Saw an email this morning on the Megaconference list and then visited this Blog entry by Stefan.
Please leave comments below and let us know what you think, but, first, here is my opinion:
1. Cisco, in my humble opinion, is very innovative but has not been fully in tune with the existing videoconferencing technology and market. Interoperability cannot take a back seat, but, seemed to at Cisco. Many companies, over the years, as large as Intel and as small as Objective and NUTS found out that interoperability, in this industry, is very important.
2. We (at ESnet) had experienced a Cisco takeover (of Latitude) several years ago. After the initial fear, we found that the MeetingPlace product line (and the people) were kept in place (at least from our perspective as an end-user) and the product evolved very nicely. It appeared to us that: Cisco buys but keeps the expertise. Let us hope that continues.
3. Tandberg is great. Their products are very reliable. They inter-operate with other products, and they have the vision and knowledge of this industry (both history and moving forward). They are innovators. More importantly they have the respect of everyone (including their competitors) in this industry.
4. Cisco is now (or will be shortly if this finalizes) a leader in this industry. I only hope the Tandberg folks will stay and will be allowed to continue to innovate while remaining interoperable with the other products.
TelBitConsulting says: Now that the world is on the verge of realizing the value of videoconferencing, the last thing we need is for the products to become proprietary.
Interested in what Wainhouse Research says? Click here.
Here is the announcement on Tandberg’s web site.
Comments welcome!
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