Frustrates Competitors and Press in Other Markets

Here's evidence that Cisco's aberrant strategy is widespread and may ultimately result in a major IP video surveillance purchase.

Prior to Cisco's $3 Billion USD acquisition of videoconferencing leader Tandberg, Cisco has been hyping their own videoconferencing solution for some time.

Earlier this year, both a NYTimes Columnist and a manager at Tandberg blasted Cisco processes and products.

Speaking about Cisco's treatment, the NYTimes columnist mentions that "Cisco held reporters hostage" mocking Cisco's scripted approach and lack of details provided.

In the comments to this post, the Tandberg manager states:

"If Cisco's Telepresence is soooo good, why do they have to always give it away? In every global account I am involved in, Cisco gives these things away. The fact is they are expensive to operate, limited in that you can only see a few sites at a time, they ought to call it Tele-Absence. They give it away because for every $ companies spend on this, they’ll spend seven times that amount on network upgrades."

It's ironic because it's the same type of criticism that IP video surveillance companies routinely make of Cisco in our market.

At some point, Cisco may acknowledge the same issues in IP video surveillance, finally making the plunge to buy out a market leader.