Customer demand is driving
Cisco to
prevent a clash with
Microsoft,
but the networking giant seems uncertain about whether the firms can avoid a
confrontation.
Cisco chief executive John Chambers said in a meeting with reporters at the
Cisco
Networkers user conference in Anaheim, California: "My customers want me to
work with Microsoft. They do not want to see us collide in a non-constructive
way."
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But in admitting that it will be hard to prevent a market clash as both
companies are expanding into each other's turf, Chambers pointed out that
companies often have a poor track record in combined cooperation and
competition.
"We will see if we can create a model that truly allows us to compete at
times and partner at times, but nobody has ever done that well. It's called
'co-opetition'. But candidly, you do it only because your customers force you
to," said Chambers.
Microsoft is currently pushing into the unified communications market, where
Cisco has been playing for a long time with its IP telephones.
Unified communications allow users to route messages across several
technologies such as instant messaging, telephone and email.
Cisco, meanwhile, is closing in on Microsoft in the digital entertainment
market. Cisco last year purchased Scientific Atlanta, a manufacturer of
television set top boxes.
The company has previously acquired Linksys and Kiss, a maker of high-end
networked consumer electronics appliances.
The two companies so far have avoided public battles, which Chambers credited
to growth of the overall market that allowed both vendors to increase revenues.
While he did not exclude entering additional markets that Microsoft could
consider its core, Chambers expressed hopes that the two companies will somehow
be able to continue their existing cooperation initiatives.
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