Cisco take on WebEx

The big news of the day seems to be that Cisco is to purchase WebEx. There is a good deal of commentary already available (here, here, here) most of which focuses on the Cisco and Microsoft relationship.

Does this change the relationship between Cisco and Microsoft, I doubt it. The motivations are different. Microsoft is interested in web conferencing to sell Windows software, Cisco is interested in web conferencing to sell network equipment. Neither of them see these capabilities as core to who they are. If I were a WebEx employee I would be worried about that.

You could say that this is Cisco broadening its portfolio into services, but it’s not going to do that at the expense of it’s core business – network equipment. Cisco’s relationship with Microsoft also helps them to sell network equipment so they aren’t going to jeopardise that either.

The interesting thing for me is what this does to Cisco’s MeetingPlace software and all of the TelePresence work they have been doing. There are some significant technology overlaps here, though probably not too many market overlaps. Bringing these markets and capabilities into the existing WebEx customer base would make for a very compelling suite of capabilities.