What did Cisco buy? A look at its '06 acquisitions

Meetinghouse Data Communications

Cisco looked to wireless LAN security vendor Meetinghouse to shore up its client-based security and network access technology. Meetinghouse's AEGIS SecureConnect software includes an 802.1X supplicant, which allows a laptop or PC to authenticate to a wired or wireless LAN with a single piece of software. The software does this by covering an array of protocols: Extensible Authentication Protocol, Wired Equivalent Privacy, Wi-Fi Protected Access, and Temporal Key Integrity Protocol and Advanced Encryption Standard for encryption. Cisco turned this acquired technology around in October, releasing Secure Services Client 4.0, based on the Meetinghouse product.

Analysts say the move gave Cisco ownership of a unified access client, since its previous partner, Funk Software, was purchased by rival Juniper in 2005. While filling the client-software gap in Cisco's Network Admission Control offering, the purchase might threaten the efforts of the Trusted Network Connect initiative, according to Lawrence Orans, a Gartner analyst.

With Meetinghouse off the market, this leaves "no independent 802.1x supplicant vendors to provide a neutral position for unifying the NAC infrastructure vendors," Orans writes in a report. "Cisco has submitted draft CNAC protocols to the Internet Engineering Task Force, but other vendors have yet to adopt these protocols."

Arroyo Video Solutions

With its first carrier-focused acquisition of the year, Cisco kept up its enthusiasm for IP video as it bought Arroyo for its video-on-demand video delivery technology. The Arroyo gear will let cable TV providers offer more interactive and on-demand content, with more efficiency. Cisco said it plans to integrate this technology into its cable TV offerings, which include broadband aggregation routers for Cable modem services, as well as its Scientific-Atlanta cable TV technology.

Along with the Arroyo's technology, Cisco also snagged a few longtime network industry veterans in the deal. Arroyo's chief scientist, Drew Major, was a founder of Novell and its former chief scientist. CTO Paul Sherer used to hold 3Com's CTO spot.

Orative

Cisco looked to the mobility market with its Orative purchase plan, but stuck with its trend of buying smaller partner companies. Orative makes software that allows cell phones and smart phones to access Cisco VoIP, messaging and collaboration servers. The cell phone client software also allows corporate cell phone users to take calls made do their internal desktop phone extensions. Orative also makes a gateway and server product, allowing cell phone clients to access corporate servers securely through a firewall, the company says.

The purchase gave Cisco an entrance into the emerging fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) market. FMC ties together cell phones and corporate desktop phones, allowing for easier communications with employees. It also provides better control of corporate data and information -- which often lives on the personnal cell phones of employees.

"This is going to be a huge, huge market," said Craig Mathias, principal of the Farpoint Group, in a previous interview. "Most enterprises are completely unaware that there's lots of sensitive data sitting on devices they have no control over. Big companies that have corporate secrets all over the place on unsecured cell phones have to figure out how to manage that."