers that will continue to operate.
“Once a company embarks on a journey for a video platform, it really depends on what their requirements are.”
Several other Cisco and Tandberg partners declined to comment for this story.
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mvision
Cisco Acquisition of TANDBERG Set to Accelerate True Mass Adopti
One of TANDBERG’s five global managed service providers, mvision, welcomes greater interoperability as well as demand for networking infrastructure, managed services and Telepresence
Global video conferencing network and managed service provider, mvision, today welcomed the news of Cisco’s offer to acquire TANDBERG, stating that the sheer size and marketing power of Cisco combined with the technical excellence and interoperability of TANDBERG products will make video a truly mainstream business tool. Already a booming industry as businesses strive to find ways to do more with less during the economic downturn, mvision suggests that a new, broader appeal of a combined TANDBERG and Cisco offering has enormous potential for video users and providers alike.
As TANDBERG's leading video endpoints and network infrastructure solutions are integrated into Cisco's world-class collaboration architecture, intercompany and multi-vendor interoperability is guaranteed. This ease of use; from desktop to immersive, multi-screen Telepresence, will benefit the customers of both vendors, as well as competitors and partners by accelerating end user interest in video collaboration globally.
Terry Dwyer, Managing Director at mvision explains, “The Cisco/TANDBERG acquisition will have a positive effect on the video industry at many levels. Firstly, as businesses invest in video itself, there is a resulting demand for supporting networking infrastructure; which is good news for the video channel. Also, a rising volume of endpoint sales will promote the use of Telepresence and the need for managed services such as ours; particularly within the large corporate user organisations that are increasingly common place for us. In the SME arena where proprietary infrastructure facilities aren’t as affordable, it creates demand for a managed video or Telepresence service. And, as one of only five TANDBERG global managed service providers in the world, mvision is ideally placed to take advantage of the new opportunities this will create while adding a great deal of value back to the Cisco product line.”
"Analyst reactions to the announcement seem to largely agree that the acquisition will deepen Cisco's commitment to the video market, which it recognises as being an important element of collaboration,” concludes Dwyer. “One leading group states that TANDBERG will fill in the middle part of Cisco's offering – the gap between its high-end Telepresence solutions and the low-end web cams and video phones.”
Rob Bamforth, principal analyst for communication, collaboration and convergence at Quocirca adds, “Applications like video conferencing may struggle to stand apart when really they’re just another form of communications that is visual. That was a TANDBERG philosophy and it looks like it's been proved right.”
mvision is the leading installer of TANDBERG’s T3 Telepresence in the UK and the only T3 venue in central London connected to the TANDBERG network.
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